Cassidy’s Milestone 250th Victory Is No Sentimental Journey

Pete Cassidy is not the sentimental type.

Last Friday, in the moments after his 250th victory as CSUN’s men’s basketball coach, Cassidy chose to scold his team for its rather lackluster performance, rather than reflect on his career.

In fact, he says he didn’t even know he had reached the milestone.

“Stay in anything long enough and you’re bound to get some,” he said of his victories. “I don’t think in those terms. I was thinking about how we played, how we wanted to play and how we didn’t play.”

In his 16th season, Cassidy’s record at Northridge is 250-189.

Getting even: Midway through its 30th men’s basketball season, CSUN has a chance to balance the books.

Ever since the Matadors went 3-13 in the 1958-59, they have been trying to paddle back to the .500 mark.

Tonight against Cal Poly Pomona, Northridge, 386-387 overall, has its chance.

The Northridge women’s record is barely above .500. The Lady Matadors are 175-168 midway through their 14th season.

Creeping closer: Forward Pat Bolden needs only eight points to crack Northridge’s top 10 in career scoring. The 6-5 senior has 835 points in his career, just shy of tying Ben Balke for 10th place.

Bolden leads the Matadors with a 15.2 scoring average, which is fifth best in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. He is third in the conference with a 51.6% shooting percentage (16 of 31) from three-point range.

CSUN bomber: Northridge guard Chuck McGavran, second on the team and sixth in the CCAA with a 14.6 scoring average, is eight three-pointers shy of tying Paul Drecksel’s single-season school record of 44. McGavran has made 36 of 97 three-point shots this season.

Canyons confrontation: College of the Canyons (12-10, 2-2) gets a big test tonight when the Cougars play host to Allan Hancock (18-2, 3-1) in a Western State Conference game.

Last season, Hancock finished 14-14 and 7-6 in conference play. This season, the Bulldogs have been ranked among the top teams in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau.

Forwards Tony Regueira and Warren Hawthorne, both 6-4, were the conference’s leading scorers in 1985 and ‘86, respectively.

Regueira, a sophomore from Miami who did not play last season, is averaging 17 points a game. He scored 46 points against Canyons two years ago.

Hawthorne, a sophomore from Philadelphia, is averaging 23 points a game and guard Tyrell Cromwell, also from Philadelphia, averages 13.5 points and 8 assists.

Trevor Right, a guard from the Bahamas, averages 13.0.

Weiss guy: The Valley College men’s basketball team has emerged as one of the favorites to win the Southern California Conference. The Monarchs are off to a 4-0 start in the SCC and have raised their once dismal overall record to 7-14.

One of the major factors in the turnaround has been the play of David Weiss, a 6-5 sophomore forward from Fairfax High who has started the past six games. Weiss, who scored a season-high 24 points in last Friday’s win over Cerro Coso, is averaging 12 points a game.

Viva Velasco: Sal Velasco, a second-team All-American kicker for Glendale College, has signed a letter of intent with Hawaii.

Velasco, who graduated from Burbank in 1985, kicked a school-record 10 field goals last season and finished his two-year career with a school-record 18.

Velasco was also an academic All-American at Glendale.

Awards time: Miller Aupiu, a sophomore linebacker who led the Moorpark College football team in tackles, was named the Raiders’ most valuable player for 1987.

Aupiu, an All-Western State Conference first-team selection, had 91 tackles last season--60 unassisted. Aupiu averaged 10 unassisted tackles in the Raiders’ first four games as Moorpark allowed just 31 points. Moorpark set school records in 1987 for consecutive shutouts (2) and scoreless quarters (11).

Tailback Dana Griffin was named Moorpark’s offensive player of the year. Griffin, a 5-11, 197-pound sophomore, led the Raiders in rushing with 687 yards in 111 carries and 8 touchdowns.

Jeff White, a sophomore cornerback, was Moorpark’s defensive player of the year. White, an All-WSC first team selection, returned two interceptions for touchdowns.

Center Paul Mesa was the top offensive lineman and Greg Mattes was the top freshman offensive lineman.

Freshman John Goslin was the team’s top defensive lineman, sophomore Mike Kildee was the Raiders’ most inspirational player and Larry Roberts was the top freshman offensive back.

Sean Pate, a freshman defensive back, was Moorpark’s most improved player.

Ms. Consistency: Karina Hardman has scored 20 or more points in 12 consecutive games for the Moorpark women’s basketball team.

The sophomore forward is averaging 27 points in Western State Conference games and 24.8 overall. She scored 30 and 26 in Moorpark’s past two games.

Moorpark (12-10, 4-0 in WSC play) is the only undefeated team in the WSC going into tonight’s game at Santa Monica.

Team effort: Dametra Johnson, who leads the Valley women’s basketball team in scoring with 29 points a game, is not the only reason the Monarchs are 18-2 overall, 4-0 in the Southern California Conference and riding an 11-game winning streak.

Ruth Aguilar, Bernadette Tillis, Traci Atkins and Shagarro Lattin are the other four starters who have contributed.

Aguilar is averaging 20 points a game and leads the team in rebounding (10.8). Tillis is averaging 15.3 points and 14 assists. Atkins is averaging 13.5 points and 11.8 rebounds and Lattin is averaging 10.5 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Regal rise: Now that the Cal Lutheran women’s basketball team has snapped its eight-game losing streak, the Regals have set their sights on a bigger goal--a winning record in Golden State Athletic Conference play.

Coach Norm Chung said the Regals’ 77-71 victory over Southern California College in a GSAC opener last week was the turning point he has been waiting for.

“I think we turned the corner and all of the things we have been working on have finally come to fruition,” Chung said.

The Regals dropped to 2-11, 1-1 in conference play after a 119-53 loss to Fresno Pacific on Tuesday.

Rankings: The Cal State Northridge baseball team, which opens its season Feb. 1 at Arizona State, is ranked sixth in Division II by Collegiate Baseball. Cal State Dominguez Hills, the defending CCAA champion, is ranked fourth and Cal Poly Pomona is ranked seventh.

Staff writers Ralph Nichols, Mike Hiserman and Gary Klein contributed to this notebook.