Point Loma Fosters Court Success : Private College’s Little Pond Attracts Big Basketball Fish

Ben Foster, head coach of the Point Loma College Crusaders, was in his office Wednesday afternoon trying to describe what kind of athletes become involved in his program.

“What the kids are trying to decide is whether to be a small fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a small pond,” he said.

If they end up at Point Loma, a private Christian liberal arts college that features a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and a student population in the neighborhood of 1,900, most likely they’re striving for the latter.

And the Crusaders have done well under Foster’s tutelage. Point Loma, an NAIA school, is 10-2 heading into Thursday’s game against Rockmont College in the first round of the 14th annual Point Loma Classic.

“We’ve got a quality basketball program here and not too many people know about it,” Foster said.

Since 1973, when the school was relocated to San Diego from Pasadena and rechristened Point Loma College, the Crusaders have won more often than not. Last year, the Crusaders qualified for the NAIA District III playoffs. The year before that, they won the district and advanced to the NAIA National Championship in Kansas City before losing in the first round.

If there’s anyone who can claim responsibility for their recent success, it’s Foster. He’s been associated with the college since 1964, when he starred at center for the green and gold, sandwiching six years of being an assistant coach between his four years as a player and 10 seasons as head coach.

“The kind of person we like to get here is a good student-athlete,” Foster said. “And we’re looking for a person who really is into the academics and wants to play some ball as well. They have to be able to do a capable job at both, and they have to have some character as well. There’s a bit different environment here than there is at a secular school.”

Point Loma is just across town from San Diego State, but it seems a world away from its bigger cousin, a Division I school. Whereas SDSU is primarily a commuter campus and Aztec home basketball games are played in the San Diego Sports Arena, most students who attend Point Loma live on campus and Crusader games are played there, inside the intimate Golden Gym, which seats 3,500.

The closer one looks, the deeper the differences become.

For instance, at Point Loma, there is no such thing as a “free-ride” scholarship, although athletes do receive stipends for tuition.

As a matter of course, students are expected to refrain from the use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, profane language and gambling.

At Point Loma, there’s no heavy emphasis on winning as there is at the big-time college level, where the difference between winning and losing could be millions of dollars in gate receipts, playoff money and, ultimately, the coach’s job.

“If there is pressure on me here (to win), I don’t know about it,” Foster said. “The only pressure is self-imposed, to become as good as we’re capable of being. We’re not going to make an awful lot of money off of our basketball program. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have high expectations for ourselves.”

But it would be foolish, Foster said, for him to recruit athletes who are “academic risks” in order to win a few extra ball games. And he said very few of his players have been forced to quit the team because of academic problems through the years he’s been coaching.

“I want to build a program with some kind of continuity to it,” he said.

The Crusaders take a team-oriented approach to basketball. They work on playing tough defense and getting the fast break going. According to Foster, it’s difficult for any one player to emerge as a star.

The closest they have to that is Deon Richard, a 6-6, junior forward from Gardena High School, who leads the team in scoring with an average of 18 points a game.

“I like being at a school where you have a chance to get to know everybody,” Richard said. “You feel more unique, more like an individual than at some bigger school.”

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to win.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Kansas City,” he said. “I’m going all out to help us win the Southern District and get back there. I was there as a freshman, and it was a remarkable experience.”

There seems to be more of a a local flavor to the Crusaders as well. Two of the starting five hail from San Diego, including starting point guard Greg Lanthier, a sophomore out of Mt. Carmel High.

“I was born in San Diego,” he said. “But I don’t have any great individual goals. I’d just like to look back on this experience and say I had a good time playing basketball.”

As for the limelight enjoyed by other more publicized local colleges, Lanthier said he’s not too concerned.

“I don’t feel like I’m missing anything,” he said.

“Most of the guys we have here have the game in perspective,” Foster said. “They know their chances of making the NBA aren’t that great. They just want to have a good experience playing basketball and getting a quality education.”

Brian Caradonna, a senior from Santana High, is another one of Foster’s players who seems to have basketball in perspective. He filled in at point guard last season when the team was without one, even though his true position is forward. But he’s not starting this season and is averaging a mere four points a game.

“I’m just happy to be able to stay in San Diego because I just love it here,” he said. “I’m happy just being a small fish in a small pond.”