BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Occidental Seeks New Ending : Division III: Coach Brian Newhall hopes a difficult early schedule will prevent a repeat of last year’s second-half collapse.

Brian Newhall knows what it’s like to coach while on the hot seat.

Hired last season as the interim basketball coach at Occidental College after Bill Westphal left to take a job at Grand Canyon College in Arizona, Newhall, 29, guided the Tigers to a 15-10 overall record and 5-5 finish in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The performance earned Newhall respect, if not guaranteeing him permanence as coach. This season, he has a one-year appointment, which includes a December review that will determine his status for the 1990-91 season.

But with seven players returning from last season’s team, chances are Newhall will find job security at Occidental.

“We’re much better defensively, and a lot of the people we have back got extensive playing time last season,” Newhall said. “But we’re still a young team and we’re small off the bench.”

Occidental got off to a fine start last Saturday when the Tigers defeated traditional power Biola, 41-38, on a last-second, three-point field goal by reserve Jeff Muir.

Fast starts, however, are nothing new to Newhall. Occidental began last season 9-0. The Tigers were ranked third in the West and 20th nationally in the NCAA Division III poll before losing 10 of their last 16 games.

“Last year we did it all wrong,” Newhall said. “We’re scheduling tougher--earlier--this season and going on the road. Hopefully, that will make us a better team at the end of the year.”

Occidental will take to the road tonight for a game against Kean College of New Jersey in the four-team UC San Diego tournament. San Diego will meet La Verne in the other first-round game.

The Tigers also will participate in the Grand Canyon tournament in December and will play host to a tournament in January.

Despite the graduation of all-conference forward John Keister, who averaged 22 points a game last season, Occidental once again will rely on a low-post offense. Newhall said that the Tigers primarily will play man-to-man defense but also will use a match-up zone.

“Our style is dictated by the people we have,” Newhall said. “We don’t have the shooters you need to have to really push the ball up and down the floor.”

All-conference center Chris Anderson, a 6-foot-9 senior, averaged 18 points and nine rebounds last season and is expected to take on more of a scorer’s role along with 6-8 junior forward John Crawley.

Point guard Ethan Caldwell, a 5-11 senior who was second-team all-conference last season, will run the Tiger offense. Senior Steve Bertz, the team’s best defensive player, will start at off-guard and 6-2 junior Brett Dennis will start at small forward.

Dimitris Markopoulos, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Greece, is the Tigers’ sixth man and one of the team’s better shooters. Senior guard Jay Caba also will be given playing time along with Muir and freshman forward Everett Hill.

La Verne went 0-10 in conference play last season. But with three Division I transfers on the roster, the Leopards are Newhall’s pick to win the SCIAC title--a prize that has eluded Occidental since 1983.

Defending champion Pomona and Claremont also should be strong.

“I think we’re in the middle of the pack,” Newhall said, “but we can be contenders if we continue to improve and get some breaks.”