SAN DIEGO COUNTY COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Only a Doorway Slowed Tall Order in Christian Heritage’s Run to Title

Maybe it was bad coaching. Perhaps just a rookie mistake.

Whatever. It happened. And you can bet freshman Stefan Mumaw will not let it happen again.

It was Saturday morning--a few hours before Christian Heritage would win the National Christian College Athletic Assn. basketball championship with a 106-97 victory over Cedarville (Ohio)--when Mumaw “attempted” to walk through a doorway of the team’s hotel in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mumaw, you see, is 6-feet-9 and must duck or stoop to make it through many doorways. But this time, Mumaw leaned his head backward in order to gain passage.

Had Mumaw been in a limbo contest, he would have lost.

Ouch!

The bridge of his nose met the door jam.

Mumaw then hustled over to the nearest mirror to check the damages, and according to Coach Swen Nater, “saw blood and passed out right there in the lobby of the hotel.”

After a few minutes, Mumaw was up and fine, and he played in the game Saturday night, pulling down three rebounds in relief of starting center Rob Meeter.

“We teach kids a lot here, but I neglected to teach ducking the head while going through a doorway,” Nater joked.

A poor excuse for a man who stands 6-11 and has negotiated doorways of such buildings as Pauley Pavilion and the Great Western Forum as a center for UCLA and the Lakers.

Actually, perhaps Nater can be forgiven for his thoughtlessness. Next to Mumaw, the tallest Christian Heritage player is Meeter at 6-6 and the rest of the starters average just 6-2.

That fact, is part of what makes Christian Heritage’s first national title somewhat amazing. Another is that the school began its basketball program just four years ago.

“We won our first four games that year and then reality set in,” said Nater, who was an assistant to Jim Huckaby for two years before becoming co-head coach with Ray Slagle.

Christian Heritage finished that first season with 19 losses in its last 24 games. It improved each year, though, and this year’s club went 33-6.

Said Nater, who won two NCAA championships with UCLA and an NBA Western Conference championship with the Lakers, “This is the most satisfying (title) I’ve ever been associated with because I got to be such a big part of it. Since the end of last season, we worked hard for this moment. I was working on defense, and Ray was working on offense, and we put this whole thing together.”

Nater said that the real credit must go to the players--chief among them, the six seniors who have finished their careers. “The coaching staff can’t take any of the credit,” Nater said. “We had a lot of senior kids who were very teachable and very hard working.”

Yes, but Christian Heritage also had just one junior and one sophomore to go with eight freshman. In addition, All-American guard Mark Kraatz played all four tournament games with a nasty blood blister on one of his big toes, and Brad Soucie played the entire season with painfully sore arches.

Yet, in the final two minutes against Cedarville with Christian trailing by two points, Kraatz scored two baskets, had two assists and a steal to lead an 11-0 game-ending rally. And Soucie was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

There were other stars, too. Nater praised Will Cunningham for his defense. Rundy Foster led the Hawks in the final with 27 points. And Meeter was near perfect from the field throughout the tournament making 20 of 24 shots.

Add Christian Heritage: Because of the NCCAA tournament, Nater had to miss an engagement in which the San Antonio Spurs were honoring their all-time greats in a 25-year anniversary celebration. With the Spurs in 1973-74, Nater was the ABA’s rookie of the year.

Maybe next year: In last week’s NCAA Division III men’s swimming championships, UC San Diego again finished behind nemesis Kenyon College of Ohio, which won its 11th consecutive title. UCSD finished second for the second consecutive year after placing third in the six previous years.

Guarding the line: University of San Diego basketball guards Angie Straub and Julie Doria are playing softball this year for the Toreras. Straub, a freshman, is playing third, and Doria, a sophomore from San Pasqual High, is the shortstop.

Both are doing quite well. Doria is batting .392, Straub .333. Each has one home run to lead the team in that category.

Moving up: U.S. International’s women’s tennis team moved into the top 25 two weeks ago based on its 6-6 record against top competition. Since then, the Gulls have won five in a row and are expected to move even higher when the latest polls are released this week.