Master’s Top Guard Dropped From Team After Grades Take Fall

James Robinson, a freshman guard at The Master’s College, was dropped from the team Wednesday for academic reasons. Robinson was the Mustangs’ leading rebounder and averaged 10.8 points a game.

“He was my best player,” Coach Randy Stem said. “But he wasn’t performing academically. He wasn’t going to classes. I was very disappointed.”

Master’s Athletic Director John Zeller said Robinson will continue at the college as a part-time student. “Students must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average to stay in school, and he didn’t,” Zeller said. “As a part-time student, he’ll try to get his grades back up.

“He’s a great athlete. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’d be an all-district player eventually.”

The Mustangs play in the NAIA’s District III.

Asked to describe Cal State Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy, assistant coach Mark Felix, who also played for Cassidy in the late ‘70s, said: “He’s quiet and reserved. He’s not real close to his players. It’s business here.

“Once, when I was a player, we went back to the University of Iowa to play. After the game, a couple of us went out and drank some beer and, well, we got in late. Cassidy found out about it.

“The next day, we tried to avoid him. When he finally found us, we were prepared for the worst. He said, ‘You guys told me something about yourselves.’

“That’s all he said. I thought, ‘What the hell does that mean?’

“But that’s the way he is. He’s the guy you want to be your neighbor. Unless you’re a player.”

Forgettable quote: Before leaving on last week’s trip to UC Davis and Cal State Sacramento, Northridge guard Paul Drecksel commented about away games. “I don’t think it’s anything--playing on the road,” he said. “I feel less pressure on the road. It’s easier. I like it better. I think we’re all right.”

CSUN dropped both games, lowering its road mark to 0-5.

Freshman guard Steve Delaveaga is the leading scorer for Cal Lutheran, averaging 11.6 points a game.

For the first eight games, Delaveaga had been leading the team in scoring as the first man off the bench for the Kingsmen. Coach Ed Anderson put him in the starting lineup in the Kingsmen’s last two games before the team broke for a short vacation.

Delaveaga responded with 17 points in Cal Lutheran’s 83-81 loss to Christ College Irvine and had eight points before an eye injury slowed him in the Kingsmen’s 60-58 loss to Cal State Stanislaus.

“He certainly earned the right to start,” Anderson said. “Now, if we can get some real consistent play out of the point guard position, we’ll be OK.”

UC Davis Coach Bob Hamilton was asked before playing CSUN whether his team would pressure the Matador guards. “Hell no, we don’t have the quickness to put much pressure on anybody,” he said.

When CSUN assistant coach Mark Felix learned of Hamilton’s comment, he said: “Yeah, right. They play a full-court man defense. Never listen to coaches before a game--everybody knows that.”

When Lady Matador Coach Leslie Milke decided her team would practice at 10 a.m. on New Year’s day, the decision was hardly greeted with enthusiasm by the CSUN players. According to Milke, some players picketed her office in protest.

“They formed a players’ union,” Milke said. “So we went to the bargaining table.”

Milke, it turned out, took a hard-line approach. “We would never have canceled the practice--no way,” she said. “I was willing to give an hour.”

Practice started at 11 a.m.

In Northridge’s 74-70 loss to Cal State Sacramento, center Paul Hobus had his best game of the season. Hobus, who had distinguished himself until Saturday’s game only by fouling out of more than half the Matadors’ games, scored 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including key baskets down the stretch.

The 6-6 junior also had six rebounds and, most impressive of all, just three fouls in 37 minutes.

Three new coaches will join the CSUN baseball staff next spring. All three are former Matador players.

Tom McKay, Barry Cocheu and Paul Kaplan, members of the 1984 Northridge Division II national championship team, will assist Coach Terry Craven. Dave Stabelfeldt will stay on as an assistant.

“The good news is that we have three guys back from the national championship team,” Craven said. “The bad news is, they are coming back as coaches--not players, where they could really do their thing.”

The Matadors open the ’86 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball season Jan. 10 at Cal State Los Angeles. CSUN, the defending CCAA champion, has no games scheduled until then.

Cassidy isn’t thrilled about the two-week layoff.

“It will hurt us,” he said. “We’ll practice, but we’re tired of looking at each other.”