Lions Are Cashing In With Their Big Czech : Basketball: Center Richard Petruska’s rapid improvement has helped Lions turn their season around.

Richard Petruska folded his 6-foot-10 frame into an office chair built for regular-sized people. It was a sunny, warm day. He wore shorts, sandals and a T-shirt with a California scene proclaiming “Life’s a Beach.” With his blond features, he could have been mistaken for an oversized beach boy.

And without his Czech accent, you would never know this was the West Coast Conference’s top import.

But in ever-improving English, Petruska talked about Loyola Marymount basketball, struggling for the right words but excited about the Lions’ recent winning streak that has coincided with his improved play.

“I think I’m playing pretty good,” he said. “I think I can play better. I like (the Loyola system). I was here twice with the Czechoslovakian National Team. I liked the way they play basketball. I wanted to come here to learn the language, get an education. It was kind of my dream to come here.”

Much like the Lions, Petruska--who played against Loyola two years ago when the Czech team made a U.S. tour--got off to a slow start last fall. He suffered a serious groin pull on the first day of practice that developed an infection. He didn’t return to action until early December. The Lions, without a big-time presence in the middle, got off to a 2-7 start and were routed by several ranked teams.

While Petruska tried to get in shape and learn the Loyola system--which meant cramming a lot of conversational English and basketball jargon--he struggled with foul trouble and communication problems with teammates.

Coach Jay Hillock would explain that the team could run only one defense with Petruska because it was the only one he had learned.

“It was hard,” Petruska said. “I didn’t understand what people were telling me.”

But Petruska and the team suddenly clicked three weeks ago during a two-game trip to the San Francisco Bay area and the Lions have been making a steady rise in the WCC standings ever since.

That weekend, the sophomore scored 24 points against St. Mary’s and 29 the against the University of San Francisco. He has since been the conference’s most effective big man, although he ran into foul trouble Feb. 16 against Gonzaga and scored only four points. It was the first game he had failed to score in double figures since December. The night before, against Portland, he had a sensational second half, scoring 16 of his 22 points.

Afterward, an impressed Portland Coach Larry Steele said: “He’s a great player and we knew he could shoot over us but we allowed him to get great position. We wanted him to shoot from 15 feet instead of 10.”

Hillock said: “He’s the best big man in the West Coast Conference. He’s getting more and more comfortable. He and Terrell Lowery are really carrying us.”

Lowery, the Lion point guard who leads the conference in scoring and assists, has worked especially well with Petruska lately. Lowery often gives instructions to Petruska when he misses a play.

“It’s no secret . . . if he’s effective it’s less pressure on me,” Lowery said. “I try to limit getting on him but every once in a while I’ll try to motivate him. He has the potential to be a real key guy.”

Petruska said of Lowery: “He was on me to get into good shape to run. If I don’t play (well) . . . he can kind of help me. He can wake me up.”

With an assortment of low-post moves, good strength and a soft left-handed jump shot, Petruska has spent much of the season making the transition from forward, a position he played with the Czech team, to center at Loyola.

Going into Saturday night’s game, Petruska was averaging 16.8 points and 7.8 rebounds and ranked second in the conference in shooting, making 58.5% of his shots. While still learning the collegiate game, he says, “I should get more rebounds.”

Petruska often gets called for over-the-back fouls, partially because the rule is enforced differently in Europe, he said.

“Here they call . . . too many fouls rebounding. In Europe they let me rebound. (Here) if I’m behind somebody they call foul, even if I don’t touch him. I see on TV they call that on everybody.”

Hillock said: “Overseas he was a perimeter player. He’s never played with his back to the basket and he’s getting comfortable. The biggest improvement he has to do is learn to play with the American rules and the subtleties when he’s in foul trouble. He’s got a pretty good feel now. . . . He has come a long way.”

Petruska, a business major who recently turned 22, grew up in Levice, a small town in eastern Czechoslovakia. After developing into a top high school player, he joined a club team in Bratislava, a city of a quarter-million people in southern Czechoslovakia. He also began playing with the Czech junior national team and later the national team. On tour two years ago with the national team, he had 36 points and eight rebounds against Loyola.

Last summer he came to the Southland to stay with friends in Fullerton and find a spot with a local college. Petruska was set to go to UCLA when Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver, who earlier had made commitments to attend Nevada Las Vegas, opted for the Bruin program after the Rebels where placed on NCAA probation. The Bruins ran out of scholarships and Petruska’s friends suggested Loyola, which was coming off an impressive run in the NCAA tournament and had a well-known coach in Paul Westhead.

Petruska enrolled in August. A few days later Westhead left to coach the Denver Nuggets.

“I was told Loyola Marymount played a very fast game, score a lot of points,” Petruska said. “That kind of attract me. Paul Westhead and the school gave me a scholarship. Then he left one week after. I was disappointed.”

Along with that jolt, Petruska had to adjust to a new culture as well as a radically different style of basketball. On early trips he often seemed like an outsider. But he quickly adjusted and now is an accepted member of the team.

Coaxed into sitting in on a recent airport card game, he beat team cardsharp John O’Connell at poker. “Fun game,” he said with a sly grin, pocketing the pot.

He also makes extensive use of a Walkman tape player that was given to team members at a tournament. His taste runs to Mariah Carey.

“I like it here a lot,” he said. “It’s very nice, you have hot weather, especially in the winter. I like the basketball here, I like the school. Anything I dislike? Maybe the traffic. It’s very different. But I’m going to get my license soon.”

Petruska will return to Czechoslovakia this summer to play for the Czech team in the European championship qualifying round in June. But after Saturday’s game at Santa Clara--where he faces the WCC’s only 7-footer, Ron Reis--his attention is on the conference tournament.

“I think we play good, we have a chance to win the tournament,” he said. “(At the start) everybody know we have a lot of injuries, the coach was new, we were kind of getting used to how to work together, play the system. We play a lot better now. The team’s very confident. I feel comfortable here.”