Community College Notebook : Orange County Teams Will Have Their Work Cut Out

The South Coast Conference did little damage to its reputation as one of the top men’s basketball conferences in the state during nonconference play.

Three of the top eight teams in the state poll play in the South Coast Conference and four of the top 10 teams in the Southern California poll are conference teams.

El Camino (16-1) is ranked second in the state and first in Southern California. Pasadena (12-3) is ranked fifth in the state and third in Southern California. Compton (11-4) is ranked eighth in the state and seventh in Southern California.

Pasadena moved into the top 10 for the first time with a 95-80 victory over Alan Hancock Dec. 30 at Pasadena.

It was the first loss of the season for Hancock (16-1), which had been the state’s top-ranked team for the past three weeks. Columbia (17-1), from the Central Valley Conference, is the state’s No. 1 team this week.

Long Beach (12-6) is ranked eighth in Southern California, but not ranked in the state’s top 10.

All this figures to make the season difficult for Fullerton (10-6) and Golden West (10-6), Orange County’s only teams in the conference.

Fullerton opens at home against Cerritos Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and then plays host to Pasadena Saturday.

Golden West opens at Compton Wednesday and is at Cerritos Saturday. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.

What about the women? Whereas the Golden West and Fullerton men’s teams aren’t the South Coast conference favorites, the women’s teams from both schools start conference play Wednesday as co-favorites.

Golden West (15-1), the defending conference champion, has won 13 consecutive games and plays host to Compton at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Fullerton (15-4), which has six straight victories, travels to Cerritos for a 7:30 p.m. game.

More signings. Six members of the Golden West football team have signed national letters of intent, Coach Ray Shackleford said Monday.

Herman Bain, an all-South Coast Conference nose tackle, signed with Eastern Michigan. Trent Brummett, an all-conference linebacker, signed with Fresno State.

Roy Flory and Glenn Parker, all-conference tackles, both signed with the University of Arizona. Willie Taylor, an academic all-American wide receiver, signed with Stephen F. Austin, and Robert Lendino, a second-team all-conference linebacker, signed with Iowa State.

Community College Notes

The Azusa Pacific-Rancho Santiago men’s basketball game scheduled for Saturday has been switched to 7:30 tonight at Rancho Santiago. . . . Rob Mase, a starting forward on the Orange Coast men’s basketball team, was dismissed from the team by Coach Tandy Gillis last week. Victor Lindskog, a former football player at Rancho Santiago, was the only local among 10 recently inducted into the California Community College Football Coaches’ Assn. Hall of Fame for 1987. Lindskog, an offensive lineman, played at then Santa Ana for two seasons (1940-41) and then went to Stanford. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1944 to 1951 and was a member of the 1948 and 1949 Philadelphia teams that won the NFL championship.