Rittgers Handles All the Technical Points : UCSD Lined Up on the Right Side of Saturday’s Free Throw for All

Tom Marshall, UC San Diego basketball coach, had a most peculiar task when he had to decide who would shoot 24 straight free throws after Menlo College was assessed 12 technicals for a bench-clearing fight in Saturday’s game at La Jolla.

“We had already decided we could switch (players),” Marshall said. “We even thought of going back and forth (between players).”

As it turned out, Marshall needn’t have worried.

Junior guard Rob Rittgers stepped to the line and made all 24 shots. By the time the game ended, Rittgers had made 30 of 30 from the line.

“We didn’t expect one person to make them all,” Marshall said. “I was thinking there’s going to be one miss some where. But they kept going in.”

Rittgers, a transfer from Grossmont College, set three NCAA Division III free-throw records and tied another. UCSD also set a Division III team record for free throws made (53 of 59).

Rittgers set individual marks for free throws made, consecutive free throws made in a game and free throws attempted. He also tied the record for free-throw percentage in a game.

Rittgers’ 30 consecutive free throws also was better than the records for Division I (24) and II (23). And his performance of 30 in a game tied him with the Division I mark held by Pete Maravich. The Division II record is 37 in a game set by Clarence Francis of Rio Grande in 1954.

Rittgers was unavailable for comment Sunday.

Manny Gomes, the referee responsible for counting the free throws made, said: “I was counting and I think there was only three balls that hit the rim. All the rest were all net. He just did an excellent job.”

When Rittgers went to the line to start his string of free throws, UCSD trailed, 30-16. When he finished, the Tritons led, 40-30. UCSD (11-4) won, 110-85.

“It turned the game into a farce,” said Bob Williams, Menlo coach. “The players told me they would have preferred I take them off the court. Not that that’s something I wanted to do.”

Williams was ejected because the 12 technicals also were bench fouls, which also are given to the coach. After three technicals, a coach is ejected under NCAA rules. The only place he could go was a meeting room with a window overlooking the court. From that position, Williams saw his team’s lead evaporate with each of Rittgers’ shots.

Asked what he thought as Rittgers was shooting, Williams said: “It’s the same thing the kids were thinking--it’s not a basketball game anymore.”

The technicals were called after the Menlo bench emptied onto the court when a fight broke out between UC San Diego center Nick Capuano and Menlo center Ken Welsh. Only one UCSD player left the bench.

Nine technicals were called on players, two on assistant coaches and one on Williams. Welsh and Capuano were ejected.

Williams contends that his players went onto the court to break up the fight.

“The fight broke out directly in front of our bench, and no blows were thrown by our players other than the kid in the initial fight,” Williams said. “The intention was to break up the fight.”

Players leaving the bench to break up a fight would be given one-shot technicals; if their intent is to join the fight, they would be assessed two-shot penalties.

Referees Barry Alman and Gomes assessed Menlo with the tougher penalty.

“That’s the first time in 37 years I couldn’t break up a fight,” said Gomes, 57, who has worked in the National Basketball Assn. “When punches are being thrown, you have to back off and watch the benches. Only one UCSD player went on the floor. I looked over at the other bench and nobody was there.”