Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Biola Takes Its Best Shots, and They Aren’t From Long Range

Biola University has the top NAIA basketball team in the Southland and the No. 5 team in the nation, but not by a long shot.

Coach Dave Holmquist doesn’t disdain the three-point shot, but he doesn’t look for it, either. His game plan basically ignores it.

In building a 22-1 record, the Eagles have taken 73 long-range shots--about three a game. Every other District III team has attempted at least 100 more three-pointers.

Holmquist said his team isn’t conservative. It just does other things better than unload bombs. Holmquist’s approach stresses high-percentage shots. He’ll tolerate the three-pointer--if it’s being shot by somebody who should be shooting it.

Otherwise, they get the ball into forward Johnny Griffin, who is making 63.4% of his shots.

“We’d probably use it more if we had some guys like we’ve had in the past,” Holmquist said. “We don’t have a lot of long-range shooters. . . . We really don’t look for the three-point shot this year.”

The exception is guard Jeff Martineau, who leads District III guards with a .565 field goal percentage and has made 21 of 37 from three-point range--57%.

“We’re shooting well as a team,” Holmquist said. “We work for the good shot, but we’re trying to make it a full-court game, force some things off our defense and full-court press.”

If that makes the Eagles sound slow or stodgy, they’re not. The team is averaging 82 points a game, working from the inside out. Griffin, a 6-foot 5-inch power player, leads the team with 19.9 points and 6.5 rebounds a game.

“He’s only 6-5, but he uses his body well, posts up strong, he’s very aggressive and he knows how to play the game,” Holmquist said. “It’s hard to contain him. A lot of teams have been doubling on him, which leaves some of our other guys open for jumpers. That’s been happening more often lately.”

Another factor in Biola’s surge--the Eagles had a nine-game winning streak going into Tuesday night’s home game against Fresno Pacific--is the recent addition of 6-3 small forward Ellis Yarrell, a transfer who became eligible six games ago. Yarrell, a strong leaper, had 33 points against The Master’s College last week and 19 points with two blocked shots in Saturday’s 71-69 victory over Cal Lutheran.

Other team leaders include forward Paul Jungkeit, the second-leading rebounder, guard Mike Wnek, who averages 5.4 assists, and reserve forward Dan Elliott, the District III leader in free-throw shooting with 38 of 41 for 92%.

Holmquist said he has had teams with more depth, but none that played any better as a unit at Biola. “What we have is a good blend, good chemistry,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of good outside shooters, get some good penetration, guys who play with a lot of intensity. We’re not very tall. We’re not a dominant team, but we’re a good team because of how they play together.”

Biola figures to be the top-seeded team when District III playoffs begin Feb. 24, but Holmquist said any of the top four--Biola, Westmont, Southern California College and Pt. Loma Nazarene--could emerge as the team that advances to the national tournament in Kansas City.

“The district playoff still determines an NAIA berth,” he said. “In some ways, these games are practice games,” he said. “It all comes down to that last week, who comes into it hot.”

If it comes down to a last shot, odds are Biola won’t take a bad one. Or a long one.

Cal State Los Angeles’ 78-63 upset of the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team snapped several streaks for the defending Division II champion. Pomona had won 18 straight games, 46 straight against Division II opponents and 31 straight in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. The Broncos had also won 25 straight games against Cal State L.A. since 1974.

Pomona beat Cal State Northridge in overtime Saturday, 88-78. Pomona trailed by 10 points with 2:45 to play, but a frantic full-court press caught Northridge in regulation. Pomona forward Debra Larsen scored a career-high 37 points in that game and had 73 points and 39 rebounds in three games last week. The Broncos are 21-2 overall and still have a 2 1/2-game lead in the CCAA at 8-1.

The loss figures to knock Pomona out of No. 1 in the Division II poll for the first time this season. Cal State L.A., ranked 17th last week, could move up substantially.

L.A. sophomore center Lupe Quintana had 22 points and 13 rebounds against Pomona. She has moved into third place on the school rebounding list with 519 in 48 games.

Two Cal State L.A. basketball players who became involved in spectator-police scuffle during last week’s Cal State L.A.-Bakersfield game have been suspended for the rest of season. Marty Heede and Cary Brooks reportedly left the game with about 10 seconds remaining when Heede saw his brothers being chased by campus police. A police officer was reportedly injured in the incident.

Heede and his brothers were booked by police.

A school statement said both players “violated the ethics” prescribed for student-athletes, resulting in their suspensions. The players have the right to appeal to the university’s intercollegiate athletic board, though there are only two weeks left in the season.

Azusa Pacific’s recent surge in basketball has been paralleled by forward Michael Long, who is averaging 13.4 points in Cougar victories but only 5.9 points in defeat. By contrast, Alex Adams, who played well early in the season when the team was losing, is averaging 11.2 points in Cougar victories but 18.2 in losses.

Small College Notes Denise Sitton has moved into first place on the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball scoring list with 1,300 points. She also ranks third in the CCAA in both points and rebounds. She leads the CCAA in scoring with an average of 18.6 points. . . . Freshman center Mary Beth Nelson of Biola tied the school record last week with 26 rebounds against Whitworth College. . . . Pete Coeler of The Master’s is 70 for 128 (55%) from three-point range and has had four straight 30-point games, making his 23.7-point average about three points higher than it would have been a year ago, when there was no three-pointer. . . . Cal State Los Angeles’ track team set two conference indoor records at the Skydome Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz. Stan Oporski had a 53-2 3/4 triple jump, and the men’s two-mile relay team of Robert Briglia, Jim Gallivan, Don Ausherman and Tony Young won in 7:46.61. . . . Debbie Arnold of UC Riverside, the second-leading scorer with a 13-point average, and leading rebounder with 9.9 a game, will miss the rest of the basketball season because of torn cartilage in her right knee. . . . Eric Osborne, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo wrestler, is rated fifth in the nation at 167 pounds with a 23-3 record. . . . Cal State Bakersfield won the California Collegiate wrestling tournament in San Francisco last week. Darryl Pope, 177 pounds, and Eric Mittlestead, 190, continue to be ranked No. 1 nationally in their weight classes. . . . Freshman outfielder Jim Stowell began his career at Cal Poly Pomona in grand fashion last week, hitting a three-run homer against USC in his first collegiate at-bat.