Marymount’s Mr. Inside, Mr. Outside : College Basketball: Bahamians Warren Cox and Kerry Baker have brought a laid-back off-court manner to the Marymount College team. But they definitely play tough.

There must be a mist in the island air that produces a don’t-worry, be-happy attitude in inhabitants of the Bahamas.

Marymount College basketball star Warren Cox is living proof. No matter how tense a game or how brutal a two-hour practice session may be, the husky center wears a smile and speaks gently with a heavy Bahamian accent.

Make no mistake, the 21-year old is rough and vehement on the court, but like his Bahamian teammate, Kerry Baker, he’s extremely laid-back away from the game.

“They really lighten up the team,” said Marymount forward Kelly Black. “They have a great sense of humor and just a general happy-go-lucky attitude.”

With little concern about the future, the two former members of the Bahamian national team left their jobs in Nassau to compete at a junior college 3,000 miles away, at an estimated cost of $10,000 a year. Marymount is the only private junior college in the state; annual tuition alone is $7,600.

But Cox gladly quit his job as a plumber, and Baker, a policeman, took a two-year academic leave of absence to join the Mariners’ roster.

“I always wanted to come here for the education,” Cox said as he wiped sweat off his face during a break from practice. “The hardest part is getting around, and the food is different. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in a long time, man.”

For a native of the tropics whose lungs are accustomed to clean air and who thought Miami got cold, Cox has had to do some adjusting to San Pedro, where he lives with Baker and two other teammates.

“Man, the smog is so weird,” Cox said in what he says Bahamians call broken English. “The sudden change in the weather is so hard to take. At night it’s freezing.”

But in the gym, Cox is always hot. He has scored in double figures in every game except the one against Long Beach, when he had the flu. He has made 56% of his shots from the field and leads the team with an average of 20 points and 10 rebounds a game.

At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, he is literally the biggest star Marymount has had in the five years its basketball program has existed. He is also the quickest.

“In preseason conditioning,” said fifth-year Coach Jim Masterson, “he was the fastest guy on the team. It’s unusual that the tallest and strongest guy on the team is also the fastest player.

“Without a question, he’s the best inside player we’ve ever had here. Since I’ve been at Marymount, we’ve never even had an inside game.”

Marymount has always been a fast-breaking club with guards who shot from rifle range and virtually no defense. Opposing coaches say the Mariners aren’t exactly known to have scoring machines inside the paint.

Last year, two guards--James Anderson and Ernie Woods--led the team. They were the third and sixth best scorers, respectively, in the state.

This season, however, three of Marymount’s top scorers are post players. Baker, a 6-4, 190-pound forward, is averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds a game, and freshmen Kevin Johnson and Ron Dinnel are averaging 10 points each.

“Kerry (Baker) can do just about anything,” Masterson said. “He can shoot three-pointers, he jumps well and he’s quick. He’s definitely one of the better defensive players on this team.”

The Warren and Kerry show, though often erratic, has led the Mariners to a 4-7 mark going into this week’s trip to New York, where Marymount will play Bronx College, Queensborough and Fashion Institute.

Baker’s strong outside shooting complements Cox’s inside game.

“They had an exceptional offensive ball game against us,” said Mt. Jacinto Coach John Chambers. “They have lots of physical talent. But there’s still a lot of small things they don’t do that kids are taught here at an early age. Nothing that can’t be fixed, though.”

Cox is the first to admit that the game is a lot different in the United States than in his country, where basketball and softball are the most popular sports.

“Here it’s more fundamental,” he said. “You learn little details. Back home you don’t get the training and teaching we get here.”

Baker, 21, said: “It’s a lot more physical at home. Also, at home the coach, he has another job, so it’s more like a recreation thing for him. He does it in his spare time. Here it’s the job and they take it seriously. He’s (Masterson) very strict.”

Even on the Bahamian national team, according to Cox, practices and games weren’t as intense as they are at an American junior college. Both players served on that team for one year.

Before that, they played in the Bahamian Amateur Basketball Assn., a 15-team league from which national team members are picked. The longtime friends also played together at R.M. Bailey High School in Nassau.

Masterson met his foreign stars two years ago when he took a summer-league team to the Bahamas. After his club of high school and junior college standouts got whipped by the Bahamian national team, Cox and Baker told him that they were interested in playing in the United States. Having seen them perform, Masterson was elated.

“We couldn’t stop Warren inside,” Masterson said. “Any time he touched the ball it was two points, and he could dunk with guys all over him. He’s got incredible strength. When he gets his hands on the ball, you can’t get it away from him.”

Masterson says Cox’s only weakness is hustling on defense.

“He needs to work on getting down the court,” the coach said. “He’s played a zone defense all his life. He just needs to get down there quicker like (Loyola Marymount’s) Hank Gathers.”

Cox may not be up to par with Loyola’s muscular scoring star, but he stands out at Marymount, and he should help the Mariners improve last year’s dismal 7-21 record (3-11 in the Southern California Athletic Conference).

“He’s still learning the game, man,” Baker said. “Give him some time. He hasn’t been playing that long.”