CCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Trio of Favorites Line Up for Conference Race

It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was simply a matter of which college basketball team would uphold the pride of the West.

And, of course, in which year it might do it.

Time and again there were match-ups against the Beasts of the East (read: schools located on the other side of the Mojave Desert) and each time the Woeful Westerners came away bloodied and bowed.

First it was the Stanford Cardinal, the pride of the Pacific 10 Conference, who was left red with embarrassment after losing to Indiana, 84-73, and North Carolina, 87-76, in November. Then it was UCLA’s turn to get stepped on by the Tarheels, 104-78, in December.

Would the blunders ever cease?

Of course they would. And it was UC Riverside, a team that had never lost a game to a nationally ranked major college opponent, which delivered.

OK, maybe that last statistic is a little deceiving. The truth be told, Riverside had never played a ranked Division I team until it met No. 4 Iowa last month in the championship game of the Chaminade Holiday tournament in Hawaii.

The Highlanders not only won, they won big, 110-92, striking a blow for the little guys of Division II basketball--particularly the brand played in the obscurity of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

“Hopefully, now we’ll get some credit,” Riverside Coach John Masi said on behalf of the conference. “With the success of professional teams and all the Division I teams in Southern California we’re a little bit of a secret. In Division II we’re the little sister. It’s nice to upstage the big boys once in a while.”

The Highlanders have been celebrating their good fortune--”It’ll probably never happen again,” Masi said--for 3 weeks now. That will all end tonight when Riverside opens conference action at home against Cal Poly Pomona. In other CCAA openers, Cal State Los Angeles plays host to Cal State Northridge, Chapman is at Dominguez Hills, and Cal State Bakersfield travels to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

A little national exposure was nice, Masi said, but if there is one thing he has learned after 9 seasons of coaching in the CCAA, it’s that a great season can unravel all too quickly.

Riverside, its coach says, is one of the few 12-1 teams in the nation that can say it is worried about qualifying for its own conference tournament. And with good reason. Cal State L. A. (2-11) is the only CCAA team entering the conference season with a losing record.

“It’s best never to get too confident,” Masi said.

If there is a coach in the conference who might have reason to, it would be Masi, whose teams have won 20 or more games 4 of the past 5 seasons, including 1987-88 when it went 22-8 and advanced to the North Central regional final.

But even with 3 starters back from that team, Riverside wasn’t the preseason choice in the CCAA. That distinction went to Cal State Bakersfield, which was ranked among the Division II top 10 in several publications. The Roadrunners are 11-2 in nonconference games.

And which team does Bakersfield Coach Pat Douglass say he fears most?

Why Northridge, of course.

“They have the balance that you want,” Douglass said. “In a given game, Riverside is a tough match-up because of all that outside shooting. But over 14 games, I’m most concerned about Northridge. They play good defense and can score from outside and inside.”

Informed of Douglass’ thoughts, Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy responded with a noise that sounded like either a laugh or a choke. Perhaps a combination of the two.

“He really said that, huh?” Cassidy said. “Well, I hope he’s right.”

Northridge is 9-4 and has played very poorly (losing to Sonoma State and San Francisco State) and very well (beating Cal State Sacramento in overtime).

CSUN’s strength inside emanates from center Todd Bowser--at 6 feet, 8 inches and 280 pounds, the conference’s biggest post player. Bowser, a junior in his third season as a starter, is averaging 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

Outside, the Matadors’ top threat is Derrick Gathers, a 6-3 junior who leads the team in scoring with an average of 18.4. Gathers was deadly from 3-point range during the early season but has slipped of late and is shooting 41.9% from long distance.

Such a percentage would put him well down the list at Riverside, which is shooting 49% as a team from beyond the 3-point line.

Riverside made an NCAA-record 21 3-point baskets in 36 attempts against Iowa. The Highlanders were so hot from long range that almost everyone got into the act. Steve Harrington, a reserve center who had not attempted a 3-point shot in 2 seasons at UCR, was 2 for 2.

Guard Maurice Pullum is Riverside’s top sharpshooter, averaging 18.7 points and hitting 51% (41 of 81) of his 3-point shots.

Chris Ceballos, a junior transfer from Cal State Fullerton, is another key player for the Highlanders. He was averaging 15.8 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds before suffering a torn tendon on the knuckle of his right hand in a game against Grand Canyon (Ariz.) College on Tuesday.

“He puts us over the top,” Masi said. “We were 10-4 in conference last season but we struggled a lot. He gives us that inside game we didn’t have. We need him back.”

Bakersfield, last season’s regular-season CCAA champion, has only 1 starter back--forward Troy Price.

Price, a 6-4 senior, leads the Roadrunners in scoring with a 14.5 average. He has received support from Von Bennett, a 6-8 freshman from Stillwater, Okla., who is averaging 13.9 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Defense is Bakersfield’s forte: the Roadrunners are allowing only 64.6 points a game and opponents are shooting only 37.4%.

Dominguez Hills and San Luis Obispo are the teams most often mentioned by conference coaches after Riverside, Bakersfield and Northridge.

Anthony Blackmon, Dominguez Hills’ 6-7 senior center, is arguably the conference’s best player. After earning mention on several preseason All-American lists, he is averaging 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds.

San Luis Obispo, which has won 5 of its past 6 games, is led by forward Coby Naess, a 6-5 sophomore who is averaging 16.8 points and 6.3.