SAN DIEGO SPORTS ET CETERA : UCSD Beaten in Its Invitational

La Verne, winners Friday over UC San Diego, will meet Occidental in the championship of the Triton Tip Off men’s basketball tournament tonight at 8.

Friday at Triton Gym, La Verne edged the UCSD, 69-66. LaVerne’s DeShang Weaver and UCSD’s Tim Rapp had 17 points apiece.

Occidental was an 81-75 winner over Kean of New Jersey in another first-round game. La Verne improved to 2-0. UCSD (1-1) plays Kean at 6 p.m. in the third-place game.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

In its opener, San Diego State fell to Alcorn State, 67-48, at the Coopers & Lybrand tournament at DePaul. It was also SDSU’s first game under new Coach Beth Burns.

USD dropped their third consecutive game, a 78-48 loss to College of St. Thomas at Triton Gymnasium. Nikki Haak led St. Thomas (1-2), of St. Paul, Minn., with 20 points. Chris Ely paced UCSD (0-3) with 10.

WATER POLO

The UCSD men’s team lost, 7-6, to third-seeded Stanford in the first round of the NCAA championships in Indianapolis. A victory would have assured the sixth-seeded Tritons of a top four finish in the eight-team tournament.