The usually friendly Pittsburgh gym was anything but hospitable for the men's gymnastics team last week.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the same held true for their stint in Houston-Baptist Saturday.

The Lions were looking for high scores to count in their regional score average, but the judges had other ideas.

Although it won against Pitt, the team could manage only a 274.90 to Pitt's 260.65. And, at Houston Baptist the bad luck continued. The Lions' 271.60 was good enough to beat HBU's 269.55, but short of Oklahoma's 271.80.

"We were judged severely," Coach Karl Schier said of the Houston meet. "It seemed like two teams against one and we were the one. We had 11 major breaks and that was too many. It definitely was not a stellar effort. It is acceptable when a team loses by .2 if it did the best it could. Our performance was far from it."

The team score was the second lowest of the season, behind the Lions' first 1990 outing against Syracuse.

Individually, team captain Mark Sohn provided a bright spot as he took top honors on pommel horse with a 9.80. Although the Lions are the top pommel horse team in the nation, they could only manage a 44.85 on that event.

The still rings team was the highlight of an otherwise dreary meet. Sophomores Wayne Cowden and Richard Briggs tied for first on that event, each scoring a 9.65. The team scored a 47.25 on the rings.

The rest of the meet, however, was far from invigorating. Oklahoma's Brian Holstead won the all-around with a 55.80 while freshman Mike Masucci finished second with a 55.30. Cowden, usually a consistent all-arounder for the Lions, suffered three major breaks and could only score a 53.05, his lowest score of the season.

Against Pitt, Schier said the team had the wind taken out of them. The previous week, the Lions had tallied a season high 277.90 against Ohio State.

"It was not as high as I wanted," he said. "We were healthy, but we ran into what I would call a depressing factor. Three of the judges were giving us scores we just weren't used to receiving for our routines. It took to the pace out of them -- especially after Ohio State and in front of a crowd of only 100 people."

Sohn scored only a 9.65 on pommel horse, a perfect example of the stringent judging, Schier said. It was Sohn's second lowest score of the season.

"Mark hit his routine, but he did take one trick out because it wasn't flowing as he wanted it to," Schier said. "But that was just exemplary of the scoring."

Despite the disappointments, the Lions did manage to sweep the all-around from the Panthers. Cowden finished first with a 55.60, followed by freshman Mike Masucci (55.35) and junior Jamie Downer (54.80).

Cowden, assisted by Masucci and Briggs also stole the top spots on the rings. Cowden's 9.65 earned him first while Masucci and Briggs tied for second, each with a 9.5. Again, the ring team was the bright spot for a frustrating afternoon for the Lions, Schier said. The Lions tallied a 47.35 on that event, a season high, compared to a 44.65 on parallel bars and a 45.40 on high bar.

"We ended up performing rough," Schier said. "We started out ready, but we didn't get the adrenaline going, in part because of the scoring. One good thing, we did walk away from the meet healthy."