Cal State Fullerton Notebook : Basketball Program Sets Sights on Immediate Help Rather Than Preps

The first day of the spring signing period was Wednesday, but there were no first-day signings to report for the Cal State Fullerton basketball program--in part because Fullerton is involved exclusively with community college players, who typically sign later than high school players.

In other years, the Titans might be looking at high school players, but since they are losing the top two players, Richard Morton and Henry Turner, from a 12-17 team, Fullerton is in need of immediate help.

“Once we were into the season, I felt our recruiting needs changed,” said George McQuarn, Fullerton coach.

Fullerton signed four high school players during the fall signing period.

Among them is Wayne Williams, a point guard who helped lead Manual Arts High School to the state basketball championship. One of Williams’ strongest performances occurred when he scored 30 points against Crenshaw in the playoffs.

“I can’t say I was surprised,” McQuarn said. “But I was pleased.”

McQuarn said the Titans are involved with a number of community college players, and that he expects upcoming signings.

Three local players signed with the Fullerton softball team Wednesday, the first day of the spring signing period: Nikki Lewis of Canyon High School, and Joy Tyner and Debbie Hartwig, both of Saddleback College.

The Fullerton soccer team landed Chris Mastropaolo, a standout defender from Mater Dei, and the women’s basketball team is awaiting the return by mail of letters of intent.

Bill Barham and Amir Kadury, two members of Fullerton’s men’s gymnastics team, qualified for the NCAA championships that begin today and continue through Saturday at Lincoln, Neb.

Barham, a sophomore, qualified in the all-around competition and is ranked 10th in the nation. His best all-around score this season was a 58.10 of a possible 60, which he scored in a meet at UCLA. His season-high single-event score was 9.85, which he scored on both the parallel bars and the high bar.

Kadury, a freshman, qualified on the high bar and is ranked 15th in the nation. His best score on the high bar this season was 9.80, against Stanford.

Two members of the women’s team--Lisa Dolan and Stacey Harris--qualified in the all-around for the women’s NCAA championships, which will be in Salt Lake City beginning April 22.

Brent Mayne, the Titan catcher who has a 21-game hitting streak and could break the school-record streak of 23 games Sunday, says his main concern is his defensive play.

“If I turned and started putting offense in front of defense, I’d be sure to have problems,” Mayne said. “This thing wouldn’t go on too long.”

Mayne took a day off Sunday, the final day of the Titans’ three-game sweep of Cal State Long Beach, after being hit in the shoulder by a foul tip the day before. He says sitting out wasn’t in the interest of preserving the streak, but simply to avoid aggravating the injury.

He got back in the swing Wednesday, going 1 for 3 against United States International University in a 9-6 Titan victory at San Diego.

He can tie the school-record 23-game streak held by Mike Vanderburg and Tom Thomas Saturday, in the second game of a crucial three-game home series against Nevada Las Vegas. The Rebels are in second place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. race, a game behind first-place Fresno State and one game ahead of third-place Fullerton.

After a slow start, Mayne’s .517 average over the 21 games of the streak has bolstered his average to .431, the team’s highest.

Mayne said the streak hasn’t become pressure-filled--at least not yet.

“I won’t let it,” he said.

In 17 of the 21 games, Mayne has had 2 or more hits, and he has three 4-hit games. Those who follow the team can’t even recall a game in which it was very close. In one recent game, Mayne started out 0 for 2, which started a bit of a scare. But he ended up 2 for 5.

Mayne, who said he has never had a streak of longer than five or six games before, seems to be keeping his run in perspective.

“Realistically, it isn’t really helping the team,” Mayne said. “It’s helped a little bit, but we’ve been killing everybody anyway.”

His duty, he maintains, is defense.

“A first baseman, a right fielder, that’s an offensive position. But for a catcher, a shortstop, a second baseman, those are all defensive positions. I guess breaking the 23-game record would be nice, but that’s not a big deal to me as long as we win and I play good defense. . . . It takes a lot of pressure off hitting to know that my job is defense.”

But how would he feel if he found himself at the plate, still hitless in the late innings of Sunday’s game, perhaps a single at-bat away from owning the record?

“I wouldn’t mind being in that position. It would be somewhat of a challenge. . . . No, I wouldn’t mind.”

The Fullerton club hockey team ended its season Sunday, when it won the championship of the Southern California College Hockey Assn. tournament by defeating UCLA, 4-2, at the Pickwick skating arena in Burbank.

The Fullerton club team, led by second-year coach Ron Furlong, has won the past three SCCHA titles and finished with a 21-6-2 record this season.

Tom Imperato and Todd Nelson led the Titans through the five-team round-robin tournament, in which the Titans beat UCLA twice and also defeated Stanford, California and Cal State Northridge.