JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Oxnard Poised for Title Run

The pieces of the puzzle all appear to be there for Oxnard College men’s basketball Coach Remy McCarthy.

Now it’s a matter of making them fit and seeing if the design produces the Condors’ first Western State Conference North Division title.

Ventura has won the division title since the WSC divided its 11-team conference into two divisions before the 1990-91 season, but Oxnard appears capable of dethroning the Pirates.

“I certainly feel like our kids feel like they can beat them, but we have to prove it,” McCarthy said. “They’re the favorites until we beat them, but I think we have a chance to be there this year.”

Ventura Coach Philip Mathews agrees.

“On paper, they have the potential to win the (division) title,” Mathews said. “They’ve always been a big rival of ours because we’re so close to one another, but this year they also appear to have the talent to match ours.”

Oxnard (18-12, 6-2 in division play) has a blend of experienced sophomores, led by 6-foot-10 center Art Wallace and 6-8 forward Tony Ziuraitis, and talented freshmen, headed by 6-2 shooting guard Lance Fay from Buena High, and 6-3 point guard Chris Cole from Santa Clara.

Wallace, from Chicago Crane High, and Ziuraitis, a graduate of Santa Clara, were All-North Division selections as freshmen.

Wallace averaged 12 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots after starting the season slowly, and Ziuraitis averaged 11.5 points and 6.7 rebounds.

“Everyone has got to play hard for us to succeed this season,” McCarthy said. “But Art is the key. If he can be a consistent force in the middle, it’s going to make us a very good team.”

A dominant Wallace could give smaller teams such as Ventura fits.

Oxnard will find out just how valuable Wallace is this weekend when the Condors play at Victor Valley in the season opener tonight and at College of the Desert on Saturday without Wallace, who has been benched for the first two games because of disciplinary reasons.

“I want (Art’s) effort to be more consistent in practice, and I felt like we had to establish right away that we can have a pretty good ballclub,” McCarthy said. “But things have to be done a certain way around here. We can’t have two sets of rules for the sophomores and freshmen.”

Eddie Madec, a scrappy 6-3 sophomore forward from Rio Mesa, will replace Wallace in the lineup.

Fay, a long-range shooter, Cole and freshman Stevie Amar will fill out the starting lineup with Ziuraitis and Madec. Fay averaged 29.2 points and 6.9 assists while earning Southern Section Division I co-player-of-the-year honors last season.

Cole, the section’s Division IV player of the year, combined with Amar to lead Santa Clara to its fourth consecutive section title at the IV-AA level.

Andy Saint, a 6-5 forward from Buena, Jasper Satterwhite, a 6-4 forward from Oxnard, and Jason McLean, a 5-11 guard from Rio Mesa, round out the list of freshmen that McCarthy is counting on to contribute.

Marlowe Durmiendo, a 5-11 sophomore guard from Channel Islands, should give the Condors a 10-man rotation, a welcome change from last season when Oxnard had only seven players at the end.

Things got so bad the Condors concluded a game against Valley with four players on the floor after three had fouled out. “It’s nice having this kind of depth,” McCarthy said, “and I can’t say enough about the attitude of the freshmen on this year’s team. Most of these guys come from winning programs, so they expect to win.”

OTHER TEAMS TO WATCH

Antelope Valley (20-13)--The Marauders will be shooting for their fourth consecutive Foothill Conference title with “the most-talented and biggest team we’ve ever had,” during Coach Newton Chelette’s four-year tenure at the school.

Sophomore forward Jason Grimes (6-7), an all-conference pick who averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds as a freshman, is the lone returnee. Point guard Brian Willcox returns for his sophomore campaign after redshirting last season.

The Marauders have seven players who are 6-7 or taller, including Mario Garcia, a 6-11 freshman from Spain, and Darnell Cherry, a 6-9 sophomore transfer from Imperial Valley College.

Dan Prince (6-1), the Golden League player of the year for Quartz Hill last season, is expected to be the team’s top distance shooter.

Other players expected to receive plenty of playing time include Akili Carter, a 6-5 freshman guard from Crenshaw, and John Puckett, a 6-7 sophomore transfer from L.A. City College. “Rebounding should definitely be one of our strengths,” Chelette said. “There could be times this season when our five players on the floor measure 6-5, 6-7, 6-7, 6-9 and 6-11.”

Canyons (26-7)--Center Jason Joynes and guard Rasaan Hall are the only returnees from last season’s team that advanced to the final 16 of the state tournament, but those two, combined with quality incoming players, should give the Cougars a good chance to win their third consecutive WSC South Division title.

Joynes, a 6-9, 260-pound center from Adelaide, Australia, averaged 12 points and 5.8 rebounds a game as a starter last season, and Hall was the Cougars’ first or second man off the bench.

They will be joined in the starting lineup by 5-7 sophomore point guard Cedric Jones, 6-1 freshman shooting guard DeShawn Harvey from North Hollywood and 6-5 forward G.C. Marcaccini, who redshirted at UC Santa Barbara last season after a standout career at Notre Dame High.

Chris Young (6-0), Mark Harrison (6-6) and Jagos Medenica (6-5) should provide depth.

Young, the Golden League most valuable player for Quartz Hill in 1990-91, is a 6-0 sophomore transfer from Tuskegee (Ala.) University.

Medenica is a redshirt freshman from Canyon, and Harrison is a freshman from Crescenta Valley.

Coach Lee Smelser is entering his 24th season at Canyons.

Glendale (13-16)--Sophomore guard Will Burr is the only returnee from last season’s Vaquero squad, but Coach Brian Beauchemin, in his 14th season, likes the team’s depth and outside shooting.

“Last year we could defend from outside but we couldn’t hit from there,” Beauchemin said. “This year we should be able to do both.”

Redshirt freshmen Kenny Collins (6-0) and Mike Scovell (6-4) from Cleveland, freshmen Ryan Asplund (6-2) and Jimmy Evans (6-4) from La Canada, and sophomore transfer Setro Terzian (6-2), formerly of Grant, are local products.

Nick Athanassakis and Mike Macchia are 6-6 forwards from Dos Pueblos and San Gabriel, respectively, and James Parker, a 6-3 1/2 swingman from West Covina, could be a sleeper.

Moorpark (8-21)--The Raiders were plagued by internal problems last season in the form of sophomores Damian Wilson and Jimmy Galbert, but Coach Al Nordquist is looking for a fresh start in his 26th season at the school.

Carlos Vasquez, a 6-0 sophomore shooting guard from Cleveland, is the only returnee, but Nordquist is pleased with the freshman trio of Elijah Maxey, Sean Martin and Danny Alexander.

Maxey is a 6-3 redshirt from Palm Beach (Fla.) College.

Martin is a 6-0 point guard from Agoura who averaged 24.5 points and 5.2 assists as a senior during the 1990-91 season. Alexander, a 6-5 center from Simi Valley, averaged 18.8 points and 5.4 rebounds as a senior to earn the Marmonte League’s co-player-of-the-year honor.

Kayheed Murray, a 6-5 freshman swingman from Cleveland, also could contend for a position in the starting lineup.

Valley (19-14)--Coach Jim Stephens is entering his 18th season at Valley and he says he has never had such an inexperienced team.

Stephens expected starting guard David Tyner and reserve forward David Knight back for their sophomore seasons, but Tyner dropped out of school before the end of the spring semester and Knight quit the team over the summer, leaving Valley with a new team.

“This is really going to be a down year,” Stephens said. “Things just have not worked out as I hoped they would. At the end of last season, I thought we were going to have two good sophomores who could shoot. That would have given us something to build around.”

The Monarch lineup is expected to consist of an all-freshman ensemble of forwards Wayne Carlisle (6-7) and Fernando Orozco (6-3), center Brian Jackson (6-4), and guards Lindsey Dunbar (5-9) and Goldie Jones (5-9).

Quarterback Joe Mauldin, the leading passer in the WSC, is expected to join the team after the football season.

Ventura (33-5)--With 6-5 center Michael Tate, 6-8 forward Richard McFoy, and 6-3 guard D’Mitri Rideout redshirting, Stephane Brown (6-2) and Donyhel Johnson (6-0) are the only returnees from last season’s team that advanced to the semifinals of the state championships before losing to eventual champion Cerritos.

But with 6-7 forward Calvin Curry and 6-6 center Mike King returning for their sophomore campaigns after redshirting last season, Ventura remains talented enough to sustain another long run through the state playoffs.

Brandon Jessie, a 6-5 freshman forward from Huntington Beach Edison and the son of former NFL receiver Ron Jessie, and Joey Ramirez, a 5-10 point guard from Santa Paula, also will start. The bench again will be strong with Johnson and freshmen Alfred Kennedy (6-8), Tracy Lundy (6-3) and Derrick Smith (6-3) heading that group.

Johnson is a multitalented athlete, having placed fourth in the long jump in this year’s state track and field championships.

An unrelenting, in-your-face defense again will be the Pirates’ trademark, but Mathews is confident his team also will improve on outside and free-throw shooting.

WOMEN’S TEAMS TO WATCH

Valley (29-5)--After winning six consecutive WSC championships, the Monarchs will be favored to win the South Division title of the WSC, an 11-team conference that has been split into two divisions. “I really like this team,” sixth-year Coach Doug Michelson said. “We’re definitely going to be two or three deep at every position.”

Point guard Rosa Mendez (5-7), guard Lillian Stanford (5-4), forward-center Amy Horst (6-1), and forwards Luscinda Silva (5-9) and Julie Nelson (5-11) return, but Mendez is the only one who started regularly last year.

Michelle Cabaldon, a 5-8 guard, joins the Monarchs after playing for Canyons during the 1989-90 season.

Michelson said seven freshmen are capable of playing, including 5-10 forward Tomeka Evans from Westchester, 5-8 guard-forward Nicole Baynes from Grant, and 5-8 guard Shelise Tillman from Granada Hills.

Ventura (25-7)--Three starters, led by 5-7 guard Cori Herman, return from last season’s team that was upset by El Camino in the first round of the Southern California regional.

Herman averaged 18.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists to earn the WSC’s North Division player-of-the-year honors, but she will be sidelined for at least three weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. The Pirates’ other returning starters are 5-10 forward Jamie Mayte and 5-6 guard Erica Probasco, the team leader in assists (5.7).

Nicole Ellis, a 6-0 forward who played for Ventura during the 1990-91 season, and Tara Sanders, a 5-8 freshman guard-forward from Santa Paula, round out the starting five. Ellis averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds a game as a freshman.

Jennifer Wells, a 5-11 freshman guard-forward from Buena High, and Vickie Franklin, a 5-8 freshman guard from Michigan, also will receive extensive playing time.