Warhol’s Theory Doesn’t Suit Singled-Out CSUN Buddies

The problem with Trenton Cross’ 15 minutes of fame, besides the fact that it keeps popping up on reruns, is that he’s kind of ashamed of it now.

Cross, Cal State Northridge’s point guard, and redshirt freshman Walter Jefferson, appeared as part of the “dating pool” last spring on the MTV show “Singled Out,” a dating game for the ‘90s.

Part of the process by which the 50 men are whittled down to one involves the men embarrassing themselves. In the episode in which Cross and Jefferson made it through the first cut, they had to, in their best whiny voice, pretend they were asking the lucky female to take care of them while they were sick.

“It’s embarrassing,” Cross said. “Now people around school see me and they say, ‘Hey, didn’t I see you on “Singled Out”?’ And I just say, ‘No, that wasn’t me.’ ”

Flashy freshman: Injuries have depleted a talented freshman class for the Pepperdine women’s basketball team, but Samantha Rigley is off to a promising start in her first college season.

Rigley, a 5-foot-10 guard from Alemany High, had 18 points, five assists and five rebounds to lead Pepperdine past UC Riverside, 84-59, in a nonconference game Sunday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Rigley has started five games for the Waves (4-3) and leads the team in minutes played, averaging 32 a game.

Isn’t it surprising to have a freshman logging so much playing time?

“Not for Sam,” Coach Mark Trakh said. “She comes to us very experienced. She had great coaching on the club level, where she learned a lot about basketball and poise. . . . Everybody who sees her play says she doesn’t look like a freshman. She can do it all.”

The versatile Rigley, who plays both guard positions, is averaging 9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

The season hasn’t gone as well for two other promising freshmen. Jenny Frank, a 6-2 center, is sidelined four to six weeks because of a broken left wrist suffered in the opener against Duke, and 5-11 forward Nikki Fields was scheduled to have back surgery today and is lost for the season.

“If we had those two, I really think we would be 5-2, maybe even 6-1,” Trakh said.

Scandal?: This from the Oliver Stone Department:

The Cal State Northridge basketball team trailed by as many as 16 points in the last three minutes of its loss to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night, but the Matadors scored 11 points in the last 34 seconds to lose, 95-90.

Stephen F. Austin Coach Ned Fowler was the coach at Tulane when players at that school were involved in a point-shaving scandal.

Coincidence?

Probably, because, no one would be crazy enough to bet on Stephen F. Austin and Cal State Northridge.

Having a ball: Burroughs High soccer goalie Jose Munoz was worried Saturday afternoon. He had lost the Crummy Ball.

After each Indians’ victory, Coach Mike Kodama gives out a beat-up, deflated ball to the two team members who played best. Their names are scrawled on the ball with a ballpoint pen and at least one of the two must keep it in their possession until the next match.

Munoz earned the ball Saturday morning with a shutout of Burbank in a Burroughs tournament match, but had set it down in the stands and returned to find it missing.

“You have to have it all the time, even if you get up to give a speech in class, you got to take it with you,” Munoz said. “If the other guys find you without it they throw you in the showers.”

Just then, Munoz spotted a teammate tossing the ball in the air at the other end of the stadium.

“Ahhhh! Gotta go,” he said, and moved off in pursuit.

Fresh start: ESPN is scheduled to show the Foot Locker national cross-country championships at 12:30 p.m. Monday and it will be interesting to see how much footage the network has of girls’ winner Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks High in the final stages of the race.

Mortensen passed defending champion Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa just after the two-mile mark, but when Stamps became ill, dropped out of the race and collapsed a quarter-mile later, the ESPN camera truck--which films the race while staying 40-50 meters in front of the lead runners--hung a U-turn to film Stamps lying on the ground.

The truck got back on the course shortly thereafter, but it was behind Mortensen, filming the pack chasing her.

“I was a little concerned when they hung that U-turn,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “First they turned right in front of Kim and then she didn’t have anyone to pace her after that. She was just out in front by herself.”

Honors

Cal Lutheran sophomore punter Jeff Shea became the school’s first All-American in 10 years when he was selected to the NCAA Division III first team. A graduate of Santa Paula High, Shea averaged 45 yards to lead the nation’s Division III punters. He was only one of two sophomores on the 24-man All-American squad.

Things to Do

The Master’s College (5-2) will play host to California Baptist in a nonconference men’s basketball game Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Contributing: Rob Fernas, Jeff Fletcher, Irene Garcia, John Ortega, Tris Wykes.