Basketball Journeyman Michael Moore Finds a Home at Dominguez Hills

Tucson native Michael Moore was looking for a place to play basketball a year ago when a few relatives in the South Bay suggested that he visit Southern California.

So Moore, a 6-foot-8 center who had recently quit the Coastal Caro lina team, a Division I school in Conway, S.C., took a sojourn to, of all places, Pomona and Carson.

It may have been the best vacation that Moore ever planned. He is currently the starting center for Cal State Dominguez Hills and has been one of the Toros most consistent players in an up-and-down season. Moore has scored in double figures in 13 of 18 games and ranks second on the team in scoring (13.8) and is first in rebounding (5.3).

“His contributions this season have been immeasurable,” Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai said.

Dominguez Hills (12-6 overall, 1-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.) faces a pair of tough games this weekend. The Toros play at Cal Poly Pomona (10-8, 2-1) Friday and at home Saturday against high-scoring UC Riverside (14-3, 2-1).

The games are crucial for the Toros if they entertain hopes of staying in the CCAA race. Moore remains optimistic about the Toros’ chances.

“I haven’t lost any confidence in our players or the coaches,” he said. “We’re only going (up) from here.”

Moore has been the most effective of the three players on the Dominguez Hills’ roster who transferred to the school from Division I programs.

The Toros have suffered from streaky field goal shooting, shooting only 44.7%, but Moore has made 52% of his shots. In addition, he leads the team in three-point shooting, making 48.8%, which puts him in second place in the CCAA. He is one of five players shooting better than 77% from the free-throw line.

“Right now I’m having a good time learning the little aspects of the game that make me a better player,” Moore said. “I think I’m improving in all aspects of the game.”

Moore attended Pima Junior College in Tucson, where he averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. At Coastal Carolina last season he began he became ill with the flu. After a slow recovery he came down with an ear infection.

“When I tried to come back from all that my body wasn’t ready and I got a stress fracture in my foot,” he said. “It all seemed to go downhill after that.”

The season was eight games old when Moore, who saw limited playing time, requested and received from the NCAA the restoration of his junior year of eligibility for medical reasons. But rather than stay in South Carolina, he dropped out of school and returned to Tucson.

Moore said he had heard of Yanai in 1987 while attending a prep basketball camp in New Jersey. But not until a relative suggested to him that he visit Southern California did he begin to investi gate the CCAA. He narrowed his choices to Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly Pomona. In February he watched a Dominguez Hills-Pomona game in Carson. Last summer he returned to play in pickup games “for three or four days” at each school before deciding to attend Dominguez.

“The difference was the coach,” Moore said. “I felt Yanai had a good background and he cared for his players. I felt very comfortable there and also felt that, with the players we had, we had a good chance (to do well in the conference).”

Moore said his choice has worked out even better than he thought. Technically a walk-on who faced heavy out-of-state tuition, he has since received scholarship aid and is planning to remain at the school to take additional courses after he graduates. He also likes the size of the school.

“I don’t like those huge 500-student classes (that other schools have),” he said. “If I need to be able to talk to an instructor, I want to be able to walk right up and ask him a question.”

Dominguez Hills entered CCAA play with a nine-game winning streak, but has lost two of three conference games. One of the problems, according to Yanai and Moore, has been that several key players are thinking more about playing offense than defense. Moore, however, has not been one of those.

“He has played very well for us,” Yanai said. “He has had steady improvement in his inside play and he has done work on his interior defense. He came to us as a perimeter player. He was pretty soft inside and his defensive ability has improved.”

Said Moore: “A lot of players are trying to do too much. They just need to go out there and do what the coaches ask them to do. . . . (The system) is not that hard to understand. It seems like when we have played poorly we are not moving around, we’re just going through the motions (of being there). But when we have been able to move, we have played very well.”

A psychology major, Moore is more likely to analyze what needs to be done at each game, Yanai said.

“Mike is very conscientious and he understands his own weaknesses,” Yanai said. “That is a sign of a very mature, intelligent player.”

Moore is enjoying the improvement in his game.

“The coaches have given me confidence in what I do,” he said. “They’re letting me play. They give me good advice. . . . and I try to use that so I can continue to improve.”