SDSU to Play Manhattan in Holiday Tournament
In tonight’s opening round of the Holiday Bowl tournament in the San Diego Sports Arena, the San Diego State basketball team isn’t playing the Division I team with the worst record in the nation last season.
But Manhattan, a small school from Riverdale, N.Y., comes close. Manhattan, which competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, was 2-26.
Only Colgate, a small school from Hamilton, N.Y., that was 1-24, had a worse record.
Arizona State plays Mississippi at 6:30 tonight in the tournament’s first game, with SDSU meeting Manhattan at 8:45 p.m.
Manhattan, however, is 3-6 and already has won more games than it did last season. Manhattan has defeated St. Francis, 73-59; Lehman, 86-53; and Franklin and Marshall, 83-68. Those aren’t exactly powerhouses, but Manhattan lost to all three last season.
“We came into the season trying not to think about last year,” said Manhattan Coach Bob Delle Bovi, an assistant coach last season who replaced the fired Tom Sullivan. “It was a tough year. It was like a nightmare. Everything that could go wrong, did. Our starting five should have been the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th players on the team.”
Forward Maurice Williams was averaging 18.8 points a game last season when he was declared academically ineligible. Guard Ed Lawson redshirted for medical reasons after suffering a back injury in a car accident.
After a few more injuries, two players had to be recruited from the student body so that Manhattan could suit up a team of eight.
There were embarrassing losses to Notre Dame, 102-47, and to North Carolina, 129-45. For the season, the Jaspers were outscored by an average of more than 24 points a game, 87.2 to 63.
When Sullivan was dismissed, Delle Bovi resigned to support his longtime friend. Only after talking to Sullivan did Delle Bovi decide to accept the offer to replace him.
This season, the Jaspers have a strong backcourt. Lawson has recovered and is averaging 11.7 points, 5 assists and 3.6 rebounds. Bill Wheeler, a transfer from UNC Charlotte, is averaging a team-high 22.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.3 steals.
Sophomore forward Bret Holmdahl, a member of the conference’s All-Rookie team last year, is averaging 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds. Freshman center Peter Runge has averaged 12.5 points and 5 rebounds in the past four games.
“We knew we had better players this year,” Delle Bovi said.
But they have brought respectability back to Manhattan basketball.
“There is a definite resurgence on campus,” Delle Bovi said. “Kids are talking about basketball now. Now is a good time at Manhattan College. I think the program is on the way up.”
A look at the other teams in the tournament:
San Diego State (1-6)--The Aztecs have gotten off to a bad start. Their only victory was against Cal State Los Angeles, 64-60, in the San Diego Sports Arena Dec. 13.
About the only bright spot for the Aztecs has been the play of freshman guard Tony Ross, who has scored 50 points in his last two games, is averaging 15.8 points and has made 23 of 41 three-point shots. Sophomore guard Josh Lowery is second in scoring with an average of 14.1.
San Diego State has finished last in its tournament the past two years. The Aztecs lost to Texas Christian and Michigan State in 1984 and to UNC Charlotte and Fresno State last year. The last time the Aztecs won the tournament was in 1981, when they defeated Temple, 75-64, in the championship game.
Arizona State (3-3)--Senior guard Steve Beck (23.8 points) and junior Arthur Thomas (15.5) form a high-scoring backcourt for a team that is not expected to challenge for the Pacific 10 championship.
Steve Patterson, a former UCLA player in his second year as Arizona State coach, says the Sun Devils’ scoring has been far from balanced.
“Steve Beck is carrying more of the offensive load than I would prefer,” Patterson said. “He’s taken it upon himself to carry that load and you have to admire that. But that means we’re not getting scoring punch out of some other areas. It will be detrimental to us in the long run if we do not score in other areas.”
Mississippi (5-2)--The Rebels lost to a good Tulsa team, 69-68, in Tulsa, and to Arkansas, 70-56, in a game played in Memphis. Mississippi is led by junior guard Charles Prater (15.6 points) and senior forward Eric Smith (13.4).
Ed Murphy is in his first season as coach of the Rebels after replacing Lee Hunt, who left last summer to become coach and athletic director at Missouri-Kansas City.