Sports : COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The season has already reached a critical stage for the Cal State Long Beach men’s basketball team if it hopes to compete in a postseason tournament.

The 49ers, who have lost two consecutive games for the first time this season, including Saturday’s 82-66 decision to UC Santa Barbara, play host to Big West Conference rivals UC Irvine at 8:30 tonight and Cal State Fullerton at 8:30 Saturday. Both games will be televised by KDOC-56.

Long Beach is 8-5 and 3-3 in the Big West.

Perhaps the biggest problem for the 49ers has been injuries. Leading scorer Mike Atkinson has struggled since spraining an ankle Jan. 10 against Nevada. He had a season-low five points in Long Beach’s 92-69 loss to Pacific last week.

Starting point guard Jeff Rogers missed the Santa Barbara game because of a bruised calf muscle and junior forward Bart Gijbels has been slowed because of a knee injury he suffered in a November exhibition game against the Lafayette Hustlers.

In addition, starting guard Brian Camper was ruled academically ineligible after the conference opener against New Mexico State on Jan. 5, and junior forward Gerry Branner quit the team for personal reasons Saturday.

The 49ers’ opponents this week also have been struggling. Irvine is 5-9 and 2-4 and Fullerton 3-12 and 1-6.

COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL

The Long Beach State volleyball team, ranked No. 10 by Volleyball Monthly, was defeated by No. 7 Pepperdine, 15-6, 15-6, 15-8, Tuesday night at Malibu.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The Cerritos College men’s basketball will try to finish the first half of South Coast Conference play undefeated when it plays host to Mt. San Antonio at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Falcons, ranked No. 2 in the state behind Ventura by the JC Athletic Bureau, are 19-4 and 3-0 in South Coast games.

Cerritos, which coasted to a 102-80 win over Harbor on Saturday, has been paced by sophomore center Javan Rouzan, who averages 20.3 points and 10.6 rebounds to rank among the state leaders. He has also made a team-leading 57.5% of his shots from the field.

In the backcourt, Monty Owen is averaging 11 points and Kelly Hambrick is averaging 10.6.

Cerritos has averaged 86.8 points, including a 98.3 average in conference games.

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The Long Beach City men’s basketball team will try to keep pace with first place Cerritos when it plays El Camino in a South Coast Conference game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Long Beach.

It will be the last conference game for Long Beach before its rematch against Cerritos on Feb. 5 at Cerritos. The Vikings, ranked No. 6 in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau, suffered a 93-82 loss to Cerritos on Jan. 15.

Long Beach improved to 18-6 and 2-1 in South Coast play with an 81-63 win over Mt. San Antonio last week. Against Mt. San Antonio, the Vikings were led by freshman forward Chris Blanton from Dominguez High. He had 15 points.

Sophomore forward Kevin Beal, sophomore guard Marcus Rogers and freshman forward Marc Neal have been the team’s leaders. Beal averages 22 points, placing him among the state scoring leaders, Rogers is the team leader in three-point baskets and Neal leads in rebounding, field-goal percentage and blocked shots.

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After advancing to the state quarterfinals two seasons ago, the Long Beach women’s basketball team has struggled.

The Vikings, coached by Barbara Jackson, finished 4-19 a year ago.

But Long Beach, which plays host to Pasadena at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, may be on the rise. Despite starting four freshman, the Vikings are 10-13.

The team’s offensive leader is 5-9 Dalynne Ware, the only sophomore in the starting lineup. She ranks among the state leaders with averages of 19.7 points and 11.6 rebounds. Another standout has been 5-10 Jolena Lomax, who is also listed among the state leaders at 15.1 points and 11.1 rebounds.

PREPS

Two Southeast athletes are among the early entries announced for the high school division of the Sunkist Invitational track and field meet at noon on Feb. 19 at the Sports Arena.

Londell Ramsey of Downey will compete in the boys’ 50-meter hurdles and triple jump, and Stacy Edwards of Gahr is entered in the girls’ 880-yard run.

Ramsey turned in a best of 14.86 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles last season. Among other participants in the event will be Hart’s Jason Medearis and Santa Monica’s Tyson Murphy.

Edwards, who completed the 800-meter run in 2 minutes 18.60 seconds last season, will compete against many of the top half-milers in the state, including Shalynn Carr of Bonita and Stacy Kerr of Paradise.

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Forward Shannon Perry of the Cerritos girls’ basketball team is listed among the state leaders in three categories in the California Interscholastic Federation’s mid-season statistics. Perry is ranked in scoring with a 19.3-point average, rebounding (10.7) and shooting percentage at 50.6%.

The highest ranked Southeast player is Pioneer’s Maria Camacho, who is No. 2 in rebounding with a 16.5 average. Among other girls listed are Norwalk teammates Laura Clark (10.8) and Jennifer Durrey (10.2) in rebounding.

In the boys’ division, Whittier Christian has Kevin Berry and Ed Vieman listed among field-goal percentage leaders. Berry has made 59.2% of his shots and Vieman 58.6%.

Long Beach Wilson teammates Michael Batiste and Eric Williams are mentioned among the leaders in field-goal percentage and rebounding.

BRIEFLY

Marge Godfrey, principal of Millikan High in Long Beach, has been appointed to the Southern Section Executive Committee. She replaces Maureen Sanders, who resigned to accept a position with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Before arriving at Millikan, Godfrey was a physical education teacher and coach at Lakewood and principal of the Long Beach Adult School and Long Beach Poly.

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Whittier Christian Junior High finished in first place in the junior high division at the recent SCORE National Cheerleading competition at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The 12-member team, under the guidance of coach Debbi Long and choreographer James Leal, finished ahead of 14 other junior high squads. It was the school’s first appearance in the event, which had about 800 participants from 20 states.

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