COLLEGE DIVISION / ARA NAJARIAN : Cal Lutheran, La Verne Seek Berth

Cal Lutheran and La Verne tied for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title when the schools won their final games Thursday.

The co-champions will meet in a playoff game today at Occidental for the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Cal Lutheran was on course to win the title outright, but its 18-game winning streak was stopped, 103-102, by Redlands last Saturday.

But the end of the streak was less pressing on the Kingsmen’s minds than La Verne moving into a tie for first place.

It is possible that both teams will receive tournament bids, with the team that loses the playoff expected to receive an at-large invitation.

The only previous SCIAC playoff was in 1991, when Claremont-Mudd defeated La Verne for the automatic bid.

Cal Lutheran’s streak tied the school record set in 1978. The Kingsmen are 20-5 overall, 12-2 in conference games, and are the top-ranked team in the Division III West Region poll. La Verne is 18-7 and 12-2.

The Pacific Christian men’s basketball team played its National Christian College Athletic Assn. West Regional final in an unusual place last Saturday: Independence Park in Fullerton.

The Independence Park community center, which is adjacent to a pool and racquetball courts, is often used for ballroom dancing.

Pacific Christian usually plays in Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym, but Fullerton was playing a televised game and needed to prepare the gym.

After a search for a local gym, Pacific Christian Coach Lee Erickson contacted Independence Park and was granted use of the facility.

“We tried about 15 gyms,” Erickson said. “It worked out, though. We set up chairs and had about 300 people. It was standing-room only.”

Next, Pacific Christian will go to the big dance. The Royals (22-11) defeated San Jose Christian, 116-110, to advance to the NCCAA nationals for the sixth time in the last seven years.

The national tournament will be played March 4-6 at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team clinched its 12th consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title when it defeated Chapman on Thursday.

But perhaps the most important game of the regular season was Pomona’s 70-65 victory over UC Riverside last week.

“It was a must-win situation for us,” Pomona Coach Darlene May said after the game. “If we lose this game, we won’t win the conference. But we’re still not out of the woods.”

What got them out of the woods was a 77-60 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last Saturday and the 77-31 rout of Chapman on Thursday.

Riverside (17-9, 9-3 in the CCAA) was one game behind Pomona in the standings before losing to Pomona. In January, Riverside gave the Broncos (21-2, 10-1) their only conference loss this season--and only the seventh ever in conference play.

“We talked about that loss, but (Thursday’s game) wasn’t a grudge match, it was for the conference (title),” May said.

The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team’s winning streak was ended at 16 by Biola, 63-62, on Feb. 19. The defeat also dropped the Cougars from the No. 1 ranking in the nation.

The Cougars set a school record by winning 15 consecutive games in one season when they defeated Christ College Irvine on Feb. 13, then extended it to 16 with a victory over Point Loma Nazarene.

The previous record of 14 was held by the 1973-74 team.

Azusa College won 16 in a row during the 1960-61 season, but that is not considered an Azusa Pacific school record because it was before Azusa College merged with Los Angeles Pacific Colleges in 1965.

The Cougars (25-3) were the top-ranked team in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics Division I poll for four consecutive weeks but slipped to No. 2 in last Monday’s poll. Oklahoma Baptist moved up from No. 2.

Before the basketball season, Azusa Pacific never had a team in any sport ranked No. 1 in an NAIA national poll.

That’s not to say the Cougars have not been successful.

The men’s track and field programs have won nine national titles, but there are no national polls for track and field. The women’s volleyball team won a national title in 1980, but there was no final poll and the team was not ranked going into the playoffs.

College Division Notes

Osmond Ezinwa of Azusa Pacific finished third in Open Division of the 50-meter dash at the Sunkist Track and Field meet last Saturday with a time of 5.85 seconds.

Cal State Bakersfield remains undefeated and the top-ranked basketball team in Division II with a 25-0 record . . . . Four Southland basketball players have been selected to the District VIII College Division Academic All-American Team. Two Redlands players, junior forward John Arnold and senior center Brett Grebing, are joined by Cal Lutheran’s Rupert Sapwell and UC Riverside’s Jeff Bonner. Senior guards Genevieve Graff and Stacy Kirch were voted to the women’s team from Christ College Irvine.

In women’s basketball, Fresno Pacific (21-7) defeated top-seeded Christ College Irvine for the NAIA District 3 championship Thursday. Irvine (25-5), which saw a 15-game winning streak end, is ranked No. 24 in the NAIA national poll. Both teams are expected to earn an at-large bid to the NAIA national tournament March 3-9 in Jackson, Tenn.

The SCIAC men’s and women’s swimming meets are under way this weekend at the Cerritos Aquatic Center.