COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : CSUN Players Required to Hit Books Before Baskets

Pete Cassidy, Cal State Northridge basketball coach, is making sure that the student part of the student-athlete description gets equal time. In addition to monitoring daily study-hall sessions, Cassidy and his staff check the classrooms on campus.

Northridge basketball players must be in class, in the first three rows of seats, and sitting upright in the front third portion of their chairs.

Those who are either absent, sitting at the back of the room or slouching are required to join Cassidy at dawn for “cock-a-doodle-doo” runs.

“I don’t want it to appear that we don’t trust them,” Cassidy said. “It is just that this is what has to be done for them to be students. It is best for their future.”

Quoteworthy: Todd Bowser, CSUN’s 6-foot-7, 300-pound center, on his weight-loss program: “It is coming off as we speak, so to speak.”

Bowser attributes his loss, 25 pounds and counting, to the Loyola Marymount conditioning program that Cassidy adopted.

“I do watch what I eat anyway,” he said. “I guess it is hereditary.”

Since his days at Montclair Prep, Bowser has been told that he moves well for his size. He certainly will have to in the Matadors’ run-and-gun offense.

“It’ll be hard, but I’ll just do it,” Bowser said. “Isn’t that the way the saying goes?”

Rider on a storm: J. R. Rider, called the top returning junior college basketball player in the country by one preseason publication, has spirits soaring at Antelope Valley College.

“He is a phenomenal talent,” Coach Newton Chelette said of the 6-foot-5 Rider. “You can’t stop him.”

Surprisingly, although numerous colleges have included Rider on their mailing lists, only a handful of coaches came by to see him during a recent contact period. Apparently they have been scared off by the sight of a Shark in the recruiting waters.

“It’s a pretty much known fact that, if everything is OK in Vegas, he’s going there,” Chelette said.

Rider, who originally signed with Kansas State, is a transfer from Allen County (Kan.), where he averaged 31 points a game last season.

He played for the North team in the Olympic Festival last summer.

West Valley connection: With only Kirk Scott, Eugene Humphrey and Erik Cooper back from last season’s team, the CSUN basketball team is short on familiarity, but Scott is well-acquainted with newcomers Keith Gibbs and Brian Kilian. All three attended West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif.

When Scott was at West Valley, Gibbs attended Westmont High, just around the corner.

Pioneer spirit: Scott has no delusions about how difficult it will be for the Matadors to be competitive this season.

“First-year Division I programs have it tough,” Scott said. “We got a bunch of pioneers here. We know it is going to be tough and we take it as a challenge.

“With the style of play we have it is going to be hard for other teams to keep up. This is the best shape I’ve ever been in.”

Saved by the bell: Former Cleveland High standout Andre Chevalier has avoided freshman initiation so far, but he has found college basketball at CSUN to be much more physical than the high school game.

“They don’t call those ticky-tack fouls,” Chevalier said. “I have to get used to being held when I’m dribbling.”

Despite his freshman status, Chevalier isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“The team has a positive attitude even though the media is saying we’re not going to win many games,” he said.

Stat watch: Football--Northridge quarterback Sherdrick Bonner has attempted 137 passes and completed 63 with only one touchdown and one interception. . . . Northridge leads the Western Football Conference in turnover ratio: The Matadors have committed only 14 turnovers while forcing 25. . . . Tailback Albert Fann needs 88 yards to become Northridge’s first 4,000-yard rusher. . . .

Tailback Bobby Webster of Glendale has played a major part in the Vaqueros’ four-game winning streak. The freshman from Pasadena High has rushed for at least 143 yards and scored two or more touchdowns in every game during that stretch, including a 210-yard, three-touchdown performance against Ventura last week. . . .

Antelope Valley held San Bernardino Valley to 90 yards in offense in the last three quarters of Saturday’s 21-14 win after giving up 153 yards in the first quarter. . . .

Tailback Steve Miller of Antelope Valley is only 114 yards short of making the Marauders’ all-time top 10 career rushing list. Miller, who leads Foothill Conference backs with 606 yards this season, has gained 1,053 during his career.

Soccer--Forward Danny Daniels of Northridge ranks 11th in scoring in the 21-team Division I Far West region. Daniels, a sophomore from the island of Cyprus, has eight goals and five assists. . . . Bobby Reyes of Northridge is tied for second in assists with nine and goalkeeper Joel Entreken ranks 13th with a 1.30 goals-against average.

Bad break: Kevin Burt, special-teams center on the Northridge football team, broke the ring finger on his right hand during practice last week and is out for the season. The 6-1, 240-pound redshirt freshman is the son of Matador Coach Bob Burt. Ed Allum, CSUN’s starting center, has taken over duties as the team’s long-snapper.

Injury report: Clayton Bamberg, CSUN’s starting safety, is listed as probable for Saturday’s Western Football Conference game at Santa Clara. Bamberg sustained a bruised left knee in the first half of Northridge’s 24-13 win over Cal State Sacramento.

Helping hand: Antelope Valley’s football schedule has been a factor in the Marauders’ 6-0-1 start this season.

This is not to say that it has been loaded with pushovers, but the fact is that the Marauders have their toughest opponents at the end of the season.

“The conference schedule rotates, so we didn’t have much to do with that,” Coach Brent Carder said. “But it just happened that we play the best teams in our conference in the second half of the season. And with a young team like ours, that’s the best possible set-up.”

The Marauders (4-0-1 in conference play) are currently third in the Foothill Conference standings behind co-leaders Mt. San Jacinto (6-0, 4-0) and Citrus (4-2, 4-0), and 1 1/2 games in front of fourth-place Desert (3-4, 3-2), Saturday’s opponent.

After a bye next week, Antelope Valley will play host to Mt. San Jacinto on Nov. 10 before traveling to meet Citrus in its regular-season finale the following week.

Service ace: The Antelope Valley women’s volleyball team (9-2, 7-2) was tied for second in the Foothill Conference standings heading into Wednesday night’s match at Rio Hondo thanks largely to Lorna Sawyer.

Sawyer, who had 31 service aces last season, set a school mark for career aces when she hit her 51st winner last week. She also has become the fourth Antelope Valley player to post more than 200 kills in her career.

Teammate Heidi Roarty leads the Marauders with 80 kills and 27 aces this season.

Hitting the road: While most collegiate cross-country teams will be competing in their respective conference meets this weekend, Division I independent Northridge will run a road race, the Alhambra Moonlight 8K, on Saturday night instead.

The race serves as a final tuneup before the NCAA Division I District 8 meet in Fresno on Nov. 10.

“That’s one of the downfalls of not being in (a) conference,” Coach Don Strametz said. “Our top people haven’t raced in two weeks and three weeks is too long of a layoff. (The Alhambra) course is flat, fast and it won’t take as much out of them as a hilly cross-country course would.”

Staff writers Theresa Munoz, Mike Hiserman, John Ortega, Brendan Healey and Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.

DISTANCE RUNNER Few would deny that Moorpark College running back Freddie Bradley is a big-play performer, considering how often the sophomore has had runs of more than 40 yards in the past 1 1/2 seasons.

1989 Season

Yds Opponent Play 98 East Los Angeles Kickoff return* 83 L.A. Harbor Scrimmage run* 63 Santa Barbara Scrimmage run* 61 Compton Scrimmage run* 50 Santa Barbara Kickoff return 50 Glendale Kickoff return 42 Compton Kickoff return* 41 Santa Barbara Kickoff return*

1990 Season

Yds Opponent Play 96 Compton Kickoff return* 93 Santa Monica Kickoff return* 84 Compton Scrimmage run* 58 L.A. Southwest Scrimmage run* 48 Santa Monica Scrimmage run

*Denotes touchdown