Dominguez Hills Puts Its Clamps on Chapman

The Chapman College men’s basketball team played good, hard nosed, in-your-face defense for nearly five minutes Tuesday.

Cal State Dominguez Hills played it all night--as it has all season.

The Toros put on their usual display of defense in defeating Chapman, 62-50, in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game in front of 550 at the Hutton Sports Center.

It was the seventh time in the past eight games that the Toros (15-6 overall, 7-1 in the CCAA) had held an opponent under 60 points.

For 40-not-so-fun-filled minutes, Panther Coach Rich Prospero watched his team be taken a part, piece by piece.

In the first half Chapman had more turnovers (14) than shots attempted (13). Such generosity didn’t go to waste, as the Toros shook off a sluggish start to assume a 38-21 halftime lead. “You give Dominguez Hills a 17-point lead at halftime and you can forget it,” Prospero said. “We were just not ready to play tonight.”

The Panthers (11-10, 4-4) live or die with their outside shooting. They died Tuesday.

Chapman made just seven shots from beyond 10 feet and was one for 11 from three-point range.

The Toros weren’t much better on offense; they shot only 44%. But Dominguez Hills got enough out of point guard Robert Barksdale (19 points) and center Anthony Blackmon (15).

Although the Toros had little success shooting from the perimeter, they were able to get the ball inside. Of Dominguez Hills’ 14 field goals in the first half, seven came on layups.

Both teams played good defense in the opening minutes. Trouble was, neither side had much to show for it.

Chapman held the Toros scoreless for the first 4 minutes 49 seconds. Dominguez Hills missed its first six shots, some of them badly. Blackmon threw up three shots that didn’t come close to hitting the rim.

But all the Panthers had to show for their defensive efforts was a 7-0 lead.

That quickly evaporated.

Kenyatta Kalisana sank a 12-foot jump shot for the Toros’ first points. Dominguez Hills then applied full-court pressure and held Chapman scoreless for 5:28.

By the time Matt Honikel made a free throw, the Toros had forged an 11-7 lead, which they never relinquished.