COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Chapman’s Shooting Doesn’t Spell Success

If the Chapman College men’s basketball team hasn’t been successful in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. thus far, the Panthers can claim at least one statistical victory.

Chapman is shooting 54.5% from the field, which places it third among NCAA Division II teams. In seven conference games, the Panthers (12-10, 2-5 in the CCAA) are shooting 55.7%, tops in the conference, but are tied for last place with Cal State Los Angeles.

Each of the starters is making at least half his shots in conference games. Andre Hill at 53.6% is low among the starting five; Alan Schlines (70.0%) is high. In between are: Rog Middleton (60.2%), whose overall shooting percentage (63.4%) ranks him 17th in the nation, Al Jackson (60.0%) and Zlatko Josic (59.3%).

So why haven’t the Panthers been able to carry their nonconference success into the CCAA?

“It’s a fact that (the high shooting percentage) doesn’t produce all winning,� Chapman Coach Bob Boyd said. “But if we didn’t have it, we might not win a game.�

Boyd has said the Panthers have lacked the mental intensity to win close games, especially on the road. Each of the Panthers’ five conference losses has been by fewer than 10 points and two were by four points.

Boyd said turnovers--Chapman is averaging 16 in CCAA games--also have hurt.

“Teams know we still struggle in the field of playmaking,� Boyd said. “We struggle with it, and they extend their defenses against us.�

Chapman plays host to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 8:05 tonight and plays at Los Angeles Saturday. Of the next three games, two are on the road, including the season finale at defending conference champion Cal State Bakersfield.

But Boyd hasn’t written off the season. Every team in the conference has at least two losses and the Panthers are only two games out of fourth place and one of four CCAA tournament berths.

“We are capable of beating any of the five teams we’re going to play,� he said.

Linda Kirby, who was the leading scorer on the Chapman women’s team before missing the past seven games because of academic problems, was reinstated Wednesday. Kirby is back after making up course work and will likely be the first player off the bench when the Panthers play host to San Luis Obispo at 5:45 p.m. today

Chapman, which is 9-12, 1-4 in the CCAA and tied for last with Cal State Dominguez Hills, has missed Kirby’s 15.9-point average while losing five of the seven games she missed.

The Panthers, who were plagued by academic ineligibility and injuries that forced them to play the final two minutes of one January game with four players, finally won a conference game when they defeated Dominguez Hills, 73-49, Saturday.

The Panthers are looking to turn their season around with games this weekend against San Luis Obispo and Cal State Los Angeles, the teams directly above them in the standings.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,� Coach Lindsay Strothers said. “The girls have a real good attitude. Even when we were losing--they didn’t like losing--but they didn’t give up on themselves.�

Rough welcome: When UC Riverside defeated Chapman, 9-0, in a CCAA tennis match Tuesday, it was the first time a college tennis team coached by Reddy Gustine had lost a dual match.

Gustine, who coached Cal Baptist to a 27-0 record last year in his first season as a collegiate head coach, said he isn’t panicking about the loss to Riverside, which was ranked 10th in the preseason Division II poll. Chapman was ranked ninth.

“We are going to get better as the season progresses,� Gustine said. “This is a rude awakening for us. But (Riverside) is a very strong team with a lot of returning lettermen. They probably should be higher ranked than they are.

“I can say humorously now, we don’t have the specter of an undefeated season hanging over our heads.�

In his second season as Southern California College baseball coach, Charlie Phillips faces the task of reconstructing a team after five players signed professional contracts.

The Vanguards were 27-22-1, finished third in the Golden State Athletic Conference and lost the wild-card NAIA District 3 playoff game to The Master’s College.

Phillips says he has brought in almost an entirely new team that should again challenge for the conference title. He says the team might have four or five more professional prospects, the best of whom is Justin Pysar, a center fielder who transferred from Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.

“The key thing for us is to stay in the game because we don’t have the power we had last year,� Phillips said. “But we have some guys who hit doubles and we have better team speed.�

Phillips says the Vanguards have better pitching depth, despite losing first-team all-district ace Jim Dedrick, Larry Jacinto and Ralph Garcia, an outfielder who also pitched, to the pros.

Phillips is counting on four starters: Mike Castle, a left-handed transfer from Christ College Irvine; David Black, a right-hander from Orange Coast College; Ryan Meredith, a right-handed freshman from Trabuco Hills High, and Brett Johnson, a right-handed transfer from Cal State Stanislaus who also pitched at Orange Coast.

Matt Dahlgren, the son of assistant coach Don Dahlgren, transferred from Christ College Irvine and will replace all-district catcher Denny Berni, and third baseman Keith Laszlo also transferred from Christ College.

“I think we should do well,� Phillips said. “We have deeper pitching and we’re better defensively, so we should be there.�

College Division Notes

Jeff Bickmore, SCC’s senior center, was named the NAIA District 3 player of the week for his play in two Vanguard victories. Bickmore, a four-year starter who was the Golden State Athletic Conference player of the year last season, had 41 points and 19 rebounds in victories over Azusa Pacific and Point Loma Nazarene.