College Division / Mitch Polin : Cal Baptist Has New Zealand Look

Cal Baptist College of Riverside has found a New Zealand connection for its men’s basketball team.

The Lancers have three from New Zealand, including two starters, playing this season.

The starters are senior guard Tony Smith and senior forward Neil Swindale. Guard Warren Daniels, a freshman, is the other player. Smith, a team captain, is averaging 11 points and Swindale 6 points and 4 rebounds.

So how did the tiny Baptist school, with an enrollment of about 500, attract the New Zealanders?

For Coach Jerry King, it started in Coalinga, Calif. where Swindale played 2 years ago as a sophomore at West Hills College.

“A (coaching) friend in Salinas . . . told me about him and said he didn’t think people were recruiting him,” King recalled.

As it turned out, Swindale was being recruited by a number of National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics schools. But, decided to attend Cal Baptist as a junior.

Not long after that, King said he had mentioned to Swindale about the team needing a point guard and Swindale suggested Smith.

Smith hadn’t played college basketball since 1981, when he competed for Ricks College at Idaho, although he had performed well for New Zealand club teams.

“I was looking to come out to the United States to play and finish my schooling,” Smith said. “I’ve known Neil for a while and I was in New Zealand when he got a hold of me.”

Although King had never seen Smith play, he didn’t hesitate to add him to his roster last season.

“I knew a JC coach who took a touring team over to New Zealand and watched him play, so I knew a little about him,” King said.

Daniels, who knew Swindale and Smith, had also been a New Zealand club player and also played for its junior national team that had toured the United States.

King said the presence of two fellow New Zealanders might have influenced Daniels to play at Cal Baptist.

With the other New Zealand players, Smith says the adjustment to playing American basketball might have been easier.

“It always makes it a lot easier when you have somebody from your own country with you,” Smith said. “With three of us here, it’s like your mates.”

At this point, King said Smith has probably made the biggest contribution to the team’s 8-3 record this season.

“When you have somebody come from a foreign country and he becomes your MVP, it’s quite an impact,” King said. “Tony adds a lot of maturity to our team.”

Smith, 29, also is the team’s oldest player and is married with two children.

“It’s been kind of a difficult adjustment but you learn a lot and I’d say it has been a good experience,” he said.

King said it did not take Swindale, 22, long to endear himself to his teammates.

“Neil’s one of the most popular guys on the team,” King said. “He’s got a great sense of humor and he’s a very hard worker.”

King said Daniels may be the most talented of the three.

“Probably the best athlete is Warren but probably the most mature basketball player is Tony just because of his age,” King said.

The coach says he wasn’t raiding New Zealand to find players, but he is happy with the result.

“I just want to get good quality individuals and good quality players,” he said. “To me, I don’t care where I get them from.”

If nonconference games are an indicator, there could be a changing of the guard in NAIA District III men’s basketball this season.

Heading into the season, Westmont and Biola--both perennial district powers--were considered the favorites again.

The outlook may be a little different now, however. Westmont, has struggled to a 3-6 record and Biola, competing with only six players in its first five games, is 4-2.

The district’s best teams have been Southern California College (8-1) and Christian Heritage (8-2) and Cal Baptist.

The difference between the play of the Azusa Pacific University men’s basketball team at home and away this season has been substantial.

It’s not just in the team’s record, which is 5-1 at home and 0-3 on the road.

The Cougars are also allowing 115.7 points a game on the road, and 67.7 at home. Azusa Pacific allowed its highest point total in a 164-138 loss at Loyola Marymount in November.

Scoring has not been a problem for the Cougars, who are off to their best start since the 1981-82 season. Azusa Pacific is averaging 90.2 points--its highest figure in 18 years.

College Division Notes

Coach Mike Sutton of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has been named manager of the U.S. national water polo team through the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona. In 10 years as coach of the Stags, Sutton has a 212-105-1 record, including 70 straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victories and seven straight conference titles. He has also coached the men’s swim team to second place in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Division III 5 of the last 6 years.

Starting nose guard Curt Page of the Occidental football team has been selected to the GTE Academic College Division All-American first team. A biochemistry major, Page has been on the dean’s list for 8 of 11 quarters. . . . Sophomore forward Chris Palm of The Master’s, who led the NAIA District III in points for the second consecutive year, has been chosen to the NAIA All-American first team in soccer. Palm, the first Mustang to earn first team honors, scored 11 goals and had 10 assists for 32 points this season. Junior defender Jim Rickard was named to the All-American third team.

Six California Collegiate Athletic Assn. players have been named to the NCAA Division II first and second teams in women’s volleyball. The first-team choices were middle hitter Kathleen Dixon of Cal State Northridge and hitter Sherri Benson of UC Riverside. Second-team players were middle hitters Marianne Dixon and Karen Langston of Northridge, setter Regina Carbajal of UC Riverside and hitter Paula Tezak of Cal Poly Pomona. Tezak’s selection marked the second sport in which she has earned All-America honors. The senior made the Division II All-American second team in basketball last season and was the CCAA’s most valuable player.