The Colleges : Occidental Expires Along With Timeout

As a result of a new NCAA timeout rule and general disarray, the Occidental College basketball team took Thursday’s 75-70 loss to visiting Pomona-Pitzer sitting down. Literally.

The rule, implemented this season, stipulates that a warning buzzer summon the teams with 15 seconds remaining in a one-minute timeout. At the one-minute mark, a second buzzer will sound and play will resume. In the past, a referee would approach each huddle and inform the captain that the timeout was over.

With 1:20 to play and the score tied, 70-70, Pomona called a timeout and the Occidental cheerleaders took the court.

Occidental assistant Jim Kerman, who usually breaks the huddle at the first buzzer, was embroiled in a discussion with another assistant and missed the warning.

“We were yick-yacking back and forth,” Kerman said. “And the cheerleaders began this especially loud cheer where they will chant something and get a response from the crowd.”

The second buzzer sounded, and, before any Tiger took the court, a Pomona player scored an uncontested layup.

“We were freaked,” Occidental captain John Keister said. “Someone said, ‘Hurry up! They’re getting ready to throw the ball in!’ Just when I was getting up off the bench I saw them get the layup.

“(The referees) usually don’t do that crap at the end of a game but it happened. We were joking about it afterward. We got homered on our own court.”

On the bubble: Occidental Coach Brian Newhall had more than his team’s defense on his mind this season. Newhall had to think about safeguarding his job.

Newhall, 26, who took over for Bill Westphal last May, was hired on a one-year interim basis with the understanding that, during the basketball season, the college would conduct a nationwide search for a permanent replacement.

The search does not, however, preclude Newhall, who plans to turn in an application before the March 13 deadline.

“I’m confident that if I were back I would do a very good job of coaching,” said Newhall, whose team posted a 15-10 record. “I feel that I have 100% support from the players. (The coaching staff) has added a lot of intensity to the program and installed a good offensive system.”

Final fling: Steve deLaveaga, who owns virtually every school scoring record, will play his final basketball game at Cal Lutheran tonight.

Last season, deLaveaga set season records for field-goal attempts (596), field goals made (300), three-point shots (118), three-point goals (52), points (821), and highest scoring average (27.4).

The senior guard started the season by breaking Gary Bowman’s record of 1,840 points and becoming the school’s career scoring leader. He has 761 points this season and 2,524 in his career. His latest school record came Tuesday when he scored 51 points against Christ College of Irvine.

DeLaveaga has scored in double figures in 81 consecutive games dating to Dec. 9, 1986 when he had 31 points against Cal Poly Pomona.

Passing fancy: Darren Matsubara, a senior guard for Cal State Northridge, established a CSUN single-season assist record Thursday night during the Matadors’ 96-78 win over Cal Poly Pomona.

Matsubara had five assists, giving him 125 for season. He broke the record of 124 set by Tony Prestera in 1976-77.

CSUN (16-10 overall, 7-6 in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play) will travel to UC Riverside tonight for its season finale.

An able ‘Cane: Scott Sharts, a former Simi Valley High baseball standout, is batting .333 and has an on-base average of .471 for second-ranked Miami. Sharts, a freshman who pitched and played first base for Simi Valley, has started three games at first base for Miami and has not committed an error in 25 chances. He is batting .375 with runners on base.

Don’t look back: The College of the Canyons men’s basketball team had trouble in the second half all season, but the Cougars saved their worst for last.

Santa Monica, the state’s top-ranked team, scored 71 points in the second half of a 113-82 victory over Canyons in the Cougars’ season finale last Saturday. Canyons finished 14-8 overall, 5-10 in the Western State Conference, and did not earn a playoff berth.

“They did not meet near the expectations that we had for them,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said of his players. “I guess it’s best that it ends for this season and we just look ahead.”

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