Big Games : Washington at Palisades

Washington takes its 8-7 record (0-5 in the Central League) and invades Palisades (13-3 and 3-2) to face the Dolphins at 4 p.m. Friday . The Generals hope to avenge an earlier 81-52 loss to the Dolphins.

Washington Coach Andrew Davis said his team will have to hit the boards and play sound, aggressive defense. “They killed us on the boards the last time we played them,” said Davis. “We’re going to have to improve on offense also, and not hit any dry spells where we go without scoring.”

Palisades Coach Jerry Marvin calls the Generals the best sixth-place team in the city, and said that his team cannot take this game lightly if they are to stay close to Crenshaw for the league title.

“They’ve got good size and they’re physical--they gave us nothing but trouble over there,” said Marvin. They mix up a lot of different defenses, and they’re pretty quick--they press and trap a lot.”

Marvin said his team will have to recognize the Generals’ defense, run the right offense and keep the turnovers down.

Marvin will rely heavily on Derek Strong, averaging 14.5 points and 9.2 rebounds, and Victor Malborugh (12.1 points and 4.6 rebounds), players he said have been consistent all year. Also drawing praise from the coach were Palisades point guard Jeff Bronner and two key players off the bench, Billy Heikel and Bobby Brown.

The Dolphins are coming off a 66-56 victory over Dorsey in which they lost a comfortable 14-point lead in the third quarter as turnovers let Dorsey back into the game.

University at Los Angeles

A big game will be played at the Romans’ gym when University (10-6 overall, 3-2 in the Pac 6 League) take on Los Angeles (5-10, 1-5) at 7:30 p.m Friday 1. The Warriors are only a game behind first-place Jefferson in the league, and they will need this victory to stay close to the Democrats. “If we’re to take league, we’re going to have to win the rest of our games--so we can’t afford to lose this one,” University Coach Jim Nakabara said. “The first-place team has one loss, we have two and we’re into our second round of games in league.”

Nakabara said that the Romans have one great shooter in Derek Bell and can be beaten if he can be stopped. He said that his team will also have to overcome Los Angeles’ quickness.

“We’re a slow team, so any team we play is quick. They will press full court so they can take advantage of that,” he said.

Coach Kevin Crider of Los Angeles said his team will have to play with greater intensity against University than they have in other games. Conceding that he doesn’t know why his team is having problems getting up for the games, Crider said he considers it a coaching problem he intends to correct.

Free throws could decide this game, as they did last week in University’s win over Venice. The Warriors will have a decided advantage over L.A. in that department. The Romans haven’t shot well from the foul line, but the Warriors were 16 for 16 against Venice down the stretch and 31 for 36 for the game as they pulled out a 65-51 victory.

Nakabara plans to go to his forwards and center down low, and will look to good outside and free-throw shooting to turn back the Romans. The Warriors are getting balanced scoring from Craig Pryor, averaging 13 points and 6.2 rebounds, Derek Drain (12.9 points and 7.7 rebounds) and Peter Selleck (12.6 points and 2.2 rebounds).