1990 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

1990 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1989–90
Teams8
SiteGersten Pavilion
Los Angeles, California
ChampionsLoyola Marymount (awarded title) (3rd title)
Winning coachPaul Westhead (3rd title)
← 1989
1991 →
1989–90 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 21 Loyola Marymount 13 – 1   .929 26 – 6   .813
Pepperdine 10 – 4   .714 17 – 11   .607
San Diego 9 – 5   .643 16 – 12   .571
Portland 7 – 7   .500 11 – 17   .393
Santa Clara 6 – 8   .429 9 – 19   .321
San Francisco 4 – 10   .286 8 – 20   .286
Saint Mary's 4 – 10   .286 7 – 20   .259
Gonzaga 3 – 11   .214 8 – 20   .286
Rankings from AP poll

The 1990 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 3 and 4 at the Gersten Pavilion at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.[1] This was the fourth edition of the tournament.

During the first semi-final game on Sunday between top-seeded Loyola Marymount and #4 seed Portland, LMU forward Hank Gathers collapsed with 13:34 left in the first half. He had just scored a dunk on an alley-oop pass from point guard Terrell Lowery that put the Lions up 25–13. He fell a short distance from Pilots point guard Erik Spoelstra, attempted to get up, but shortly after stopped breathing. Transferred to nearby Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital, Gathers was pronounced dead less than two hours later; he was 23 years old.[2][3][4]

The game and the rest of the tournament were canceled, with regular season champion LMU awarded the WCC's berth in the 64-team NCAA tournament.[4] Seeded eleventh in the West regional, the Lions won three games and advanced to the Elite Eight;[5] they lost to top seed UNLV,[6][7] the eventual national champion.

  1. ^ "1988-89 West Coast Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Smith, Shelley (March 12, 1990). "Death on the court". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
  3. ^ Jones, Gary (March 5, 1990). "Loyola's Gathers dies". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (Los Angeles Times). p. C1.
  4. ^ a b "Marymount's Gathers dies; Games halted". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 5, 1990. p. 1D.
  5. ^ Smith, Shelley (March 26, 1990). "A team on a mission". Sports Illustrated. p. 24.
  6. ^ Jones, Gary (March 26, 1990). "'Great game' ends Lions' bid". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). p. 1B.
  7. ^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (April 2, 1990). "NCAA's West: The Rebels outran them". Sports Illustrated. p. 26.