SPORTS NOTEBOOK : 49ers to Play National Basketball Powers

National basketball powers Arizona and Syracuse will be opponents for the Cal State Long Beach men’s basketball team next season.

“We haven’t got the contracts yet, but we’re definitely playing them,” Coach Seth Greenberg said.

The 49ers will play Arizona on Dec. 1 at Tucson. The date for the Syracuse game in the 50,000-seat Carrier Dome has not been set because there is a possibility that it will be on national TV.

Greenberg said the 49ers will get $30,000 for playing at Syracuse and $20,000 from the Arizona game.

The 49ers will also play in the University of Illinois tournament in December, with Illinois, Oregon State and Georgia Southern.

Other non-conference games will be played against North Texas at Denton, Tex., and Chicago State, Brooklyn and Harvard at the campus gym.

Basketball Tournament: Many of the outstanding high school seniors in Southern California will play in the ninth annual KDAY Community Cage Classic on Saturday night at Long Beach City College. The girls game will start at 6:30 and the boys game at 8:30.

Among the boys will be William Celestine of Manual Arts, Jeff Rogers of Dominguez, Willie McGinest and Roderick Hannibal of Poly, Calvin Curry of Compton, Damu Harvey of Centennial and Oscar Encinas of St. Anthony.

The girls team will include Crystal Fields of Centennial, Kathleen Hill of Compton, Nikki Grubbs of Poly, Nicole Sanders of Lynwood, Lori Kline of Valley Christian, Nicole Teate of Bellflower and Remitha Houston of Washington.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students and $2 for children under 12.

Bosco Wins Again: St. John Bosco (17-0-1) of Bellflower has won a school-record 14 consecutive baseball games and is the only undefeated team in the CIF Southern Section’s 5-A Division.

Coach Tim Ellis’ Braves defeated St. Francis, 11-1, in the Del Rey League on Tuesday, as Jason Negro hit two home runs and a double.

Bosco pitcher Martin Maza, who has an 8-0 record, recently pitched a three-hitter and drove in two runs with a triple and double in a 10-1 victory over St. Paul in the semifinals of the Catholic Schools Tournament.

The Braves will play Servite in the tournament’s championship game May 5 at St. Paul.

49ers Softball: The Cal State Long Beach softball team, ranked sixth in the nation and second to Fresno State in the Big West Conference, will play Cal Poly Pomona at 4 p.m. today at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

The 49ers (37-16 overall and 20-8 in the Big West) have two of the league’s top pitchers in Mary Letourneau and Ruby Flores.

Letourneau is 16-8 with a 0.43 earned run average, and Flores is 12-4 and 0.74.

Former Coaches Die: Jack Errion, 64, basketball coach at St. Anthony High School in 1954-76, died of apparent heart failure Monday night in Tucson.

His St. Anthony teams were 319-224 and won or shared 10 league titles. He left St. Anthony for Corona del Mar High School and won two CIF titles. He retired four years ago.

Lauren Proctor, 79, who organized and sponsored many basketball tournaments and was a volunteer coach under Tex Winter at Cal State Long Beach in 1978-83, died Saturday night. For 25 years, he operated Proctor’s Sporting Goods in downtown Long Beach.