Rumble Put Basketball in Rumble Seat

Worrying about the recent misfortunes of his Glendale College men’s basketball team took a back seat-- way back--in Coach Brian Beauchemin’s priority list after the earthquake last week.

The quake’s epicenter in Northridge wasn’t far from his home in Granada Hills and Beauchemin spent several days afterward shoveling broken glass and assessing the damage to the property.

The house is livable, but the family--including wife Kathy and daughter Amy, 17--is still staying with friends at night.

“We didn’t have a dish or a glass left, and there are a lot of cracks inside. Every day there (were) more cracks,” Beauchemin said. “This is the most incredible thing I’ve experienced.”

To compound the coach’s problems, the Vaqueros dropped their fifth consecutive game on Monday night, losing to Valley, 102-92, in overtime.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

Battle of Wounded Knee

If the limp in his gait and the look on his face mean anything, Andy Shaw’s left knee could feel a whole lot better.

The long-term availability of Shaw remains very much up in the air.

Shaw, a sophomore transfer from College of the Canyons and the 1993 Western State Conference player of the year, had his injured left knee examined recently and received a cortisone shot.

He has a follow-up exam scheduled for next week, when a decision on additional surgery could be made.

Shaw, a first baseman, had surgery two years ago to repair a damaged patellar tendon, but the injury remains a problem.

He bats left-handed and the weakness in the knee doesn’t allow him to stride into the ball as effectively. He already has used his redshirt season.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said Shaw--also a candidate at designated-hitter--is probably the team’s “best overall hitter.”

Shaw hit .405 with 12 home runs and 51 runs batted in for Canyons last spring, all team highs. Northridge opens the season at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Feb. 4.

Kernen isn’t optimistic.

“He can hardly walk,” the coach said. “I’m not really counting on (his availability).”

*

Infielder Allen Jackson and pitcher James Hines--the first junior college transfers in Kernen’s six years at Northridge to join the team at the semester break--jumped headlong into workouts this month and haven’t had much spare time since.

Since school is not in session, the team has been practicing from sunrise to sunset.

“I’ve never practiced this hard in my life,” Jackson said.

Added Hines: “I’ve worked hard before, but not quite this hard.”

Jackson is a junior from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and Hines is a sophomore right-hander from East L.A. College.

Kernen said the addition of the two to the roster was necessitated when infielder Erik Lazerus unexpectedly transferred to Mission College last fall and Eddie Hernandez, a promising freshman pitcher from Bishop Amat, decided to sign a professional contract late last summer.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

Expletive Being Deleted

Making a point to his players in loud, explicit language during games always went with Philip Mathews’ territory. If he had a bone to pick or someone to admonish, then damn, er, darn the sensitive folks within earshot.

But now the Ventura men’s basketball coach says he is measuring his words.

“The referees can (assess a technical foul) now for your language,” Mathews said. “I do watch what I say now on the court.”

Mathews, who heads one of the most successful programs in the country, could often be heard in the uppermost reaches of the bleachers. At Ventura, where the gym is typically packed, that means hardly anyone is spared.

Yet, he says nobody ever told him to tone down his remarks during games.

“Our fans are used to me,” he said. “It’s a matter of, ‘This is how he runs the program. We accept it.’ ”

Some of his players, however, sometimes don’t let it slide so easily.

Sophomore forward Brandon Jessie, for instance, occasionally talks back to Mathews. But the coach says his relationship with the team’s top player is sound and not affected by their exchanges.

“I yell at him and he says something back,” Mathews said. “But I always have the last word. It’s in the heat of the battle. He thinks he’s playing hard and I don’t sometimes. It’s very hard to play to a coach’s standards.

“His thing is usually an answer to a question, a criticism of why he didn’t do something and he says he did. It’s over in a matter of seconds.”

That’s how long it would take for an official to slap a technical foul on Mathews. But the coach has avoided it so far and is trying to keep it that way.

“Sometimes I slip,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t help it.”

Around the Campuses . . .

* Paul Tapp of Cal Lutheran has averaged 15.8 points a game--entering tonight’s contest against Caltech--since replacing injured Jason Smith on Jan. 12 at the beginning of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. Since becoming a starter Tapp, a senior from Burbank High, shot 51.2% from the field and 58.6% from three-point range.

* Despite an extraordinary 17-for-26 shooting performance from Damon Ridley, Cal Lutheran shot under 50% from the field (30 of 62) in last week’s 96-77 victory over Pomona-Pitzer. The Kingsmen had shot 52.2% or better from the field in five previous games.

* The Master’s men’s basketball team (19-3) needed to win only five of its final eight games in the regular season--entering Friday’s game at Cal State Dominguez Hills--to guarantee itself a school record total for victories in a season. The Mustangs posted a 23-12 mark in 1991-92.

* Master’s has moved into the top 25 in the NAIA national poll for the first time in the program’s 29-year history. The Mustangs are ranked 24th in the latest rankings.

* Master’s had outscored the opposition by an average of 22 points during its eight-game winning streak entering Friday’s game.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.