COLLEGE DIVISION BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Chapman, Christ College Irvine Are Turning Programs Around : Men: Eagles, who made it to the district semifinals last season, set their sights on the playoffs again.

Greg Marshall is awed by what the Christ College Irvine men’s basketball team accomplished in his first season as coach.

The Eagles, picked to finish last in the Golden State Athletic Conference and 11th in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3, won five of 12 games for fifth place in the seven-team conference, and qualified for the district playoffs for the first time in school history.

As the seventh seed in a seven-team field, Christ College advanced to the semifinals and lost to eventual champion Westmont by three points.

It was a shockingly quick turnaround for a previously moribund program, but Marshall says he is ready for more.

“Last season, we said we wanted to begin the tradition,” Marshall said. “We wanted to develop a team you have to play against. This year, we want to take the next step, whatever that is. Hopefully, it’s a step up.

“We had a strong finish, but to me we really haven’t done anything. We played great basketball for two weeks. We have a lot to prove.”

The first test comes Saturday, when the Eagles, picked to finish fifth in the conference and seventh in the district, play host to Occidental. It’s largely a new team stocked with five community college transfers. Guard Jamie McShan and 6-foot-7 forwards Keith Rogers and Mike Oden finished their eligibility, and 6-6 forward Ian Donnely left school.

It was Marshall’s first full recruiting season and he apparently has done well. Bill Reynolds, in his 11th season at rival Southern California College, says it’s CCI’s best recruiting class ever.

Darren Lax, a transfer from Riverside College who was expected to start at point guard, broke his foot early this month and is expected to sit out six weeks. Charles Lockard, who started at point guard for Cypress last season, will fill in.

D’Andre Brown, a 6-5 power forward from Cerritos College, will provide scoring from inside. Doug Grove, who was Brown’s teammate at Cerritos and Brethren Christian High School, will start at small forward. Jason Vaughn, a 6-5 forward from Golden West, will come off the bench.

Corey Smith, a sophomore guard who played much of last season with a broken left hand, and Brian Hazelwood, a 6-4 sophomore forward, are the only returning starters.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE

1990-91 Record: 24-8, 8-4.

Conference finish: Second-place tie.

In early November, Reynolds was wondering how his team could have been picked to finish fifth in the NAIA District 3. The Vanguards had advanced to the semifinals of the district playoffs last season, but leading scorer Jeff Bickmore has graduated and Reynolds thought SCC was fortunate to do so well.

“We had a lot of question marks last year, and they were still questions all year because our lineup juggled from beginning to end,” Reynolds said.

“Fortunately, we won our close games and so we disguised some of our inadequacies and gave the illusion of being a fine team.

“Maybe that’s why we are considered to be so competitive this year. Although I look at who we have, who we recruited, who other people have back and I’m thinking we’re not the fifth-seeded team. Maybe it’s just based on previous successes.”

Maybe not.

Saturday, the Vanguards opened the season with an 81-73 victory over Biola, the consensus pick to win the district title. Biola has front-line players who stand 6-10, 6-9 and 6-6. SCC’s tallest is 6-8 center Darrin Kramer.

The Vanguards are without Bickmore, a 6-7 center who averaged 20 points and eight rebounds last season, but they aren’t without weapons.

Mike Henjum, who averaged 14 points and was among the national leaders in three-point shooting percentage for much of the season, is back, and Rick Witmer, who averaged 13 points in 1989-90, returns after sitting out last season.

Kramer, at 6-8, 225 pounds, has the strength to battle opponents’ big men, and Keith Randolph, a 6-4 transfer from MiraCosta, apparently will help with scoring. He had 24 against Biola. Mike West, a 6-3 forward with bad knees, also will be a factor if he stays healthy.

“I was telling our kids we could come in conceivably anywhere from first or we could end up at the bottom,” Reynolds said. “Our league is that tough and that balanced.”

PACIFIC CHRISTIAN

1990-91 Record: 32-18, 8-2 in Western Christian Athletic Conference, 7-1 in California Coastal Conference.

Conference finish: First in WCAC, second in CCC.

Without Ken Crawford, who averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Mike Vincent, who averaged 19 points and eight rebounds, the Royals will be hard-pressed to match their 93-point average of last season. They certainly won’t approach the 100-point averages PCC posted in the late 1980s.

“We don’t have enough scoring punch,” Coach Lee Erickson said. “If we get behind somebody and get into the catch-up position, we’re going to be in trouble.”

Erickson will depend on the inside play of Phil Garcia, a 6-8 junior. Corey Pischel, a 6-4 freshman forward from Canby, Ore., will start as will Bob Gaskill, a 6-3 sophomore forward.

Battling for the remaining spots, according to Erickson: Scott Morgan, a 6-3 junior; Steve Ackad, a 6-6 sophomore from Southern California Christian High; Nathan Winegar, a 6-2 sophomore; Rusty Lance, a 6-foot transfer from Northwest College in Seattle, and Kevin Flye, a 6-1 junior.

The Royals play Chapman in the first round of the Doubletree tournament at 8 p.m. Friday at Chapman.