Cal Poly’s Terry Ross Is New to the Game, but an Old Hand at Scoring : College Basketball: The 6-6 junior is the CCAA’s leading point-maker with an average of 21.6.

As a basketball player, forward Terry Ross of Cal Poly Pomona is a mere neophyte in terms of experience.

A month away from his 24th birthday, the 6-6 junior had played only two full years of organized ball before this season.

But, in his first season of playing for a four-year college at the NCAA Division II level, Ross has already demonstrated that he is a pretty quick study.

Entering this week, Ross was ranked as the No. 2 rebounder in Division II and leads the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with his averages of 21.6 points and 12.2 rebounds.

Pomona Coach Dave Bollwinkel isn’t shocked by those numbers, but he admits Ross has surpassed his expectations.

“I thought he’d be a very good player,” Bollwinkel said. “I just didn’t expect the number of points he’d put up. But I think that has to do with the fact that in basketball years he’s just a puppy.”

Bollwinkel says he’s not as surprised at the rebounding performance because he was well aware of the player’s skills in that department before he arrived in Pomona.

“He’s a tenacious rebounder,” Bollwinkel said. “He consistently goes to the glass. His determination to rebound is something else. It’s a part of him. He just does it night after night and game after game.”

The coach credits the forward’s progress to a tremendous desire to improve.

“He has learned from his mistakes so rapidly--more than any player I can ever remember coaching--and he’s so receptive to coaching,” Bollwinkel said. “Some guys let their ego get in the way of learning but Terry doesn’t. He’s receptive and he doesn’t fight you.”

Ross says that his intense desire to learn and improve stems from the fact that he started playing organized basketball later than usual.

“I know I’m a late starter,” he said. “I just got my A.A. (Associate of Arts) degree. I didn’t even know I’d ever have the opportunity to play at a four-year institution but when I did I just jumped on it.”

After his parents separated when he was a youth, Ross spent much of his time shuttling between his birthplace, Natchez, Miss. and Oakland. He initially lived with his father in Mississippi but decided to move to the West Coast to live with his mother for high school.

Although he played a lot of basketball in his spare time, Ross didn’t play his first minute of organized ball until he was a senior at McClymonds High in Oakland. Even then, he was just a sixth man on the varsity team.

Ross wanted to play college ball but, because of his inexperience, he was lucky to even find a junior college that wanted him. He finally settled on Contra Costa College in San Pablo.

“Contra Costa wasn’t really interested in me until they saw me a couple of times in high school,” he said. “They liked my vertical leap. I jump 42 inches.”

Unfortunately for Ross, the experience at Contra Costa soon turned forgettable.

“I played in five preseason games but I had a back injury and didn’t play the rest of the way. But I didn’t like the organization there, anyway, so maybe it was good that I did hurt my back.”

Ross never played another game for Contra Costa, opting instead to work in the stockroom at a supermarket and play basketball on the side.

“I worked about three years,” he said. “The organization was great and they had a little basketball program and we won it every year.”

He had also become an avid weightlifter, which strengthened his back and fine-tuned his 205-pound frame.

“I was young and it was fun (working at the market) and with the weightlifting I was pretty much satisfied with my life,” Ross says. “But I was playing at a local gym and one of the coaches (at Merritt College in Oakland) saw me. He asked if I would come up there and give it a shot.

“So we set up a meeting and he said that with my talent I could lead the state in rebounding. That always stuck in the back of my mind.”

In the 1988-89 season at Merritt, his first full year at the JC level, Ross nearly matched his coach’s expectations. He was second in the state in rebounding with a 16.2 average and fourth in scoring at 25.9.

“I was very pleased with my performance in junior college,” Ross said. “But I didn’t go back to college this time just to play basketball. I came back to be a student-athlete and to get an education and I’m glad I took advantage of the opportunity.”

By the end of his first year at Merritt, Ross had completed work on his A.A. degree and attracted the attention of Division I colleges.

“A lot of people told me I had the potential to play Division I and I could have played with my friend Gary Payton at Oregon State,” Ross says.

Only by that time, Ross was running out of time to play in Division I under NCAA rules.

“There’s no question about it, if he had (enough) Division I eligibility he would be playing there and not here,” Bollwinkel said.

So Ross decided to set his sights on playing in Division II, where he would have at least two years of eligibility remaining, and selected Pomona over Cal State Bakersfield, Eastern Montana and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

“I was considering going to Bakersfield, but Pomona has turned out to be a plus for me from an educational point of view,” Ross said. “Plus, these players on the team are a great bunch of guys to work with, in spite of their record.”

No, Ross hasn’t helped the Broncos improve their record markedly from last year. The team is struggling at 2-8 in the CCAA and 8-15 overall.

But Bollwinkel says the record is not a result of lack of talent on the part of Ross.

“I’ve coached in Division I for 11 years and as a 6-6 athlete I’ve never seen a better one,” said Bollwinkel, who was a Division I assistant at Oregon, Colorado State and San Jose State before arriving at Pomona three seasons ago.

Ross describes his game as a combination of finesse and power.

“Strength is a big part of my game but I can shoot it from the outside when I need to,” he said. “But I don’t shoot a lot of three-pointers because I don’t feel that’s really my game. Strength is my game.”

As much as he helps the team with his physical skills, Ross has also quickly developed into one of the team leaders--a role he relishes.

“It was an adjustment for me at the JC level because I had to deal with a lot of young guys on the team and try to carry them,” he said. “It’s still a little bit like that here but hopefully, if we get the right players in here with the guys we have coming back, it won’t be that way next year.

“But I’ve been in that role for so long, anyway, and I’m the kind of person who likes to show leadership in everything I do. So I am used to it. A lot of times players will put their heads down when they get down but not me. And that’s not just for basketball. I try to carry that over to all other aspects of my life.”

Bollwinkel said it is Ross’ leadership abilities that may be the most impressive thing about him.

“He’s really come a long way in such a short time,” Bollwinkel said. “The exciting thing to me about Terry is the growth he’s made, not only as a player but as a man--learning to accept responsibility.”

Ross said he has learned a lot from the success of the women’s basketball team at Pomona, which has won or shared the conference title eight years in a row.

“We’d like to win, too,” he said. “But their success is very important to us. I really look up to coach (Darlene) May. I don’t work with her but she teaches me a lot and they’re always winning.”

Ross has a vested interest in the success of the women’s team because his girlfriend is Marcine Edmonds, one of the top players on the squad. Two weeks ago, the pair were both named CCAA players of the week.

But when it comes to playing basketball, Ross says he does not play to impress anyone or for any other ulterior motives. He said he truly enjoys playing the game.

“I think basketball gave me an opportunity to enhance my learning and my educational skills and it’s opened up avenues in my life that I probably wouldn’t have had without it,” he said. “So I really have a deep respect for the game.

With that in mind, Ross is peering toward the future in basketball after leaving Pomona.

“It’s not over after this,” he said. “I still have the potential to play overseas and see a little of the world.”

For the moment, though, he is merely hoping to strengthen his game enough in the off-season to help the Broncos improve their record next season. “I’m going to do a lot of work in a pro-am league this summer,” Ross says.

With his inexperience in organized basketball and his receptiveness to coaching, Bollwinkel thinks the best years for Ross are ahead and the player is quick to agree.

“This year I feel I’m just knocking on the door,” he said. “Next year, I want to kick it in.”