Coaches are Rivals for 1 Day : Basketball: Fuller and Egan support each other, but that support is suspended tonight when SDSU and USD meet.

SAN DIEGO — Under the right circumstances, Hank Egan would sign a petition, wave a pompon or even lead a few cheers in behalf of Tony Fuller.

Tonight the circumstances are totally wrong.

Not until the dust has settled at the San Diego Sports Arena can the University of San Diego men’s basketball coach support the new San Diego State men’s coach in good faith.

Tonight at 7:30, USD and SDSU play in the 27th installment of the San Diego City Championship. The Aztecs lead the series, 16-10, but the Toreros are fast closing the gap. After SDSU won six consecutive games from 1979 to 1984, USD won six of the next seven meetings, including the past two.

The men who will oversee this contest are a unique combination of experience and youth.

Egan, in his ninth year at USD and basketball veteran of 27 years, is 4-3 against SDSU in the series. Fuller, who took over the beleaguered Aztec program last spring, makes his head coaching debut after spending four years as an assistant under Jim Harrick at UCLA and another six years on the staff at Pepperdine after playing for the Wave for two seasons.

For the overall good of the sport in a town that doesn’t ordinarily jump through or for hoops, Egan wishes Fuller the best . . . after things are settled over on Midway Drive.

“They’re trying to rebuild a program over there,” Egan said. “Sure we’d like to see them do well. It’s good for the town to have good basketball programs. But we want to win when we play them.”

The Toreros are going for their third in a row, but don’t anticipate that the Aztecs will roll over in the season opener for both teams. Although USD’s 14-14 finish didn’t exactly qualify the Toreros for post-season play, SDSU’s laughable 2-26 showing brought the Aztecs to the brink of a different kind of March Madness.

Egan wouldn’t expand on the deterioration of the 1991-92 Aztecs, other than to say that it takes a tough team to survive that kind of intense scrutiny.

“The adversity that team lived through? The outside criticism and the pressure was unbelievable,” he said.

But SDSU’s season from the dark side didn’t detract from USD’s victory because the city title was on the line long before the Aztecs went up in smoke.

“We don’t feel that way because both teams came out to play (last year),” said USD forward Gylan Dottin, a fifth-year season who has played in three cross-town clashes. “It’s always a big game for all of us. Everyone get serious. What happens after that . . .”

What’s done is done. A new era dawns tonight at dusk for SDSU, and Fuller welcomes his first game as head coach.

“I’m excited, I think it will be fun,” Fuller said. “I like to compete.”

Not that this is an annual meeting for some friendly competition. On the contrary, Egan said this meeting has turned into “a complete war,” the last two years. With the city’s bragging rights at stake, no one takes this game lightly.

“I like this rivalry,” Egan said. “It’s a healthy thing to have. I just wish we had some more games behind us, I wish we were a little more prepared.”

Each team has played two exhibition games. USD won both and SDSU was 1-1. Against a common opponent, Mobile Oil, the Toreros won by seven points and the Aztecs were six points better.

Egan’s biggest worries against SDSU are stopping forward Tony Clark and center Joe McNaull and how to counter the flexibility Fuller will likely show in his line up. SDSU physically outmans USD, and the Toreros must find a way to neutralize the Aztecs inside.

Fuller, on the other hand, gets a wrinkles on his brow when he thinks about USD guard Joe Temple, who averaged 17.5 points in exhibitions. Likewise, the Toreros’ quickness and rebounding skills are trouble spots.

“They’re very good, they have a lot of depth and they’re fundamentally sound,” said Fuller. “We just have to be patient, try and get back on defense and keep them off the boards.”

When Fuller was an assistant at Pepperdine and at UCLA, Egan had the opportunity to coach against programs that shaped Fuller’s coaching philosophy.

“I’ve known Tony and his programs a long time,” Egan said. “He uses a lot of UCLA stuff and some Pepperdine stuff, and it will be well thought out.

So have the repercussions of a loss on either side.

“A win or a loss in the first game sets the tone for how you start your season, so it’s important from that aspect,” said Egan.

Only then can Egan wish Fuller best of luck for the season.

City Championship

Season Winner Score Loser Score 1962-63 SDSU 68 USD 49 1963-64 SDSU 70 USD 69 1964-65 USD 89 SDSU 85 (2 OT) 1965-66 USD 54 SDSU 47 1966-67 SDSU 55 USD 50 (OT) 1967-68 SDSU 69 USD 59 1968-69 USD 72 SDSU 65 1969-70 SDSU 70 USD 67 1970-71 SDSU 97 USD 82 1971-72 SDSU 87 USD 69 1972-73 USD 78 SDSU 67 1974-75 SDSU 84 USD 61 1975-76 SDSU 78 USD 62 1976-77 USD 67 SDSU 63 1979-80* SDSU 67 USD 58 1980-81 SDSU 60 USD 52 1981-82 SDSU 41 USD 36 1982-83 SDSU 47 USD 45 1983-84 SDSU 61 USD 47 1984-85 SDSU 57 USD 53 1985-86 USD 81 SDSU 64 1986-87 USD 83 SDSU 67 1987-88 USD 76 SDSU 53 1989-90 SDSU 85 USD 75 1990-91 USD 75 SDSU 74 1991-92 USD 60 SDSU 57

* USD upgraded to Division I

SDSU leads series, 16-10