THE COLLEGES : Antelope Valley’s Chelette Takes His Best Shot in Two Sports by Coaching Basketball and Golf

When Coach Newton Chelette of Antelope Valley College says “Nice shot,” is he referring to one of guard Paul Ernst’s three-point rainbows or one of golfer Eric Mansholt’s pin-rattling nine-irons?

Could be either, could be both.

Chelette, best known for guiding the Antelope Valley basketball team to a 20-plus win season, also is coach of the golf team. He is obviously qualified. A nine-handicapper, he knows the difference between a mashie and a niblick.

He teaches four golf classes during the week, and on a typical day works with the golf team from 1 to 3 p.m. and tutors the basketball team from 3 to 5 p.m.

Fortunately for Chelette, a par-three, five-hole mini-course on campus makes the commute between workouts a little easier. However, scheduling conflicts are certain to arise if the basketball team advances to the state tournament.

“I’ll have somebody take the golf team to matches before the basketball season is over,” Chelette said. “It’s working out; people are helping.”

Chelette said he has “some guys that can strike the ball pretty good. . . . (But) I don’t think Greg Norman’s going to be threatened by my presence in the golf world.”

UCLA giveaway: There was little talk of a moral victory after Cal State Northridge took top-ranked UCLA to the limit in a Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match at CSUN last week.

In fact, Coach John Price had some rather harsh words for his team after the Bruins rallied for seven unanswered points to defeat the Matadors, 15-13, in the match’s fifth and deciding game.

“Don’t think it’s OK just because it was UCLA,” Price told his team. “You guys just gave away a match, and that can’t happen again.”

Limping along: Coley Kyman has been bothered by a sore right leg, but opponents would never know it. The freshman middle blocker from Reseda High leads CSUN in solo blocks (seven) and block assists (32) and is second in kills (87) and digs (43). The extent of Kyman’s injury is not known.

Making a point: Northridge went 6-2 at the Santa Barbara tournament last week but was less than impressive in doing so. After CSUN had defeated Sacramento State, UC Santa Cruz, Loyola Marymount, the University of Manitoba (Canada) and UCLA on the tournament’s first day, junior Rafael Tulino approached Price and said, “How are we winning?”

Price was wondering the same thing. “It was kind of weird,” the coach said. “We were playing well, but not really even scratching the surface of our potential. It’s not like we blocked well or passed well. It was more like we competed well. When we needed the points, we got them.”

Relocation program: Aaron Clark played off-guard last season for the College of the Canyons men’s basketball team. Moved to forward at the beginning of this season, the 6-3 sophomore was relocated again--to center--20 games later.

“(Clark) adds a new dimension to our game at center,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “He’s quick, a good outside shooter and can play with his back to the basket. It helps bring the opposing center outside and opens things up inside.

“It was originally a desperation move, but it turned out to be a good coaching decision.”

With the revamped lineup, Canyons has won three in a row to even its Western State Conference record at 4-4.

“I’m a versatile player,” said Clark, who scored 37 points against Moorpark, including three baskets from three-point range. “Offensively, the change hasn’t been too difficult, but I have to jump over a lot of backs to get any rebounds.”

Playing the percentages: Canyons made 20 of 23 free throws against Oxnard last week and hit six of 12 three-point shots, but converted only 17 of 44 from the field.

Nick Sanderson, the conference’s top free-throw shooter, sank eight of eight from the line.

“We’re not going to blow anyone out with our size,” the 6-foot-3 Sanderson said of Canyons, whose starters average 6-2. “(Free throws) are something the whole team has been working on. It’s a big part of our game.”

Canyons scored only one field goal in the final 8 minutes 36 seconds against Oxnard but made seven of eight free throws to preserve a 72-65 win.

Anticipation: Tuesday night’s loss was The Master’s second to Christian Heritage in less than two weeks, but Coach Mel Hankinson says he would love to play the Hawks again in the NAIA District 3 playoffs.

Hankinson figures that Master’s can bring its game up another level by then, while Christian Heritage won’t be able to do so.

“Because we’re so young, we still have room for improvement in the last month of the regular season,” he said. “But because (Christian Heritage) is a senior-dominated team, I don’t think they’ll be able to do that. They’re probably pretty close to peaking right now.”

Two of the Hawks’ senior starters, guard Mark Kraatz (16 points) and forward Brad Soucie (26), are transfers from NCAA Division I schools.

As freshmen, Kraatz and Soucie went to Illinois State and Eastern Michigan, respectively.

Stat watch: CSUN’s Julie Arlotto of Cal State Northridge has moved to sixth on the all-time Lady Matador scoring list. The junior forward from Simi Valley High has scored 892 points in 77 games for an 11.6 career average.

Arlotto could move to fourth on the CSUN list by the end of the week. She trails fourth-place Tracey Burns by only 37 points. Coach Leslie Milke ranks fifth on the list with 910 points. . . .

When Northridge lost to Cal Poly Pomona, 103-90, in men’s basketball Friday, the Matadors shot 51.7% from the field. It was the first time this season that Northridge made more than half of its shots and lost. The Matadors shot only 41.7% from the field in their previous eight losses. . . .

Northridge shot a season-low 32.3% and suffered its worst loss of the season to UC Riverside, 86-62, at CSUN on Saturday night. The Matadors’ biggest loss before that was a 95-78 loss at Division I Utah State in December.

Parody of parity: Cal Poly Pomona still dominates among women’s teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., but parity appears to have settled in on the men’s side.

Consider:

Northridge opened the season with victories at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal State Bakersfield. The next week, San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield defeated both UC Riverside and Cal Poly Pomona.

Northridge then lost to Pomona on Friday and to Riverside on Saturday, while Cal State Los Angeles--which had won one of its previous 35 conference games--defeated Pomona.

Northridge plays host to Cal State L. A. on Friday, then travels to the Eagles’ Nest on Saturday.

Chain of command: Barbara Jordan and Janet Sherman, two of the top American Softball Assn. fast-pitch women’s players in the Valley area, have joined Gary Torgeson’s coaching staff at Northridge.

Jordan was a three-time Division II All-American at CSUN and Sherman was a starter on UCLA’s national championship teams in 1988 and ’89.

“They are both major ASA players who know how to win,” Torgeson said. “It’s nice, because now I’m not the only one out there yelling at people.”

Kirby Lee and staff writers Mike Hiserman, John Ortega and Brendan Healey contributed to this notebook.