Different Teams, Common Goals : Basketball: UCSD and Christian Heritage march into postseason play to the beat of different drummers.

The UC San Diego and Christian Heritage men’s basketball seasons have been as strikingly different as the institutions themselves.

But there is one thing UCSD, one of the biggest science-oriented universities in the state, and Christian Heritage, a small college with a Christian-based curriculum, have in common.

Both are still playing when many schools not in NCAA Division I have closed the locker doors on the 1989-90 season.

Christian Heritage, making its third consecutive playoff appearance, will play Fresno Pacific in the semifinals of the NAIA District 3 tournament at 8 tonight at Whittier College. UCSD, playing in its first NCAA Division III tournament, will play at Nebraska Wesleyan at 5:30.

While UCSD (20-6) started the season as a question mark, there seemed to be no question that Christian Heritage would be where it is now--seeded No. 1 in the district and ranked No. 1 for the ninth consecutive week in the National Christian College Athletic Assn. poll.

The Hawks (28-5) had four returning starters, including two with NCAA Division I experience. And Christian Heritage’s group had proven itself with a 24-9 record and a No. 4 ranking in District 3 in 1988-’89.

But the Tritons started the year as one of those maybe/maybe not teams. Even Coach Tom Marshall did not plan on a player who missed most of last year with injuries and academic problems meshing with a sophomore and a junior to form the core of one of the best Division III teams in the west. And UCSD had no seniors on the roster.

But junior forward Tim Rapp fully recovered from his problems of the year before. Rick Batt followed up a freshman year where he was the team’s leading rebounder by also becoming a scoring threat. And Gordon MacNeill, the team’s MVP as a sophomore, continued to play well inside.

“You have those three kids back, and you look at them on paper, and we look pretty good,” Marshall said. “But you never know until they are on the floor performing for you. I don’t think the coaches knew early in the season how good this team was.

“After every win we would look at each other and say, ‘We’re a pretty good team.’ It was like it was more surprising us as we went along, game after game.”

And now the Tritons will make their first playoff appearance against a program that has established itself as the benchmark in the West Region. Nebraska Wesleyan has reached the tournament the past seven years and advanced to the national semifinals three times.

UCSD is playing a team it has faced only once. Christian Heritage is playing Fresno Pacific for the third time this season. The teams split their previous meetings.

The district tournament is a chance for the Hawks to prove that they were undervalued during the season. Westmont of Santa Barbara is seeded second in the tournament and was the only team in the district to be nationally ranked. The best Christian Heritage could get was its current honorable mention.

The Hawks, in only their fourth year of college basketball, have lost in the first round the past two seasons. A victory would put them in the final against the winner of the Westmont-Southern California College game Tuesday at Whittier College.