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SPORTSCOPE : Pepperdine Will Miss National Tourney, Coach Disappointed

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Pepperdine men’s basketball Coach Tom Asbury said he is disappointed that his team, which finished the season with a 17-11 overall record, was not selected for the National Invitation Tournament.

He added, however, that he believes the cancellation of the West Coast Conference tournament after the death of Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers was the correct decision.

The Waves had been scheduled to play the University of San Diego in a tournament semifinal, but the rest of the conference tournament was canceled after Gathers collapsed in the first half of the Lions’ semifinal against Portland and later died.

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Loyola, the WCC regular-season champion, was awarded the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but Pepperdine, which had hoped to go to the NIT for a third straight year, did not make the NIT’s 32-team field.

“Needless to say, it was a disappointing way for us to end our season,” Asbury said, “especially for the four seniors on the team (Craig Davis, Shann Ferch, Dexter Howard and Tom Lewis).

“We went into the WCC tournament playing our best basketball of the season, and the team was confident it could beat Loyola Marymount in the championship game. (Pepperdine won eight of its last nine games.)

“Under the circumstances, the conference had to suspend the league tournament. It was a difficult decision, but I believe the proper action was taken in light of Hank’s death.”

The Waves had a 2-5 record against teams that are in the NCAA tournament. They defeated Loyola Marymount and Towson State, but lost to Loyola Marymount, Boston University, Kansas, North Carolina and UC Santa Barbara.

Asbury said: “In retrospect, the close losses that we had during the first half of the season came back to haunt us in March. We lost six ball games by a total of 14 points. If we had won just three of those games, our record would have been 20-8, and we would be preparing to play somebody this week.”

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Davis finished third among Pepperdine’s career scoring leaders with 1,619 points, behind first-place Dane Suttle, who scored 1,702 in 1979-83, and second-place Eric White, who had 1,674 in 1983-87. Davis also is first in career steals with 173.

Lewis, who scored 475 points as a USC freshman, was fourth on the Waves all-time chart at 1,575, and Howard finished sixth at 1,548, behind Levy Middlebrooks, who had 1,546 points in 1984-88.

Six players from this season’s roster are expected to return next season: all-conference sophomore center Geoff Lear, sophomore forward Doug Christie, sophomore center Damon Braly, freshman forward Steve Guild, junior forward-center Rex Manu and sophomore guard Rick Welch. Freshman redshirts Damin Lopez, a guard, and Derek Noether, a forward, also should be back.

Sophomore center Mark Georgeson, seriously injured in an auto accident in February, is recuperating from hip surgery and is not expected to play next season.

Three high school seniors who signed early letters of intent with Pepperdine are guards Steve Clover of Rolling Hills High, Rodney Sanders of Fairfax and forward Dana Jones of North Hollywood High.

The All-Western State Conference men’s basketball team included sophomore Mark Moton and freshman Cornelius Banks of Santa Monica College, and sophomore Anthony Gates of West Los Angeles College. Honorable mention went to WLAC freshman Booker Waugh and SMC freshman Donald Smith.

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Santa Monica College women basketball players Jackie Nikzad and Illana Mazingo were named to the All-Western State Conference team. Crystal Nettles of SMC made the second team, and honorable mention went to Katarina Nordin and CoCo Jones.

Nikzad made 108 three-point baskets this season, which led the nation and set a state record.

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team (10-3), three-time defending Pacific 10 Conference champion, will compete in the conference championships at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at UC Berkeley.

Last week the Bruins lost at Georgia, 192.55 to 191.35. Senior Jill Andrews won her sixth all-around title in eight meets, tying her career-best mark of 39.05. She also won the vault with a 9.8, the beam with a 9.85 and floor exercise with a 9.85.

Freshmen Rhonda Faehn and Carol Ulrich were second and third, respectively, in the all-around, and each had career-high marks in two events, Faehn with a 9.8 on the bars and a 9.6 on the beam and Ulrich with a 9.6 on bars and a 9.75 on beam.

The second-ranked UCLA women’s tennis team (13-2 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10 as the week began) will play host to Texas at 1:30 p.m. today at the Sunset Canyon courts on campus.

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Last week the Bruins, playing without top singles players Jessica Emmons and Kimberly Po, who were both injured, lost to USC, 5-4.

A winner of seven straight matches, the No. 5 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (13-2 at the start of the week) will play host to North Carolina at 1:30 p.m. Friday and No. 10 Kentucky at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Senior David Wells-Roth (9-4) is ranked 12th in the nation in singles and freshman Alejo Mancisidor (13-2) is No. 50.

The No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team is 15-2 after defeating West Virginia, 6-3, last week.

Junior Jason Netter, who had lost seven of his previous 13 matches, won four straight in the Southern California Intercollegiate tournament in Pasadena, advancing to the semifinals before rain halted the tournament. Netter is 17-8.

The No. 9 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (9-6) will play host to No. 22 Texas A & M at 1:30 p.m. today, Notre Dame at 1:30 p.m. Friday and No. 11 Texas at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Top singles player Ginger Helgeson, sidelined for three weeks with a foot injury, has returned. Helgeson, tied for the nation’s No. 2 ranking in singles with Andrea Farley of Florida and Meredith McGrath of Stanford, was named the Volvo tennis player for February after she defeated Farley for the championship of the Rolex National Indoor Intercollegiate tournament.

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The Santa Monica College women’s tennis team (9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Western State Conference as the week began) will entertain Santa Barbara City (8-0, 6-0) at 2 p.m. today. Last week the Corsairs shut out both West Los Angeles and Ventura, 9-0.

The SMC men will play at Santa Barbara City at 2 p.m. today.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball team (16-2 overall and 10-2 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) will play at San Diego State (13-9, 3-7 as the week began) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week the Bruins swept three home matches, defeating Brigham Young and Ball State each in three games and No. 4 Stanford, then top-ranked, in five. Trevor Schirman had 28 kills and six blocks as the Bruins came from two games down to defeat Stanford. Schirman had 13 kills and five blocks against BYU and 10 kills against Ball State.

The No. 8 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (8-7, 4-6 in the WIVA), will play at top-ranked USC (11-1, 8-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lyon Center.

Last week the Waves snapped a three-match losing string by defeating George Mason in four games.

Freshman outside hitter Duane Cameron, sidelined for three weeks with an ankle injury, is expected to return in about 10 days.

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The Santa Monica College men’s volleyball team (6-3 overall and in the Southern California Conference at the start of the week) will play at Orange Coast (8-1 in the SCC) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Last week the Corsairs defeated College of the Canyons in three games and Westmont in five. Against Westmont, Tim Vincent had 37 kills, Kevin Waterbury 27 kills and Carlos Gray 22.

The Pepperdine baseball team (12-11-1 overall, 6-3-1 in the WCC at the start of the week) will play a three-game series at Nevada Reno (8-7, 1-2), starting with a single game on Friday and a Saturday double-header.

Last week the Waves were 1-1-1 against Santa Clara. Pepperdine won the first game, 7-0, on a three-hitter by Britt Craven and lost the second, 12-3. The last game was called on account of darkness after nine innings with the score tied, 4-4.

Senior catcher Mike Truschke is batting .348 with five home runs and 17 runs batted in, and freshman first baseman Dan Melendez is hitting .341 with four homers and 18 RBIs.

The Santa Monica College baseball team (14-11, 2-3 in the WSC as the week began) will play at Moorpark (4-1 in the WSC) at 2 p.m. today and play host to Glendale (2-3 in the WSC) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Marine Park.

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Last week the Corsairs lost to College of the Canyons, 14-3; Santa Barbara City, 12-2, and Ventura, 10-3.

Third baseman Kenny Woods leads SMC with a .390 batting average and is hitting .600 in conference play.

The UCLA women’s softball team (25-4) will play host to Hawaii at 1 p.m. Friday at the Sunset Canyon diamond. The Bruins haven’t played since March 4.

The Santa Monica College women’s softball team (3-4 overall, 1-0 in the WSC at the beginning of the week) will play at College of the Canyons (8-6, 0-1) at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

The Corsairs opened conference play with a 10-3 victory over Pierce. Catcher Stacie Greenspan hit a two-run home run, and Ginger Atencio picked up a win with a four-hitter.

The UCLA men’s and women’s track team will play host to Fresno State on Saturday at Drake Stadium. The Bruin men, who haven’t lost a dual meet since 1984 and are 41-0-1 since then, will also compete against Texas in the same meet.

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Field events will start at 11:30 a.m. for the women and at 1:15 p.m. for the men. The first women’s race is at 1:30 and the first men’s running event at 2. The hammer throw begins at 10 a.m. at West Los Angeles College.

In triangulars last week, the Bruin men scored 113 points, defeating Cal State Northridge (39) and Azusa Pacific (36), and the UCLA women won with 72 points over California (55) and Azusa Pacific.

Bruin Derek Knight was a double winner, taking the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.13 and the 400 intermediate hurdles in a season-best 51.32.

Freshman Angela Berunham led the UCLA women (4-0). She won the 200 in 24.15 and the 400 in 55.23 and ran on both winning relay teams.

Bruin junior All-American Tracie Millet won the shot put with a toss of 51-11 at the NCAA indoor meet at Indianapolis.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s track teams will send several performers to the Cal Poly Pomona invitational on Saturday.

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Last week, the Corsair men finished second with 49 points behind Bakersfield with 91, and the SMC women came in third with 22 points as Bakersfield won with 68 and Santa Barbara was second with 43.

Adelbert Baylis led the SMC men, winning the 100 meters in 11 flat and the 200 in 22.2 and anchoring the winning sprint relay team. LaTanya Davenport was a double winner for the SMC women, taking the 100 hurdles in 14.8, second-best time in Southern California this season, and the 400 hurdles in 1:14.6.

At the Pac-10 championships, the UCLA men’s swim team qualified 13 swimmers and a diver for the NCAA championships, which will be held March 22-24, at Indianapolis.

Conference titles were won by Andrea Cecchi, Brian Kurza and the 400-yard medley relay team of Cecchi, Kurza, Mark Thompson and Dan Kutler.

Cecchi swam personal best times of 54.32 in the 100 breast stroke and 1:58.23 in the 200 breast stroke. Kurza won his second straight title in the 50 freestyle in 19.96.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s swim teams will compete at Long Beach City in a nonconference meet at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

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Against Bakersfield last week, the SMC men (4-0 overall, 3-0 in the WSC) won, 60-40, and the Corsair women (3-1, 2-1) won, 58-38. Both teams also defeated El Camino, the men by 53-46 and the women by 68-50.

Double winners against El Camino were Greg Behar in the 200-yard backstroke and the 200 breast stroke, Jeanie Chick in the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle and Christie Lugo in the 100 butterfly and the 100 IM.

Against Bakersfield, Chris Brainard won both the 200 freestyle in 1:47.95, second-best mark in the state this season, and the 200 IM, and Lorin Chaffin was a double winner in the 1,000 freestyle and the 200 butterfly.

The West Los Angeles College-SMC men’s golf team will play San Diego Mesa at 11 a.m. Friday at La Jolla.

Last week the local team finished sixth among seven Western State Conference teams at Las Posas Country Club. Moorpark finished first at its home course with 393. The WLAC-SMC men came in at 426. Brian Snell shot an 80 to lead the Oilers-Corsairs.

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