Depleted Chapman Loses to Bakersfield, 62-59

Chapman College basketball Coach Kevin Wilson said it after watching his team slip to 3-5 Friday night with a 62-59 loss to Cal State Bakersfield at Hutton Sports Center:

“I have no desire to leave this place. If USC or Arizona State offered me a coaching job, I wouldn’t leave. I love it here.”

Wilson is apparently a man who thrives on adversity.

He’s certainly had to wade through enough of it during his first season at Chapman--disciplinary problems, injury woes, player defections, and his team’s exasperating inconsistency.

And then, Friday night, with the Panthers set to play perhaps their most important game of the year, Wilson loses his best player, his No. 3 assist man and his reserve center before game time. An already-thin roster of 11 players is suddenly sliced to eight.

Forward Johnny Williams, the team’s leading scorer, and guard Derrick Clark are not enrolled in classes for the new semester. Neither had paid all their fees for the first semester, thus making them ineligible to enroll for the upcoming term--and ineligible to play against Bakersfield.

Meanwhile, center Mike Brennan was sidelined with a knee injury sustained during practice. Brennan is questionable for tonight’s game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but Williams and Clark won’t be back at least until Monday, when they settle their accounts with the school.

“It’s hard to believe,” Chapman Athletic Director Walt Bowman said. “If you’re a player and you’re getting ready for the two biggest games of your career, you’d think you’d want to be out on the floor. If it was me, I’d be pounding the streets . . . trying to earn the money I needed.

“This is another one of those innocent things that makes Kevin look bad, but it was totally out of his control. . . . These players are 21 years old. They’re responsible for their own actions.”

Wilson said that he didn’t know until 3:30 Friday afternoon that Williams and Clark would not be able to play. He prepared accordingly--and quickly.

“I told Dave (Nahabedian, Wilson’s assistant) that I knew some very good three-man and four-man offenses if it came down to that,” Wilson said. “When I coached at Metro JC (in Minnesota), we played nine games in a row with only five guys suited up. We’d end games sometimes with only three or two players on the floor.”

It never got that bad Friday. No Chapman player fouled out.

More surprisingly, the eight Panthers who were able to play played Bakersfield (5-3, 17-4) to a near-standoff. Chapman was down by four with 2:49 remaining and had chances to make it closer but failed to hit another field goal the rest of the way.

“With a shot here or no turnover there, who knows?” Wilson said. “I thought we would win the game at the end.

“I’m not discouraged, I’m very proud of what this team did. . . . Tonight, we were outmanned, but we weren’t outclassed.”

Chapman (12-9) kept it close with the inside play of center Karl Cato (18 points, 11 rebounds) and the outside shooting of Mike Kelly (13 points).

But without Williams & Co., the Panthers were unable to offset Bakersfield’s tandem of Victor Green (13 points), Jud Beardsley (12) and Leonard Brown (12).

For Chapman, it was an admirable effort. It just wasn’t enough to for a victory.

CS BAKERSFIELD (62)--Bryant 9, Brown 12, Ganner 2, Setencich 9, M 3, Green 13, Beardsley 12, Jackson 2.

CHAPMAN (59)--D’Hern 4, Kelly 13, Jones 9, Briggs 6, Weninger 3, Marusich 6, Cato 18.

Halftime--Bakersfield 41-34.

Attendance--350.