College Division / Mitch Polin : Pomona-Pitzer Surprised Everyone but Itself by Winning SCIAC Title

At the start of the season, there was little reason to expect a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for Pomona-Pitzer in men’s basketball.

The Sagehens certainly didn’t have history on their side.

Pomona-Pitzer last won an SCIAC title in the 1985-86 season, and before that the Sagehens hadn’t won a conference championship in 68 years.

When you consider that the Sagehens finished 7-19 last season, their fortunes appeared even worse.

For that matter, Pomona-Pitzer didn’t even have a coach until August, when Charles Katsiaficas was selected. He replaced Gregg Popovich, who resigned in July to become an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Assn.

The Sagehens didn’t help their cause early in the season by losing seven of their first eight games.

Only Katsiaficas says he had a good feeling about his team from the start.

“We knew we had an opportunity to have a very good season,” he said. “They had their share of adversity the year before with injuries and they were not even practicing in their own gym.

“I think a lot of people didn’t see us in the same light as we saw ourselves. I don’t think we helped instill that belief in anyone else by starting 1-7 before the Christmas break.”

But even Katsiaficas is surprised at how well the Sagehens have played since their holiday break. Since then Pomona-Pitzer has gone 15-2, won the SCIAC title with a 9-1 record and qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division III playoffs.

Pomona-Pitzer beat Cal State San Bernardino Tuesday night in its playoff opener, 108-104, in double overtime, and plays at Cal State Stanislaus in the second round tonight.

Katsiaficas, 28, was not a newcomer to Pomona-Pitzer when he was selected coach. He was an assistant coach for two years and interim head coach for another year before leaving to become an assistant at the University of San Diego last season. He was an assistant on the 1985-86 team that won the SCIAC title.

Still, he admits it was a difficult transition for the team at first.

“We had a couple of new people as well as a new coach and we were all trying to find out a lot of things and gaining a chemistry. It took us a while to find that out,” Katsiaficas said.

And even after the team lost seven of its first eight games, Katsiaficas said he wasn’t discouraged.

“A lot of our games were close ballgames,” he said. “We were losing some close ones, but we were still working hard, and I think everyone (on the team) still thought we could win.”

He said that after the holiday break, the team came back with a stronger attitude and won seven of its next eight games.

“I think we were a hungry group,” Katsiaficas said. “They had a tough season the year before for a number of reasons and, after seeing that possibly happening again, they took it upon themselves to see that it didn’t happen.”

Katsiaficas credits much of the success to the team’s newly found confidence. “Now we take the floor expecting to win instead of just taking the floor and seeing what happens,” he said.

He also said the presence of an uninjured Rick Duque at forward has made a big difference. The 6-6 senior, who averages a team-leading 17.9 points and 6.8 rebounds, missed most of last season and was slowed early this season with a groin injury but has been strong again since January.

“He just means so much to the team, not only statistically but from a leadership standpoint,” Katsiaficas said. “The more minutes he has logged for us, the more it reflected in our won-lost record.”

Katsiaficas said he is more than satisfied with what the Sagehens have accomplished.

“I think . . . this team deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “Staying together through the tough early going exemplifies the type of team we have.”

UC Riverside will be host and top seeded in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s basketball postseason tournament, starting today at Riverside City College, but the Highlanders did not receive the luck of the draw.

That’s because Riverside’s first-round opponent, Cal State Bakersfield, has the second-best overall record (20-7) in the CCAA. However, the Roadrunners finished tied for third with Chapman in the CCAA at 9-5 and were fourth after tiebreakers.

Riverside, ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Division II, will take records of 23-4 overall and 12-2 in CCAA play into its first-round game at 8 tonight. In the opening game of the tournament at 6 p.m., second-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills (19-8, 11-3) will play third-seeded Chapman (16-11, 9-5).

The championship game is Saturday night and the winner receives an automatic berth in the Division II playoffs.

Riverside, which established a CCAA record for three-point field goals this season with 244, has been led by senior guard Maurice Pullum with an 18.6 scoring average and 83 three-pointers.

Dominguez Hills has the conference’s leading scorer and rebounder, senior center Anthony Blackmon, who averages 19.3 points and 9.9 rebounds. The Toros are also ranked No. 3 in Division II in defense, having allowed only 60.3 points a game.

The four-team women’s division of the conference tournament will be held at CCAA champion Cal Poly Pomona Thursday in Poly Pavilion, and the final is set Saturday at Riverside City College. Pomona, which has won eight straight CCAA titles, is ranked No. 3 in Division II and will be a heavy favorite in the tournament. The Broncos are 22-5 overall and were 11-1 in the CCAA.

In the first round, second-seeded Chapman (13-12, 8-4) will play 14th-ranked Cal State Northridge (20-7, 8-4) at 6 p.m. and Pomona faces Cal State Los Angeles (17-11, 7-5) at 8 p.m.