Toros Cold From Floor; Biola Wins

The inability to make field goals continued to plague Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday night.

This time it was at host Biola University where the Toros hit just 20 of 52 shots from the floor and lost to the NAIA powerhouse, 76-63.

The Toros entered the game hitting only 44.95 of their field goal attempts and they showed why, putting up a variety of air balls, ropes, blown layups and sorry looking three-point attempts. Freshman guard Bryan Dell’Amico was, perhaps, the most frustrated of the group. He was 0-6 from three-point range.

“Heaven knows that we missed shots that you got to drop to win games like this,” said Dominguez Hills Coach David Yanai.

Yanai spent 15 minutes after the game in a closed-door blackboard session, then emerged to say that his team, which starts two freshman, is still in the learning stages.

Those thoughts were echoed by Biola Co-Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist.

“It will take a few weeks for them to learn to play together, but when they do, they’ll be a good team,” he said.

On paper at least, this game didn’t look like much of a match. Biola, which was 29-2 last year with virtually the same lineup it started Thursday night, was off to a 7-0 start, including a 25-point victory over Northern Arizona, a Division 1 school, last weekend. Dominguez Hills has just one starter back from its California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship team and was on a two-game losing streak.

But to the Toros’ credit, they never gave up and were diving for loose balls and getting their hands on Biola passes as the final minutes ticked off.

But still, the loss had to be a little frustrating for Yanai, whose team matched up well in offensive strategy going in. Both teams utilize the passing game, or tempo offense.

And for most of the first half, although it never led, Dominguez Hills stayed in the game. Despite making just six of their first 17 field goal tries, the Toros trailed by only 20-18 with 5:19 left in the half.

But Biola finished the period with a 10-6 spurt, then outscored the Toros 23-14 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Biola led by as many as 16 points.

Small school All-American center Johnny Griffin of Biola, defensed well by Dominguez Hills center Anthony Blackmon and freshman forward Dezi Hazely in the first 10 minutes of the game, broke loose in the second half and led all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Guard Derrick Clark led Dominguez Hills with 16 points and four assists.

Dominguez Hills returns home Saturday night against San Francisco State, which it beat, 71-67, last weekend.