Shutting Down Marcelic a Key for Northridge

After being singed by Southern Utah forward Davor Marcelic for 43 points last season, the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team plans to be on the alert tonight at 7 when the Thunderbirds (10-4) take on Northridge (4-12) at Matador Gymnasium.

Marcelic, a 6-foot-7 senior from Zadar, Croatia, can be deadly from the perimeter. Last season, he connected on 14 of 15 field-goal attempts and eight of eight free throws against the Matadors.

A left-hander with a quick release, Marcelic could be a challenge for Keith Gibbs, the 6-6 Northridge forward who will have first crack at guarding him.

“I wouldn’t be afraid to put Andre (Chevalier) or James (Morris) on him if I had both of them,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. Morris, however, will be in New Orleans because of a death in the family.

Cassidy also would consider using 6-1 guard Brooklyn McLinn on Marcelic.

“Even though he’s (Marcelic) so much taller, the whole idea is stopping him from getting the ball,” Cassidy said. “He forces you to spread your defense because he has great range. Plus the guy on him can’t help inside on defense because (Southern Utah) will kick it back out to (Marcelic).”

With 6-6 forward Dana Achtzehn matching Marcelic’s 22-point scoring average--on shots primarily inside the key--the Thunderbirds are not a one-man team.

“He’s tough,” Cassidy said of Achtzehn. “He works his fanny off.”

TOP 50 FOE

Southern Utah is the 49th-ranked team in USA Today’s computerized basketball rankings, and Northridge is ranked 230th among 300 NCAA Division I teams.

The Matadors are ranked higher than a team with six wins (No. 269 North Carolina-Greensboro), and ahead of a team they lost to (No. 277 Northern Arizona).

Six teams that have defeated Northridge are ranked in the top 76. Northridge’s highest ranking this season has been 223rd; its lowest, 243rd.

JAM MAN

Northridge center Brian Kilian has dunked four times this season, which is four more dunks than he had last season or in his previous two seasons at West Valley Junior College in Saratoga, Calif.

“We used to try to get him to dunk back then, but he never would,” said Northridge senior Keith Gibbs, a teammate of Kilian’s at West Valley. “Now, he’s dunking all the time.”

Kilian also has a tendency to hit the deck for a loose ball at a moment’s notice despite his 6-foot-7 stature. Incredibly, he emerges from these tussles without a hair out of place.

PAYING DIVIDENDS

Cal State Northridge will begin its first season of competition in indoor track and field in the Nevada All-Comers Collegiate meet at the Reno Livestock Events Center today. Coach Don Strametz said the addition of indoor track to the Matador program already has paid off in recruiting.

“(Indoor track) gives us another thing to sell the kids on,” Strametz said. “Some kids might be borderline on whether or not to come here, but the fact that we now have an indoor track program makes us that much more appealing.”

Competing indoors also helps the coaching staff get the team in shape earlier.

“No one wants to compete indoors if they’re out of shape,” Strametz said. “Indoor track gives the athletes motivation to get in better shape in the fall.”

WHAT’S AHEAD

Northridge will have 14 men and 14 women competing in today’s indoor track meet.

Marc Harisay, a junior transfer from San Jose City College, and Derek Scurry, a freshman from Hawthorne High, are two of the leading men competitors for the Matadors. Juniors Kim Young and Charlotte Vines will lead the Northridge women.

Harisay will compete in the shotput and the 35-pound weight throw; Scurry will compete in the long jump.

Young will run in the 55-meter low hurdles; Vines will compete in the 55-meter dash and the 200.

Northridge also will compete against Fresno State and Northern Arizona in a triangular meet at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Feb. 1, and in the Bill Cosby Invitational at the Reno Livestock Events Center on Feb. 15.

Northern Arizona will play host to an invitational meet the following week, but Strametz is not sure if any Northridge athletes will compete there.

The NCAA Division I indoor championships will be held in the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Mar. 13-14.

INSURANCE POLICY

Why would Northridge football Coach Bob Burt be interested in San Diego State transfer Cree Morris when he has four quarterbacks returning next fall?

“That’s one of his concerns and one of our concerns,” Burt said. “I’m not saying we couldn’t use a guy of his caliber, but we have guys of his caliber as long as they don’t break their leg or their collarbone.”

Burt was referring to three of his four signal-callers: Marty Fisher, who suffered a broken leg, and Coley Kyman and freshman Bradley Freeman, who suffered broken collarbones. Freeman suffered his injury at an all-star game before the season.

CALL ME COACH

Cornell Ward, the receiver-turned-trick-play-quarterback who thrilled Northridge fans in an otherwise sour season (3-7) with seven touchdown passes in eight throws, will be a CSUN graduate assistant next season.

Ward, 27, plans to finish his undergraduate degree in kinesiology this summer and begin work immediately on a master’s degree.

“A lot of guys are looking for jobs right now in the CFL (Canadian Football League) and NFL (National Football League), but I really want to finish school,” Ward said. “I was blessed with a second chance to come back to school.”

This will be Ward’s second go-round in coaching. He interrupted his collegiate playing career in 1984 to coach for three seasons at his alma mater, Los Angeles High.

FIRST WIN

Cal Lutheran’s 75-56 victory over Pomona-Pitzer marked the Kingsmen’s first official Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

The Kingsmen played against every SCIAC team twice last season when they were not yet affiliated with the conference.

The conference-opening victory was particularly sweet for Cal Lutheran after losing twice to Pomona-Pitzer last season--including a 108-102 double-overtime loss at home.

Wednesday’s win also bodes well for Cal Lutheran (5-8 overall) because Pomona-Pitzer (5-7) is a respectable team.

“It wasn’t just like playing a rag-tag team,” Cal Lutheran Coach Mike Dunlap said. “They are very intelligent as players.”

ROAD TEST

Upcoming road games will provide Cal Lutheran with its biggest tests in SCIAC play.

Occidental (6-5, 0-1) will play host to the Kingsmen tonight.

“We think that they play the hardest of any of the teams in conference,” Dunlap said.

Blair Slattery, Occidental’s 6-6, 225-pound center, has given the Tigers some bite this season with averages of 20.6 points and 11.6 rebounds a game.

Dunlap has goals beyond shutting down Slattery, however.

“We just want to go in there and play well on the road,” Dunlap said. “For any team to be at the top they have to learn to win on the road.

“You can’t get involved in the crowd or the officials. You have to keep your poise.”

Staff writers Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.