Dominguez Hills Pulls Surprise

It’s not surprising to find Cal State Bakersfield and UC Riverside running first and second at the halfway point of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball season. But it is somewhat of a surprise that Cal State Dominguez Hills is only two games out of second place.

With a lack of depth, the Toros figured to be a middle-of-the-pack team at best this season.

As expected, Bakersfield has dominated, taking a one-game lead over Riverside, and it is unlikely that Dominguez Hills will win the CCAA title.

But Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai is satisfied.

“I feel that our team is a post-season conference team,” Yanai said. “I feel that our kids are going to be a factor in the playoffs. Our goal is to get to (the four-team CCAA tournament) and then win two games to get an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.”

In a conference in which the talent differential between the second- and last-place teams is negligible, good coaching is at a premium. Not surprisingly, Bakersfield’s Pat Douglass and Riverside’s John Masi have their teams at the top of the conference most years.

But Yanai has a background that anyone would take pride in: His teams have won more than 200 games and four conference titles in 15 years at Dominguez Hills, he was selected as an assistant coach for the 1990 Olympic Festival and coaches with former California and Olympic Coach Pete Newell at clinics in Japan.

Yanai knows, with only three scholarships split among 11 players, that his team may not have the advantages of other conference schools. Even so, his teams are among the best in the conference defensively, which accounts for much of the Toros’ success.

They were 5-3 in the first swing through the conference, losing at Bakersfield by only four points and taking UC Riverside into overtime before losing.

“Success for us is playing as well as we can,” Yanai said. “There have been games where we didn’t win but I felt it was a win situation--although it was not a win in the standings.”

That’s blasphemy to many coaches and fans.

“The game at Bakersfield is a prime example,” he said. “They’re a very formidable team. Our kids really played hard and implemented the game plan very well. Bakersfield took a 16-point lead in a bad stretch and kids came back so it was a two-point game with a minute to go.

“That would be an example of what I call a win in terms of effort.”

Yanai’s players feed on achieving their goals.

“We look at ourselves as, ‘This is our team: It’s done on the floor,’ ” Yanai said. “We don’t talk about resource limitations. To me those are excuses for failure. The challenge is there for us to do an even better job.”

It helps that Newell, whose Cal team won the 1959 NCAA championship and whose 1960 U.S. Olympic team won the gold medal, will drop in to point things out to players.

“I have to give them a little history lesson prior to introducing him,” Yanai said. “He’s won the NCAA championship, the gold medal and of course they hear his name pop up on TV now and then. I think our kids are aware of him as a great coach.

“In my mind, he is the best. He has been a great supporter and mentor for our program. He’s been a mentor of mine going on 18 years--he’s contributed tremendously. Words can’t express how much he’s helped.”

Newell met Yanai through a mutual friend 18 years ago and the two hit it off. They have made six trips to Japan to conduct clinics.

But don’t get he idea that Yanai’s teams are steeped in old-fashioned basketball. He adjusts to the athletes, but always stresses solid defense and disciplined shot selection.

His team this season is more up-tempo, using the defense to set up offensive opportunities. As a result, the Toros have scored 90 or more points twice. It is only the third Dominguez Hills team to have scored 90 or more points twice in a season. No Toro team has done it three times.

Seniors Vincent Washington and Ray Bennett have led the team. Each is averaging more than 14 points and Washington is among the conference leaders in assists and rebounds. Compton College transfers Joe Bertrand and Darnell Patterson provide an inside game that was missing last year.

College Division Notes

With two more victories each last week, Cal State Bakersfield (21-0) remains the top-ranked basketball team in Division II play and Azusa Pacific (22-2) remains the top-ranked team in the NAIA. In women’s basketball, Cal Poly Pomona (15-1) is the No. 9 Division II team. Pomona Pitzer is the top-ranked team in the Division III West Region.

Demetria Dixon of Cal Baptist totaled 75 points in three basketball games last week. She scored 27 in a loss to Azusa Pacific, 23 in a victory over UC San Diego and 25 in a victory over the Master’s College. . . . Although Biola split its two women’s basketball games last week, senior forward Amber Andreasen had a great week. She scored 23 points and had seven rebounds in a loss to Christ College Irvine, the top team in the NAIA District 3, and scored 29 on 12-for-14 shooting--she was five for six from three-point range--in a victory over Point Loma Nazarene.