Analytical Micelli Gains Leading Role in 2 CSUN Victories

Peter Micelli, Cal State Northridge’s center, takes a good deal of ribbing because his hometown is Beverly Hills, city of stars.

For the record, Micelli does not care to pursue an acting career.

He does, however, do film work--which at least partially accounts for his back-to-back 17-point efforts.

Before scoring 17 in an 87-86 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday, and again in a 92-62 victory over Texas Wesleyan on Tuesday, Micelli had gone eight games without scoring in double figures.

His confidence wavering, Micelli decided to pore over game film in an effort to shake his slump.

“I was getting difficult because Coach was always on me about things,” Micelli said. “But when I saw myself on film, a lot of what he said hit me like a sledgehammer.”

Micelli found himself standing too erect on defense, not getting back fast enough in transition and, on offense, being timid when he had an opportunity to drive to the basket.

He quickly made adjustments.

Against Texas Wesleyan, three of Micelli’s baskets were dunks. “I took the ball to the hole,” he said. “I had been relying on my jumper, and that’s got to stop.”

Micelli’s defense has improved too. Jon Reneau, Texas Wesleyan’s center, had averaged 20 points in his previous six games before running into a rejuvenated Micelli.

Against Northridge, he had three points in 28 minutes.

ON GUARD

A note to Northridge basketball opponents: The best way to stop guard Andre Chevalier, the Matadors’ top scorer is . . . don’t guard him too closely.

That’s the mistake Northern Arizona made last Saturday, according to Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy.

“They were doing a good job staying right on top of Andre,” Cassidy said of the Lumberjacks, “but we rubbed a lot of those guys off with screens to open him up for those three-pointers,” Cassidy said after Chevalier scored a game-high 24 points. “In a sense, it backfired.”

MISSING CAMPER

The continuing saga of Northridge basketball recruit Victor Camper is, well, continuing.

Camper, a bulky 6-foot-9 center from Long Beach, last week was waiting for results of a math course that could make him eligible to play.

He told Cassidy that he would know whether he had earned a passing grade by last Friday.

As of Wednesday, Camper still had not called to update Cassidy. In this case anyway, no news would appear to be bad news for the Matadors.

“That itself usually is a telltale sign, you know,” Cassidy said. “It certainly doesn’t look very good. . . . I don’t think much about him anymore.”

ON THE SHELF

Last season, it was a symbol of the superior depth of Ventura’s men’s basketball team.

The absence of the “black team” for most of this season, however, is a sign of the injury woes that have hampered the Pirates, despite their 22-1 record heading into Wednesday night’s game at Bakersfield.

The black team, as Coach Philip Mathews affectionately calls it, is a five-man unit that he inserts into games when he wants to give his starters a breather, yet still maintain a high quality of play on the court.

This season’s squad, which consists of guard Donyhel Johnson, swingmen Tracy Lundy and Reggie Butts, forward Tavvy Gatlin and center Alfred Kennedy, made its first appearance in the championship game of the Glendale tournament against El Camino last month. The unit was used regularly in the Pirates’ four subsequent games, but has not played in the last three because of injuries to Gatlin and starting forward Calvin Curry.

“We just haven’t had enough healthy bodies lately to use the black team,” Mathews said. “Tavvy is a big part of that team because he plays inside.”

Gatlin, a 6-5 freshman from Oakland St. Joseph’s High, is expected to return for Ventura’s game against West L.A. on Saturday, but Curry is expected to be sidelined with strained ligaments in his right knee until Jan. 30.

Until then, the black team is apt to remain sidelined as well.

MOTIVATIONAL TACTICS

He has yet to throw a chair on the court in disgust over an official’s call, but Oxnard Coach Remy McCarthy says he has learned a thing or two from Indiana’s Bobby Knight.

McCarthy saw Knight speak at a clinic in 1982, the year that the Hoosiers won their second NCAA title, led by Isiah Thomas.

Part of Knight’s speech at the clinic centered on Thomas and the reasons Knight had benched him for a couple of games. Knight believed that Thomas was not playing up to his capabilities.

“He said, ‘The bench is a great motivator. You’ve just got to use it,’ ” McCarthy recalled. “I’ll always remember that.”

McCarthy hopes that riding the pine for two games last week will motivate center Art Wallace.

Wallace, a 6-10 sophomore from Chicago Crane High, averaged 12 points and 9.3 rebounds last season to earn All-Western State Conference North Division honors, but his intensity level has not measured up to McCarthy’s expectations this season.

Oxnard split the two games in which Wallace did not play. The Condors defeated Canyons, 79-64, last Wednesday, then lost a heartbreaker to Bakersfield, 46-44, on Saturday, but McCarthy said he never considered inserting Wallace into the lineup.

“Winning isn’t everything to me,” McCarthy said. “Sometimes teaching a kid a lesson is more important.”

DOWN CYCLE

After being pleasantly surprised by his team’s performance early in the season, Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist has seen his team play below expectations in the last five games.

Moorpark began the season 5-0 but was 10-10 entering Wednesday night’s game at Canyons.

“We didn’t have a great record (9-6) before Christmas, but I felt like we had played well in the Pasadena tournament,” Nordquist said.

“We lost to Pasadena and Rancho Santiago there, but I felt like we had played well. . . . Since then, we just haven’t been in sync.”

Injuries to starters Danny Alexander (who missed four games) and Sean Martin (who missed Saturday’s game against Santa Monica) have not helped Moorpark’s plight, but Nordquist thinks a mental letdown has been just as detrimental.

“We’ve just been really flat for the past four games (all losses),” Nordquist said Tuesday. “We’ve had two good practices this week so hopefully I’ll see some improvement against Canyons. . . . I still think this team is capable of playing very well by the time (North Division play) starts.”

Moorpark will open North Division play Jan. 20 against visiting Santa Barbara City.

Staff writers Kennedy Cosgrove, Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.