Dominguez Hills Cager Sets Records on American Samoa Team

Cal State Dominguez Hills basketball player Victor Nomaaea had a record-setting summer in Fiji, where he led the American Samoa team to the finals of the Oceanic Tournament.

The 6-2 Nomaaea, entering his sophomore year at Dominguez Hills, scored 204 points, an average of 34 for the six games, and had a tournament-record 48 points in a triple-overtime loss to Australia in the championship of the 10-team tourney.

Nomaaea had games of 34, 30, 28, 36, 28 and 48 points for the American Samoa team. The tournament, held in the Fijian capital of Suva, involved teams from the islands in the South Pacific and will be considered when teams are picked for the 1988 Olympics.

Nomaaea, a San Pedro High graduate of Samoan descent, was co-player of the year in the Eastern-Marine League in 1984. He missed part of last season with a wrist injury and averaged five points for the Toros as the third guard.

Inglewood High’s football program has been unstable, to put it lightly, since Bob Hunter unexpectedly left two years ago. One coach, a non-teacher, quit over the summer, citing lack of support by the school district. The new coach, Rick Amadio, starts with two returning starters declared academically ineligible.

Though Inglewood has as many good athletes as any school in the area, the program’s recent problems have not been lost on college scouts.

“That team was like a Chinese fire drill last year,” said Dick Lascola, who runs one of the most influential scouting services in the Southwest. He scouted Inglewood in a game last year. “I left that game shaking my head. Jeez, if they were all like that I’d get out of this business.”

Lascola said Inglewood has several talented athletes this season, particularly linebacker Eric Strothers, but the coaching instability makes recruiters leery. “It’s a wait-and-see situation,” Lascola said.

Bill Seward, the broadcaster and former football coach from St. Bernard High, has landed a reporting position with the ABC-TV affiliate in Eureka. Seward is the sports director and sports anchor at 6 and 11 p.m. on station KVIQ.

The 26-year-old Seward, who was believed to be the youngest coach in the CIF when he started at St. Bernard, had a three-year record of 23-11-2 and took the Vikings to the playoffs all three seasons. He resigned last season--after winning the Camino Real League title--to look for a full-time broadcasting job.

Seward, a former all-league lineman at Notre Dame High in Van Nuys, limped off into the sunset, having had arthroscopic surgery on his knee the day before he was offered the job. He officially began last week. His position in Eureka may also include play-by-play for nearby Humboldt State sports.

Two basketball prodigies have selected schools after long periods of deliberation: high school sensation James Moses will play at Serra High this season, while Joey Johnson will begin his college career at South Idaho Junior College.

Moses, a sharp-shooting guard who averaged 17 points a game for Alemany as a freshman, played this summer with Carson High’s team but his family told The Times he was enrolling for his sophomore season at Serra in Gardena. Moses lives in Carson and commuted to Alemany in the San Fernando Valley last year with an assistant coach, who no longer works at Alemany.

Johnson, the youngest brother of Boston Celtics star Dennis Johnson and one of the most electrifying players to come out of the Los Angeles area in years, was recruited by several major colleges but apparently will work on his grades for at least a year.

Also on the scene, Loyola Marymount University will apparently have the services of basketball guard Chris Nikchevich, who is transferring from Brigham Young University. Pending approval of his transcript, Nikchevich will sit out this season, then will have one year of eligibility at Loyola.

The 6-2 Nikchevich, who was all-CIF at Crespi High in Encino, was apparently unhappy after several years as a part-time starter at BYU and looked around Pepperdine as well as Loyola.