Former Harbor Star Boosts Eagles Now : College Basketball: Bruce Turner says there’s “nothing funny” about the Cal State L.A. program now as they go into the CCAA tournament against powerful Bakersfield.

Bruce Turner felt the excitement as he walked the campus of Cal State Los Angeles this week.

“There’s nothing funny about our program now,” said the starting Golden Eagle guard, who leads L.A. (14-13, 7-7) into tonight’s 8 p.m. game with host Cal State Bakersfield (23-4, 11-3) in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. postseason tournament.

Cal State Los Angeles is a heavy underdog, admits the 6-foot-3 Turner, who also played two years at Harbor College. Bakersfield, ranked 11th, handily won both games it played with the Golden Eagles in regular season play .

But just that the Golden Eagles made the postseason event is a coup. L.A. was 4-48 overall for the previous two seasons. The school won just one conference game in that span (which it then forfeited for using an ineligible player).

In fact, for most of the past 15 seasons, the school’s basketball program has been known more for its scandals and ineligible players than for success. From 1976 to 1983, the school forfeited 32 games for using ineligible players. There were numerous cases of top players dropping out for academic reasons. And then, in 1987, Coach Jim Newman, a black man, accused the athletic administration of racism after he was fired.

The program had hit rock bottom, and when Dyer, a former professional football player, was hired to coach the basketball team, a lot of people questioned whether the program would ever turn around. Although he was a two-time all-state basketball selection in high school in Louisiana, Dyer’s only previous coaching experience had been three seasons at Compton College.

A few players have fallen aside due to poor grades under Dyer, including James Anderson, the 1989 California community college scoring leader from Marymount-Palos Verdes. And there was the matter of the forfeit a year ago. But by and large, says Turner, the program has turned a corner, represented by reaching the CCAA tournament.

“We had a tarnished image, but everything is done by the letter now,” Turner said. Both Dyer and Turner point out that he and several other teammates will graduate this spring.

When L.A. stumbled into the 1990s with a 1-4 CCAA start, just about everyone wrote off the Golden Eagles again. After all, the team had not advanced to postseason play since 1986. Then it caught fire, thanks in large part to Turner.

“He’s everything to us,” Dyer said. “He’s our most valuable player. He’s strong with the ball, and he can play either point guard or No. 3 forward. He can also post up.”

On Jan. 27, the Golden Eagles roared back from a 29-27 halftime deficit to defeat Cal Poly Pomona, 72-53, and they were off to the races. A parade of victories raised the team’s conference record to 7-5 entering the final week of the CCAA season.

Back-to-back losses on the final weekend of the season may have cooled the team’s heels a bit, Turner admitted, but he’s still looking forward to one more shot at Bakersfield.

“Both those games were close until the end,” he asserted.

A year ago, Cal State L.A. would not have been able to pull out so many victories, Turner said.

“It was frustrating. We had talented players but had so many close games. They always came down to the last two minutes and we couldn’t (hold off the opponent).”

Turner graduated from Locke High School in 1982 and took a job to support himself. Four years ago, when he turned 21, he took a hard look at his future and decided to return to school. He chose Harbor College because he wanted to play basketball for Coach Ken Curry, then a Seahawk assistant. The pair knew each other from Turner’s youth, spent playing basketball for Curry in recreation leagues.

“I knew I would get a fair shot at Harbor,” Turner said. “It was a pretty good situation.”

Dyer offered a scholarship after Turner averaged 13 points and six assists a game to lead the Seahawks to the second round of the state playoffs in 1988.

As a senior at Cal State L.A., Turner averaged 13.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and five assists a game. He ranked third in the CCAA in steals.

But if you asked him to speak on his favorite subject, it won’t be about all his numbers.

“He is a leader by example,” explained Dyer.

Which is why Turner is proud that he has had a hand in changing the perception of the Cal State L.A. basketball program.

“What has happened is very exciting for our school,” he said. “It makes the coach feel better about his program too. We used to get a crowd of 60 people to our games. This year we had 600 or 700. The excitement is growing all over this campus.”