Toros Salvage 65-57 Win Over Mustangs; CCAA Tourney Next

It will be interesting to see which team shows up in Cal State Dominguez Hills uniforms when the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament begins Friday at a site to be determined.

Will it be the third-rated defensive team in the nation, which during one stretch of the season during a nine-game win streak, showed that it could also shoot a basketball with the best of them?

Or will it be Saturday night’s first-half version against visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, an emotionless team that seems afraid of its own offensive shadow, a bunch of players who spend their time not wanting to take a shot, because when they do, it usually won’t drop?

Toro Coach Dave Yanai thinks he knows, and if Saturday’s final 20 minutes of a 65-57 victory was any indication, the Toros have put behind them offensive troubles that saw them drop two of their last three games.

“I feel real good about where we are going into the conference tournament,” said Yanai.

For most of the game, however, you have to wonder if he was thinking that, particularly, when his team trailed by 12 points with 13 minutes remaining.

“We struggled in the first 30 minutes of this game,” Yanai admitted, “but we played the last 10 like we did during our nine-game win streak.”

Once again, the culprit in this game was the Toros’ horrible field goal shooting in the first half. Dominguez Hills made only five of its first 20 field goals and finished the half by hitting only 25% of its attempts, a season low.

San Luis Obispo didn’t fare a whole lot better, making 45%, but it looked much better to the Toros, who didn’t seem to mind where they missed from. Just 10 days ago, the Toros looked as if they owned the CCAA and could beat any team they faced. After the first half Saturday night, they had to be questioning themselves.

Still, the Toros trailed only 20-16 with 5:43 to go in the first half, thanks to four free throws by senior center Anthony Blackmon and a solo by Kevin Shaw that brought Dominguez Hills back from a 19-8 deficit.

Blackmon’s rebound and a basket with two minutes remaining cut the Bronco lead to 22-20, but then the Broncos went on a 6-2 spurt, capped by Errol Talley’s three-point basket with five seconds remaining in the half.

Cal Poly appeared to put this game away early in the second half, marching to a 43-31 lead with 12:05 left. But in the next seven minutes the Toros outscored the Broncos 23-5 to take a 54-48 lead.

Both teams figured to be more than flat entering this one. On Thursday night, Dominguez Hills, which held a 10-point lead, lost to visiting Cal State Bakersfield on a last-second shot, 52-50. The loss ruined any chance that Dominguez Hills had of hosting the CCAA tournament, and may have cost it an automatic berth in the Division II playoffs later in March.

San Luis Obispo came into Saturday’s game extremely loose. The Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention Thursday night at Chapman College, which will open the CCAA tournament against Dominguez Hills on Friday because Chapman upset Cal State Bakersfield Saturday night.

The past three losses have potentially exposed several Toro weaknesses that did not show during the win streak. Most notably, the Toros looked out of synch on offense for most of the game.

In the past, the team has been able to suffer a bad shooting game and still win because of its stellar defense, which allows opponents about 60 points a game. Recently, however, only Blackmon has looked as if he wants to shoot the ball. Robert Barksdale, who helped the Toros during their streak, has been virtually non-existent in the offense with three-point attempts, a must if the team is to advance.

Barksdale resurfaced in the final 12 minutes Saturday night and finished with 10 points.

Probably the brightest performance for the Toros was that of seldom-heralded Shaw, who got career highs in points (12) and rebounds (seven).

“We have to get certain players to touch the ball, and I thought Shaw’s performance was brilliant tonight,” Yanai said.

San Luis Obispo 55, Dominguez Hills 48. Before the CCAA campaign began, Lady Toro Coach Van Girard wondered if his team could win a single conference game.

Dominguez Hills surprised the first-year coach in only its second game of the conference season, downing UC Riverside. But from there, the Lady Toros (1-11, 6-19) have struggled.

In Saturday day night’s finale Dominguez Hills shot only 17% in the first half and finished in the CCAA basement.

Brigitte Frazier had 14 rebounds and 14 points for Dominguez Hills. In the final game of her career, senior center Kathy Goggin had seven rebounds and two points.