CCI, SCC Battle for High Playoff Spots

The Christ College Irvine and Southern California College men’s basketball teams appear to have assured themselves of berths in the NAIA District 3 playoffs before meeting in their final regular-season game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at SCC.

The district coaches will meet Sunday afternoon at Biola in La Mirada to pick and rank the eight teams in the draw. SCC (18-11) and Christ College Irvine (15-13) are among the six teams with winning records that appear to have playoff spots wrapped up.

However, CCI and SCC are hoping to be one of the top four seeded teams and thus be at home in the first round Tuesday. Azusa Pacific (26-3) and The Master’s College (18-9) will likely to be seeded No. 1 and No. 2 with Biola (19-11), Westmont (16-10), SCC and CCI in the hunt for the next two spots.

Biola helped its chances Friday by beating Azusa Pacific, 63-62, handing the Cougars, who were then the top-ranked NAIA team in the nation, their first district loss of the season. Westmont finishes its regular season Saturday at Azusa Pacific.

SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said he would be concerned if his team had to play its first-round game away from home.

“The only thing we pray for is that we don’t play at Westmont because of the length of the drive,” he said.

Of the two teams, Christ College Irvine has been playing better of late. Prior to a 75-66 loss at Westmont Tuesday, the Eagles had won five of the last six games, their only loss during that span coming at Azusa Pacific on a 35-footer at the buzzer by Scott Day.

Entering the week, the Eagles led the district in field-goal percentage (50.5%) and D’Andre Brown, a 6-foot-6 forward, was fourth in scoring (19.8) and fifth in rebounding (8.5).

Southern California College has struggled a bit, losing consecutive games by large margins at The Master’s (77-56) and at home against Westmont (76-61). But after trailing at Fresno Pacific by 13 at halftime Saturday, the Vanguards rallied to win, 79-77, and Reynolds said his team sustained its effort Tuesday in a 91-77 victory over Point Loma Nazarene.

“The last 12 minutes against Fresno rekindled our spirits a bit,” Reynolds said.

Mike West, a 6-3 forward, continues to lead the conference in rebounding with an average of 10. West is averaging 17.6 points.

Point, counterpoint: SCC beat the Eagles, 86-70, at Christ College the first time the teams played this season and CCI Coach Greg Marshall said he fears the Vanguards’ outside shooting, especially in their home gym.

“They all shoot the ball with a lot of confidence, which is the mark of a Bill Reynolds-coached team,” Marshall said. “They get in that gym and they can shoot blindfolded.”

Reynolds asked, joking: “If that’s true, why were we only eight of 22 from three-point range Tuesday night? Maybe we should try blindfolds.”

The Chapman men’s basketball team surpassed a modest milestone Saturday when it beat Cal State Los Angeles, 83-77.

The victory was the Panthers’ fourth California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory, making this the first season since 1988-89 that Chapman has won more than three conference games.

The Panthers (7-18, 4-9 in the CCAA) have matched their victory total in their last two seasons combined. The victory at Los Angeles also ended the Panthers’ 15-games conference road losing streak. It was the first time they had won a CCAA game on the road since beating Cal State Dominguez Hills, 67-60, in February 1991.

Under first-year Coach Mike Bokosky, Chapman has improved despite having only five players remaining on athletic scholarship because of the university’s decision to switch from NCAA Division II to Division III next fall.

“Our record isn’t an indication, but we’ve been able to play hard and give teams a run for their money when realistically we probably shouldn’t have been able to,” Bokosky said.

Chapman finishes its final CCAA season on the road at 8:05 p.m. Saturday against Dominguez Hills (15-9, 6-7), which is battling for one of the final two spots in the four-team conference tournament.

Chapman women’s basketball Coach Lindsay Strothers checked into Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of Anaheim Tuesday because of stomach pain.

Derek Anderson, Chapman sports information director, said Strothers missed his team’s practice Wednesday and might miss the game tonight at Cal Poly Pomona. In Strothers’ absence, the team will be coached by assistant Jennifer Uecke.

The Panthers (2-21, 0-11) finish their last CCAA season Saturday by playing host to Cal State San Bernardino.

Streak busted: Chapman left fielder Buster Nietzke went hitless in four times at the plate Monday in a 5-3 loss to UCLA, ending his school-record 27-game hitting streak.

Nietzke, a senior from Saddleback College and Capistrano Valley High, was hitless in two at-bats with a walk and a sacrifice as the Panthers (6-7) lost to the Bruins for the fourth time this season.

Nietzke hit safely in the last 16 games last season and the first 11 this season. He leads the team in batting average at .388.

Notes

Gitte Mejer, a center for the Christ College Irvine women’s basketball team, has been named the player of the year by both the Golden State Athletic Conference and the NAIA District 3. Mejer, a 6-foot-2 junior from Aarhus, Demark, won the conference’s top award for the second consecutive season. She led the district in scoring (18.9 per game) and was third in rebounding (8.3). . . . Mejer was joined as a first-team all-district and all-conference selection by teammates Stacy Kirch, a senior guard from Denver, and Genevieve Graff, a senior guard from Longmont, Colo. SCC’s Cyndie Lyons, a guard from Puyallup, Wash., also was named to both teams. She averaged 16.1 points and helped the Vanguards (14-14) to their first playoff berth in school history. . . . CCI Coach Kent Schlictemeier was named district coach of the year.