JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Glendale Long on Experience : Savvy: Although no starter is taller than 6-foot-5, five of the Vaqueros’ top six players from last season are back.

Shots are taken from a variety of positions and distances when Glendale College plays basketball, a tribute to the touch and range of the Vaqueros’ triggermen.

“We can hit from all angles,” Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “Just about all of our guys have scoring potential.”

And hit they must. Because if they don’t, their chances are slim of getting another shot off.

Glendale is experienced, quick of foot, tough on defense and capable of shooting the proverbial lights out. But the Vaqueros, whose tallest starter is 6-foot-5, also happen to be somewhat small for a junior college team.

Beauchemin is hopeful that experience--five of Glendale’s top six players from last season return--will be a key factor as the Vaqueros try to scale new heights. Glendale, with a lineup of freshmen, was 19-12 last season and placed second in the Western State Conference Southern Division. “We played as well as we could under the circumstances,” Beauchemin says, “but were inconsistent due to our lack of experience.”

Guard Bruce Heicke and forwards Gary Fowler and Dave Swanson all posted scoring averages in double figures last season. Swanson, a 6-5 transfer from Cal State Northridge, is a good outside shooter and a seven-foot high jumper who is fast becoming a solid defensive player and rebounder.

“He’s come a long way on defense,” Beauchemin said. “And his rebounding also has improved. I look for him to have a banner-type year.”

Glendale’s problem is at center. “We don’t have one,” Beauchemin said. But with its lineup returning almost intact, Glendale would be hard pressed to not improve.

However, the four other Valley-area junior college teams also are expected to be better.

Moorpark, which will begin its season tonight against Chaffey in the first round of the Mt. San Antonio tournament, has four starters back, including Greg Taylor, its leading rebounder, and Bruce Watson, Roger Thomas and Sean Young, all of whom averaged 10 points or more.

Valley, which will open tonight at Pasadena, has plenty of shooters but a shortage of basketballs to distribute among its big guns.

“When we started practice we needed about five basketballs,” Coach Jim Stephens said facetiously, “but we’re getting better. Now we’re down to two.”

Steve Ward, a 6-4 guard who averaged 24 points a game for Valley two years ago, is back after using a redshirt year to concentrate on academics.

Joining Ward in the Monarch lineup is former Simi Valley High standout Shawn DeLaittre, a 6-5 transfer from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; Cliff Barnes, a 6-5 transfer from Northridge; Andre Harrell, a 6-1 guard who was a top scorer two years ago at West Los Angeles College; and Rick Garrick, a 6-1 point guard from Chatsworth High.

Eric McDaniels, a 5-11 point guard who transferred from Chaminade (Hawaii), and Arthur Wells, a 6-3 freshman guard from Hawthorne High, will see plenty of action off the bench.

At Canyons, Lee Smelser begins his 21st season as coach of the Cougars in a quandary over his lineup. Aaron Clark and Larry Allbritton, the top scorers on last season’s team, are the only ones set. Clark, a 6-3 forward from Quincy, Ill., averaged 19 points and was first-team All-Western State Conference last season. Allbritton, a 6-4 guard from Canyon High, averaged 16 points.

Among those still fighting for a starting position is Steve Valenzuela, a 6-2 guard who averaged 12 points as a part-time starter in 1988. “We have so many people battling, it can only make us stronger,” Smelser said.

Jeff Dorst, a 6-5 center who helped Saugus High win the Southern Section 3-A Division championship in 1986, is a newcomer who is expected to help Canyons’ cause.

Like Glendale and Canyons, Antelope Valley opens its season next week. The Marauders have a new coach in Newton Chelette, who formerly coached at Santa Barbara City College and Southeast Louisiana.

One of his impact players could be Paul Ernst, a transfer who was an all-conference pick at Santa Barbara last season. Dedan Thomas, a former Taft High standout who transferred from Nevada Las Vegas, will be the point guard.