Now, They’re Both in the Picture : Basketball: Roommates Dondi Bell and Pat Holbert are getting comfortable at USD, and it shows.

Standing broad-shouldered in the middle of the back row of the University of San Diego men’s basketball picture is Dondi Bell.

That spot is normally reserved for a team’s big man, and Bell is that: 6-feet-9 and 240 pounds.

Bell’s resurgence as a dominating force inside is one reason USD (8-10, 3-3) is tied for second in the West Coast Conference with Pepperdine, San Francisco, St. Mary’s and Portland, a team it plays tonight at 7:30 in the USD Sports Center.

Another is Pat Holbert, a 6-3 guard who is making a name for himself on the outside with impressive accuracy from three-point range and the foul line.

Mysteriously, there is no sign of Holbert in the team photo. Just a postscript: “Not pictured: Pat Holbert.”

While Bell is intimidating, even somewhat reckless on the court, Holbert gives the impression of being quiet and unassuming. But enough to skip the team photos?

“I was sick. Passed out,” Holbert said.

Bell buys that, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if Holbert had skipped out just to plan another practical joke. And it would have been just as believable that Bell had pulled a fast one on Holbert by telling him the wrong time.

Put these two in the same room--as they often are, living together in an on-campus dorm--and look out. Or listen up.

“Pat’s a unique person off the court,” Bell says. “He’s stubborn but in a comical way. He kind of keeps to himself, but at the same time, he likes to practical joke a lot.”

While Bell’s favorite players are appropriately bangers--Charles Barkley, Akeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing--Holbert’s are likely to be Meadowlark Lemon, Goose Tatum and Curly Neal, basketball masters of the practical joke.

“I’m a practical joker? Only to him . . . and maybe a few others on the team,” Holbert says with an ever-present, devil-may-care pitch in his voice.

“I’ve just grown up that way. I’ve got a funny family, and most of my friends were funny. I just like to catch D.B. off guard.”

Like ice-cold water dumped on Bell in the shower. Or unsuspecting “messages” from equally unsuspecting girls. Or eating Bell’s food, just to rile him up--then denying having done so.

It’s a wonder their other roommate, forward Anthony Thomas, hasn’t gone mad.

And what about Bell? What’s he like, Pat?

“Dondi is just crazy,” Holbert said. “He’s the kind of person, if you don’t want to be in the rut any more, you want to get out of the rut, you go to Dondi. He’ll have something set up for you.

“He seems like a big, tough guy, but he’s not. He’s real family-oriented. He’s real nice. But on the court, he’s not nice. People on the opposite team, people on our team, we’ve all had our bumps and bruises from him.”

Ask guard Gylan Dottin. He’s the one with the broken nose, compliments of a Bell power move to the basket.

Out of control?

“Sometimes,” Holbert said. “He’s the kind of guy you want on your pickup team. Bring him to the gym, and nobody’s going to touch him.”

Said Bell: “I like to have my way. But I’m really mellow, too. I like to stay home and turn up my music. Leave it loud and bother everybody around me. I like getting the phone calls from everybody telling me to turn the music down. And then just keeping it up.”

Adds Holbert: “He plays his music blasting. (His stereo) knows nothing but loud. I don’t think its ever been below (volume level) nine. Sometimes I’ll be playing it loud, and I can always blame it on Dondi. ‘That was Dondi,’ I’ll say when the R.A. (resident administrator) comes by.”

Continuing his friendly verbal assault, Holbert adds, “Another thing about Dondi is that he takes up space. We have a huge couch. And when he comes to sit down, I’ll be on the other side, and he pushes me over. That’s a big guy. I just have to find a space where he’s not going to be.

“And I really hate riding in cars with him.”

“I drive a Cadillac,” Bell said. “I need as much room as I can get. Comfort is a must.”

Ah, comfort. Which brings us to what Coach Hank Egan feels is the main reason for the recent success of Bell and Holbert.

It may have taken awhile, but each has found a comfort zone on the team.

Bell is to rebound, block shots and take some of the inside pressure off scoring leader John Jerome. Holbert is to provide defense, a little ball-handling and an occasional pop from the outside.

The picture is getting clearer.

Teams in the WCC know all about Bell. He was an honorable mention All-WCC selection last season after leading the conference in blocked shots with 55 and finishing seventh in shooting percentage at .577. He also led USD in rebounding (averaging 5.8) and was fourth in scoring (9.0).

He is famous for his rim-rattling power slams and infamous for his knack of getting into foul trouble (he has averaged a foul every 4.5 minutes this season).

Bell, who graduated from Crawford High, is one of only three former San Diego County high school players in the WCC this season. The others are USD’s Joe Temple (Lincoln High) and Portland’s Eric Mobley (Helix High).

Bell admits he began this season expecting too much of himself. He started the opening game and scored 13 points, but that was against Cal Lutheran. He soon misplayed his way to the bench.

“I think I was too aggressive, a little too excited. I guess I was trying to do it all,” he said. “I wasn’t putting the team first. But I’ve changed that mentality. It was first brought to my attention by (Egan) at the beginning of the year, but it really didn’t sink in until . . . I really can’t say when it sunk in. I just knew it was something I had to do.”

Said Egan: “I can’t remember exactly the time, but Dondi came in to see me and said, ‘I really understand now what we were talking about.’ And he went out and showed he had changed his priorities, his personal priorities. I think from that point on, Dondi’s practiced differently and learned differently, and it’s showing on the floor. He did it all by himself.

“Dondi Bell is starting to play some pretty good basketball. He’s starting to help us in a lot of ways especially off the boards.”

Holbert is a perennial newcomer, attending his sixth school in as many years. He is from Los Angeles, where he attended Santa Monica and Inglewood high schools. In between, he spent a year at Oakland Tech, living with a sister who was attending Cal. After graduating from Inglewood, he played one year at Idaho, then transferred to Mesa Community College in Arizona.

He said it has taken him a while to learn the system at USD and develop in his role, but he is fast becoming the second-most feared outside shooter in the conference, next to Loyola Marymount’s Bo Kimble.

His .542 percentage from three-point range would be third highest in the nation if he had made one more. To qualify, a player must make 1.5 per game. Holbert has made 26 of 48 in 18 games.

He has also made 25 of 28 free throws (89.3%), including his past 20.

“He was a new kid in the program fitting in with the older kids, different kids,” Egan said. “It was a tough fit at the start. But (the players) have confidence in him, and he knows when to shoot it.”

“I don’t know what it is,” Holbert said. “but I’m starting to feel comfortable.”

Bell and Holbert had been on the verge of increased production a few games before, but three games ago at St. Mary’s, Egan shuffled a lineup he had used for five consecutive games and started them both for the first time since a Dec. 6 loss to San Diego State.

Each responded, Bell with a career-high 11 rebounds and nine points and Holbert with 15 points (then a career high) on four of five three-pointers, plus five assists. USD defeated St. Mary’s handily, 76-65.

USD lost the next night at San Francisco, 77-67, but Holbert had another career-best 17 points, making two of three three-pointers and three of three free throws. Bell had eight points and eight rebounds.

In last week’s game at Santa Clara, both were instrumental in the Toreros’ 64-46 victory.

Holbert raised his career scoring mark to 21 points and made nine of nine free throws. And Bell was tough inside, grabbing 10 rebounds, blocking four shots and holding Santa Clara’s 7-foot-1 Ron Reis to five rebounds and seven points on three-of-12 shooting.

“We’re starting to come together as a team,” Bell said. “Practice has been a little better. The intensity level has gone up, and the maturity level has gone up, too.”

“Coach (Egan) taught us about buying into the system and trusting everybody,” Holbert said. “Play aggressive, and you’ll get help if you need it. I think it’s starting to pay off.”