COLLEGES : Yanai Is Pleased With Dominguez Hills’ Turnaround

Maybe it was a big grin, or perhaps it was a tear or two in his eye. Nevertheless, Cal State Dominguez basketball Coach Dave Yanai had difficulty hiding the fact that he was pleased with the Toros’ 68-57 victory over visiting Grand Canyon College on Monday.

“This is what we have worked for and tonight it clicked,” he said. “That was us on the floor, the aggressiveness, the defense. Everything came together tonight.”

After a round of handslapping and congratulations with players in the locker room, Yanai moved into his tiny office adjacent to the gym and discussed the game late into the night with assistant coaches Bart Yamachika, Tony Carter, Gary Cain and Jack Mai.

All five of the coaches were beaming, especially after the team had struggled in its two previous games, a 55-54 victory over Point Loma and a 49-46 win over Northern Colorado. The latter was Yanai’s 200th victory.

Against Grand Canyon, Dominguez Hills (5-4) was assertive in its game plan, much to the pleasure of the Toro staff.

According to senior guard Robert Barksdale, the sudden change was the result of Yanai’s pregame speech in which he told the team “not to play so tentatively and to be ourselves.”

The result was a more aggressive posture offensively, which the Toros had displayed in their opener, a 79-73 loss to Grand Canyon.

Billingslea Billboard: Senior Keith Billingslea, a transfer from Northern Arizona, got his long-awaited chance to play for the Toros in the Dec. 15 victory over Northern Colorado.

Billingslea was ineligible to play the first seven games of the season because he didn’t transfer to Dominguez Hills until last winter. After transferring, a player must sit out a year.

Although he says he has been happy with his defense, the native of South Gate said his game still needs improvement.

“The offense will come around,” he said.

Billingslea played 30 minutes against Grand Canyon, but made only two of 11 field goal attempts. However, Yanai said he was pleased with the senior’s effort.

Add Scoring: What is with the tight rims lately in the Toro gym? Several players complained privately that a change in the rims a couple of weeks ago has taken a toll on field goal accuracy.

Statistics bear that out. Against Northern Colorado, the Toros set a school record by making only 25.8% of their field goals. For the year, Dominguez Hills is shooting 39.6% from the field. In the Toros’ five home games, opponents have made only 36.9% of their shots.

Yanai said that a change in rims was necessary when one of the old rims on the main floor was discovered to be broken. He plans to switch the new rims with a pair of rims from one of two practice floors.

Vantastic: Dominguez Hills women’s basketball Coach Van Girard refuses to take the credit for the Lady Toros’ fast start, but there is no mistaking that the team he has put together in his third season at the school bears his trademark.

Dominguez Hills (9-2) had a school-record eight-game winning streak snapped Thursday night in a 74-53 loss to Simon Fraser. The Lady Toros also have the best preseason record among all California Collegiate Athletic Assn. teams.

In previous seasons, Girard had to make do with walk-ons or players left over from previous seasons.

“We’re getting better,” he said. “If we continue to improve, we’ll make a run and be in position to make the conference tournament and that is our goal.”

When CCAA play starts in January, only five teams will compete for four postseason tournament berths. Still, Girard is cautious.

“In putting the preseason schedule together, I knew, being a sophomore dominated team, that I wanted a few games that would test us on the road, but I also wanted a few games where I thought we could gain confidence,” he said.

Girard cited the play of Cheri Bullet (11.1 points, 8.1 rebounds), Devon Akita (12.9 points, 3.5 assists) Dionne Vanlandingham (13.8 points, 13.4 rebounds) and Denise Slater (13.2 points, five rebounds).

This And That

Dominguez Hills Athletic Director Dan Guerrero has been appointed to the NCAA Division II baseball committee. He is the only athletic director on the committee, replacing Bob Heigert of Cal State Northridge. The Matadors moved up to the Division I this season. . . . Soccer coaches are concerned that a portion of Proposition 38, which will be discussed at the NCAA’s annual convention in January, will attempt to ban all collegiate players from participating for club teams during the “academic school year.” In a letter sent to the nation’s collegiate coaches, Georgetown University Coach Keith D. Tabatznik said that passage of the measure would “greatly affect the development of our sport.”