CLU Guard Ulloa Takes Giant Steps

Mike Dunlap has the Burroughs High basketball team to thank for alerting him to Dave Ulloa, the freshman point guard from Glendale High who has guided the Cal Lutheran offense and provided a tenacious defensive spark this season.

When the Burroughs team was visiting the campus one day last season, the Cal Lutheran coach asked them to name the toughest player they had come up against.

“In unison they said, ‘Dave Ulloa, you have to have him,’ ” Dunlap said.

Dunlap then staged what proved to be a successful recruiting battle against several Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools.

“He was one of the best-kept secrets around,” Dunlap said.

Ulloa is also bigger than life, or at least his 5-foot-9, 155-pound frame, according to Dunlap.

“He was a giant,” Dunlap said after Ulloa scored 13 points and made five steals and four assists in CLU’s 92-74 win Tuesday over Westmont. “He controlled the game.”

SISTER ACT

Sisters Evelyn and Nicole Albert have helped the CLU women’s basketball team to a promising 3-4 start. Promising because the Regals already have exceeded last season’s win total by two.

Cal Lutheran snapped a 12-game losing streak that dated to last season with a 105-48 victory over Mount St. Mary’s. In the game, Evelyn recorded personal highs in scoring (35 points) and rebounds (17).

In a 66-63 win over Mills College, the sisters from Corcoran, a farm community south of Visalia, Calif., combined for 34 points.

On Tuesday, in an 86-63 loss to Christ College of Irvine, Nicole scored a personal-high 26 points and Evelyn added 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Evelyn, a 5-8 senior forward, leads CLU in scoring (19.1 avg.) and rebounds (8.3).

Nicole, a 5-4 freshman guard, is the team’s second-leading scorer with an 11.9 average. She also is averaging a team-high three assists.

TOUGH TIMES

The Master’s basketball team is going through a tough spell.

Not only is Coach Mel Hankinson sidelined because of an infection of the colon, the Mustangs (2-5, including a forfeit win over Occidental) have lost five consecutive games on the court, including an 87-82 loss to Point Loma Nazarene on Tuesday.

“The biggest thing is we’re not getting it done at the defensive end, be it (lack of) intelligence or intensity,” said Tom Jamerson, who is assisting interim Coach Mike Huff.

“Some of it is caused by our shot selection. We’re taking early shots and letting other teams get into transition.”

The lack of intensity against Point Loma was particularly frustrating because the NAIA Division I Mustangs were coming off their best effort of the season, a 66-65 loss to NCAA Division II Cal State Bakersfield.

“We gotta be mentally tough,” Jamerson said.

“Until we do we won’t win too many games. We need leadership down the stretch. It might be the biggest adjustment of the year other than the coach (Hankinson) being out.”

SICK BAY

Hankinson will undergo several tests Friday morning, including a scope of the colon. The results will determine if surgery is required.

“He really wants to get on with this thing,” said Hankinson’s wife, Joan. “The doctor doesn’t know why he has as much pain as he does.”

EXPECTED RETURN

Jason Joynes, an All-Western State Conference South Division second-team selection for Canyons as a freshman, is expected to make his first appearance of the season for the Cougars in the second round of the Mid-State tournament at Cuesta on Friday.

Joynes, a 6-9, 270-pound center from Adelaide, Australia, averaged 12 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Cougars last season, but he has not played this year because his visa expired when he returned to Australia last month to visit a sick relative. He was unable to get a new one until recently.

Joynes is expected to arrive at LAX this afternoon and then drive to San Luis Obispo to rejoin the Cougars, who will play West Valley at 4 p.m. in a first-round game.

“He should be in uniform for Friday’s game and, hopefully, he’ll get some playing time,” Coach Lee Smelser said.

“He says he’s kept himself in pretty good shape since he’s been gone, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

SILVER LINING

Canyons, the two-time defending WSC South Division champion, has sputtered to a 4-4 record in Joynes’ absence, but Smelser has managed to remain positive.

“Not having Jason has allowed us to give some of our other players more quality playing time than they would have received had he been here,” Smelser said.

“Hopefully, that will help us down the line.”

MAKING THE GRADE

Philip Mathews, the men’s basketball coach at Ventura, will be the first to admit he is difficult to please when it comes to his team’s performance on the court, yet it has been difficult for him to find fault with the Pirates’ 9-0 start this season.

Well, sort of.

“Our defense has not played up to par,” Mathews said.

“It’s not where we want it to be, but we’re 9-0 and ranked No. 1 (in the state), so I guess I can’t complain too much. . . . I expected us to have a couple of losses by now, but this team has been real good about playing to its strengths.”

Calvin Curry, a 6-6 redshirt sophomore forward from Compton High, Stephane Brown, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Channel Islands High, and Brandon Jessie, a 6-5 freshman forward from Huntington Beach Edison, have led Ventura.

Curry and Brown are averaging 22 and 17 points a game, respectively. Jessie is averaging 19 points and 9.6 rebounds a game.

“Once we get to where I’d like us to be, we’re going to be pretty hard to beat,” Mathews said.

As if the Pirates aren’t already.

ROAD WARRIOR

Andre Chevalier, Cal State Northridge’s point guard, played 74 of a possible 80 minutes for the Matadors last week in the Gaucho Classic at UC Santa Barbara.

Considering Chevalier sets the tempo for the Northridge offense and also is counted on to provide defensive pressure, it’s a lot of work. But that wasn’t all of his work.

After Northridge’s 67-60 loss against Santa Barbara in a late game Friday night, Chevalier drove back to Northridge so he could take a math placement test Saturday morning.

Then he drove back to Santa Barbara--about 100 miles--for Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against Eastern Washington.

Chevalier, a junior, played 37 minutes as the Matadors lost another tight game, 61-60, on a three-point basket just before the buzzer.

Though Northridge did not win a game, Chevalier was at least partially rewarded for his work. He was the only Matador to be selected to the all-tournament team. In the two games, Chevalier scored 20 points and had 10 assists.

BAD KARMA

Mike Johnson, part-time assistant for the Northridge men’s basketball team, had an excuse for being edgy when the Matadors’ flight arrived Wednesday in Phoenix on their way to Flagstaff for a game against Northern Arizona.

On a previous visit to Phoenix, a recruiting trip in September, Johnson was robbed while standing near the car-rental counter at the airport.

Johnson’s wallet and credit cards were taken, leaving him with no money. All he could do was turn around and fly back home.

“Nice trip,” he quipped before Northridge departed for its visit this week. “And I like Phoenix too.”

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.