The Pavilion has also hosted the highest scoring basketball game in NCAA Division I history when Loyola Marymount defeated U.S. International 181-150 on Jan. 31, 1989. In addition, it served as host to the WCC Tournament in 1990 and 1997.

The Pavilion opened its doors on Jan. 15, 1981 with a men's basketball 83-68 loss to Santa Clara. The Lions' first win came eight days later with a 66-62 victory against St. Mary's.

To this day the Pavilion keeps bringing them in as the 2005-06 season saw the third largest crowd in school history with 4,482 saw the Lions take on fifth-ranked Gonzaga in a game televised by ABC. It was the first trip to the campus for the network as the Lions fell to a career-best performance by the future No. 3 pick in the NBA draft.

One of the largest regular season crowds gathered in 2004 to see LMU top local rival Pepperdine 3-1 in West Coast Conference action. With 1,142 fans in attendance, it was the largest Gersten Pavilion crowd since LMU hosted the playoffs during the 1996 Sweet Sixteen season.

In December of 2000, a state-of-the-art scoreboard system was put into Gersten Pavilion. The scoreboard includes LionVision, a giant multi-camera videoboard at the south end of the facility. In the Summer of 2001, a new energy saving event lighting system was installed and the ceiling was repainted white to enhance the on court lighting.

More enhancements were made the last two years. In 2006, the center court floor was completely redesigned and resurfaced. The two side courts were resurfaced the year before. In addition, a state-of-the-art sound system was put into place, replacing the buidling original sound solution. The new system features more than 65 speakers through the Pavilion, including speakers in the lobby, atrium, restroom and founders room.

In the summer of 2007, the entire lower seating sections in the arena where replaced with new Crimson chairbacks and bleachers.

Built to accommodate the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the Pavilion served as the host site for the weightlifting competition of the Games. More than 1,000 people were involved with the staging of the event, which attracted the largest number of weightlifting competitors in the history of the Olympics. More than two million people were brought into the Pavilion through television, radio, newspapers and wire services that attended the competition.

Prior to the Olympics, Gersten was the site of the McDonald's Gymnastics Classic in 1983, featuring the best male and female gymnasts from the United States and the former Soviet Union. In 1991, the Pavilion was the venue for the men and women's volleyball and boxing preliminaries at the U.S. Olympic Festival. It has been host to top basketball camps in the country, hosting LMU alumnus Pete Newell and his Big Man's Camp for NBA players. It has served as one of the official practice homes of the L.A. Lakers, L.A. Clippers and currently the L.A. Sparks.

The Pavilion was named in honor of Albert Gersten, father of LMU regent Albert Gersten, Jr., a 1974 LMU graduate. The Gersten family was the largest single donor to the construction project.

Men's Basketball Year-by-Year Records

- GO LIONS -

Updated: Aug. 8, 2011