UC Riverside Is Used to Winning

On the surface, it appears to be business as usual for the UC Riverside men’s basketball team.

The Highlanders have a 15-2 record--the best mark of any College Division team in the Southland--and are in a tie for first place with Cal State Bakersfield in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. at 4-1.

Riverside, which has reached the NCAA Division II playoffs four seasons in a row, also is ranked 13th nationally.

But Coach John Masi, in his 13th season at Riverside, is not satisfied.

“We’ve played well in spots, but we haven’t been consistent,” he said. “We’ve pulled some games out in the final minutes, and I guess that’s a sign of a good team. But the team has not played anywhere near what we expected.

“We are pleased with the record we have, but we’ve had some games that we’ve won that you’d just have to see to believe.”

Because of the team’s history, including a third-place Division II finish in the 1988-89 season, Masi says there are high expectations that go along with playing for the Highlanders.

“I’m sure, at least, the coaching staff here expects to be successful,” he said. “Because of our past success, they’re (the team) expected to do just as well. I don’t know if it’s fair, but that’s the way it is.”

But Masi said it is difficult to compare this season’s team with some of his recent squads. Especially not with last season’s team, which averaged 90.4 points and scored 100 points or more 13 times. The Highlanders are averaging 69.8 points this season and have yet to score more than 100 points.

Riverside has been led offensively by guard Gene Altamirano, who averages 12.6 points, forward Chris Hantgin at 12.3 points and swing man Anthony Jenkins at 11.1.

“I feel we have a good nucleus, but it is by no means as good as we have had in the past,” Masi said. “We don’t have a real go-to guy, but we have seven or eight good basketball players.”

Masi also is quick to add that the conference is as competitive as it has been in recent seasons.

“This year it’s really balanced, and I know coaches say that all the time, but this time it’s really true,” he said.

“I still think Bakersfield is the team to beat. We beat them last week, but I still think they’re the one. Then you have Cal Poly Pomona, which I think is playing as well as anyone in the conference right now.”

Masi says his team must improve if it hopes to receive another NCAA playoff berth.

“You have to win the conference tournament to have a good chance to go to the NCAAs, and if you want to be in postseason play you have to be playing well at the end of the year,” he said.

Granted, the Highlanders may have room for improvement. But they are off to a pretty good start.

It has not been a smooth transition from the NCAA Division III to Division II for the Cal State San Bernardino women’s basketball program.

On the court, the Coyotes are 6-11, 0-3 in the CCAA.

But that is nothing compared to the difficulty the program has experienced off the court.

The problems came to a head last week when Athletic Director David Suenram announced that women’s basketball Coach Gary Schwartz had been reassigned to other responsibilities within the athletic department.

San Bernardino named Luvina Beckley, an assistant coach under Schwartz, as its interim coach. Schwartz posted a 40-30 record in three seasons at the school, 24-4 in 1989-90.

The women’s basketball program became the subject of an NCAA inquiry after four former players told the San Bernardino Sun last March that Schwartz had apparently committed NCAA rules violations during the 1990-91 season.

“The newspaper had contact with players that had played for him that season, and they blew the whistle on some secondary violations,” Suenram said. “They were violations that we were going to report (to the NCAA).”

He said the NCAA has not launched an investigation of the violations, although he did not dismiss the possibility of sanctions.

“They have to notify us that we are under investigation, and to this point we have not received such notification,” Suenram said.

The final blow for Schwartz may have come last week when reporters from the Sun met with him and school officials to outline apparent inconsistencies in the coach’s expense reports from the 1990-91 season.

Suenram said he hopes the decision to relieve Schwartz of his coaching duties will help stabilize the program.

“The transition from Division III to Division II has been a difficult one for the program,” he said. “Hopefully, this will take some of the attention off Gary and the program and back on the (court) where it belongs.”

College Division Notes

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team, which has won or shared all 10 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles since the conference added women’s basketball in 1981, took over sole possession of first place with two victories last week. The Broncos, ranked No. 17 in Division II at 13-5 overall and 4-0 in the CCAA, defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 70-53, and Chapman, 68-59. . . . Two teams from the Southland are listed in the latest National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics Division I men’s basketball poll. Biola (16-3) is ranked No. 16 and Southern California College (14-4) is ranked No. 19.

In NAIA women’s basketball, Christ College Irvine has the best record in the Southland at 14-2. But the Eagles have yet to make the NAIA Division I rankings. . . . Senior offensive tackle Ross Ritter of Azusa Pacific has been named to the 1991 NAIA Division II All-American football team for the second consecutive season. Two other seniors, defensive back David Taylor and linebacker Kevin Ebenhoch, have been named NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s swimming team extended its winning streak in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual meets to 55 with victories over Whittier and Redlands. . . . The Redlands men’s basketball team came within one three-point basket of its school record with 20 in a 108-93 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last week. The Bulldogs are averaging more than 11 per game.