1988 West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1988 West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 5–7 at the Toso Pavilion (now Leavey Center) on the campus of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.[1] This was the second edition of the tournament; it included all eight teams and all seven games were held at the same site.[2][3]

1988 West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1987–88
Teams8
SiteToso Pavilion
Santa Clara, CA
ChampionsLoyola Marymount (1st title)
Winning coachPaul Westhead (1st title)
MVPHank Gathers (Loyola Marymount)
West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball tournaments
← 1987
1989 →
1987–88 West Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
No. 15 Loyola Marymount140 1.000284 .875
Saint Mary's95 .643199 .679
Santa Clara95 .6432011 .645
Pepperdine86 .5711713 .567
Gonzaga77 .5001612 .571
San Francisco59 .3571315 .464
San Diego311 .2141117 .393
Portland113 .071622 .214
Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

Regular season champion Loyola Marymount defeated tournament host and #3 seed Santa Clara 104–96 in the final to win their first WCAC (now WCC) tournament championship.[4]

The Lions earned the automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA tournament and were seeded tenth in the West regional. Sent to Salt Lake City, they outscored Wyoming 119–115, but were stopped 123–97 by second-seeded North Carolina.

Bracket

Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 5
Semifinals
Sunday, March 6
Championship
Monday, March 7
         
1#18 Loyola Marymount110
8San Diego104
1#18 Loyola Marymount109
4Pepperdine106
5Gonzaga70
4Pepperdine81
1#18 Loyola Marymount104
3Santa Clara96
3Santa Clara90
6San Francisco88
3Santa Clara69
2Saint Mary's62
7Portland48
2Saint Mary's68

Notes

  • The tournament champion, Loyola Marymount, scored over 100 points in all three games (San Diego: 110–104, Pepperdine: 109–106, Santa Clara: 104–96) for a total of 323 points.

References