The Colleges : Life on Dark Side of the Fast Lane Almost Sidetracks Occidental Players

The Occidental men’s basketball team had faced imposing fast breaks before, but none as ominous as the one some members found themselves caught up in Saturday evening en route to a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the University of Redlands.

In this one, they were suddenly thrust into darkness, about to take a charge from cars hurtling along at more than 60 m.p.h.

Jay Caba was driving, Keith Berglund was in the passenger seat and Brett Dennis was sleeping in the back of the car. When Caba reached to adjust the radio, he realized that the car’s electrical system had failed. The headlights and dashboard lights were off. He was, in effect, at the helm of a Celica Stealth bomber, cruising down the fast lane of the San Bernardino Freeway.

“We almost got reamed from behind,” Berglund said.

Caba guided his car across traffic to the right shoulder, narrowly missing several cars before smacking into a 6-inch high curb, jarring Dennis from his slumber.

Finally, the group made its way to a gas station where they called ahead to Redlands and asked Coach Brian Newhall’s wife to pick them up.

Berglund said that it would have been much tougher to convince a rescue party to come if Dennis, a starter, was not along.

“Brett was our savior but if we didn’t have him we would have been eating dinner at the AM/PM. And it wouldn’t have been polite to take Brett and leave us,” Berglund mused.

The following day, Caba returned to the gas station with assistant coach Jim Kerman to pick up his car.

Said Berglund: “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you lose a game and then have to miss the Super Bowl the next day to get your car.”

Hair-raising experience: Cal State Northridge men’s basketball players had a little extra incentive in their game at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last Saturday.

Assistant coaches Rusty Smith and Dave Fehte each made a promise of personal sacrifice if the team won the California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. road game.

Smith, 6 feet, 7 inches tall with a shock of red hair, offered to have his hair cut in a flat-top. Fehte said he would shave his mustache. Both bets seemed safe: CSUN had not won a game at San Luis Obispo since 1985 and the Mustangs had not lost a CCAA game at home in 2 seasons.

CSUN ended both streaks with a 72-63 victory.

Tuesday, Fehte shaved his mustache and each CSUN player took a turn cutting Smith’s hair.

“I’m very interesting looking,” Smith said by phone. “Pete (Cassidy, CSUN’s coach) says my hair looks like a cross between new wave and the Marines.”

Going steady: Northridge held its place at No. 16 in this week’s Division II women’s basketball poll. The Lady Matadors have won 5 in a row and are 14-3 overall, 2-0 in CCAA play.

Northridge plays host to Chapman today and travels to Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday. Both games begin at 5:45 p.m.

Off the block: Mike Marzahl, a 6-5 freshman middle blocker from Reseda High, has quit the Northridge men’s volleyball team.

CSUN Coach John Price said that Marzahl told him he was leaving the team to concentrate on his studies and because his knees were bothering him.

“I think he could have been a real strong player in this conference,” Price said. “He could have made a big impact for us as soon as next year.”

Price said he is still hopeful that the former All-City player will reconsider and return next season.

Motivational video: Players on the Cal Lutheran men’s basketball team delved into the Kingsmen video archives to find the motivation they needed to snap an 8-game losing streak.

Before the start of Tuesday’s game against Point Loma Nazarene, the Kingsmen watched film of their 116-110 victory over the Crusaders last year. Sufficiently motivated, the Kingsmen defeated Point Loma, 90-89, for their first Golden State Athletic Conference victory.

“Nobody could believe how hard we played last year when we scored 116 points,” Jeff Logsdon said. “We’re not talented, so the only way we can win is on hustle, and that’s what we haven’t been doing.”

Cash clout: CSUN soccer Coach Marwan Ass’ad will have some monetary muscle he had not counted on when he goes recruiting.

A letter from organizers of the Southern California Junior Soccer League, pledging $1,948.20 for CSUN soccer scholarships, arrived Wednesday. It is the largest pledge ever for the CSUN soccer program.

“It’s incredible, just too much,” Ass’ad said. The donation would provide full tuition and books for 2 athletes.

Road wary: With 3 road games in the next 2 weeks, Cal Lutheran will be hard pressed to stave off another losing streak. The Kingsmen have lost 6 road games in a row dating to Nov. 26.

Cal Lutheran’s next home game is Feb. 7 against Westmont.

Changing sports: Scott Oatsvall, a 6-4 freshman forward from Oceanside, played 1 game for The Master’s basketball team and suffered a fractured shoulder.

He then left the Master’s and transferred to Eastern Tennessee State where he will play . . . football. Oatsvall was an all-state punter in high school.

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