Chapman Plays BYU-Hawaii in Basketball Opener Tonight

Two newcomers will start for Chapman College when the men’s basketball team opens its 1986-87 season here tonight against BYU-Hawaii.

Chris Perine, a 6-1 junior guard who was first-team All-State at Santa Rosa Community College last year, and Alan Erickson, a sophomore transfer from College of the Redwoods, will join returnees Jon Samuelson, Kelly Huston and Karl Tompkins in the starting lineup.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what works best,” Panther Coach Kevin Wilson said. “We’ll start Samuelson at the point, but at 6-6 we can also move him to a wing and bring in Mo (Maurice Thompson, Perine’s teammate at Santa Rosa last year) or Steve Lavin. Dave Roth (a freshman from Orange High) will also see some playing time. We’re going try a number of different combinations during our three games over here.”

BYU-Hawaii finished 16-14 overall last season but defeated Chaminade in the NAIA District 29 playoffs and went on to the NAIA national tournament. Among its six returnees are seniors Rich Barker, who averaged 19.0 points a game, and 6-10 John White, who averaged 12.3 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Before returning to Orange for the Nov. 28-29 Chapman/Doubletree tournament, the Panthers also face Chaminade Sunday and Hawaii Pacific, featuring former Cal State Fullerton player Carl Pitts, on Monday.