Late Starter Natoya Coming On Strong

When Fullerton Coach Roger See talks about sophomore guard Bobby Natoya, he always mentions how hard Natoya works and how much determination he shows on the court.

Determination is the key word when it comes to understanding Natoya, 23, who got a late start in collegiate basketball.

But he is making up for his late start. Natoya averaged 15 points last season and has a team-best 16-point average this season for Fullerton (20-7, 5-3 in conference).

“I’m ecstatic,” Natoya said. “I love the coaches, the school and my teammates. I’m so excited to be playing. I just love being around the guys. I appreciate this maybe a little more than other people because of what it took for me to get here.”

Natoya’s twisted path to Fullerton started when he graduated from Sun Valley Poly High School in 1988. He then hoped to walk on at Cal State Northridge, but he was in a car accident that fall and couldn’t play for almost two years while awaiting an insurance settlement.

Looking for a fresh start, he enrolled at USC in the fall of 1990 and became friends with several players on the Trojan team.

He had hoped to walk on, but things didn’t work out so he concentrated on classwork and played in pick-up games. He and current roommate Lorenzo Orr, a standout on the USC team, played together the last two summers in the Cal State Los Angeles summer league.

Several people encouraged Natoya to consider playing at the community college level and he contacted Tim Sweeney, an assistant now in his second year at Fullerton.

Natoya was admittedly rusty for much of last season but started to feel better in the final weeks of the season. He was the Hornets’ leading scorer in four of their final five games.

His best game came when Fullerton upset Cerritos, the second-seeded team in Southern California, in the opening round of the regional playoffs.

He had a team-high 25 points and made the game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds of a 78-76 victory.

“It was great,” Natoya said. “Obviously it was the best win of my career. I told my teammates if it came down to one shot at the end that I wanted to take it.”

Natoya had such high expectations for this season that he pushed himself too hard in early-season workouts and hurt his back. He missed six games and had limited playing time in several others.

Now, he is nearly at full strength.

“I just love to compete,” he said. “My dad and the rest of the family have supported me so much.”

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Game of the season: Riverside (21-5) travels to Saddleback (17-6) this week for the most important Orange Empire Conference game so far this season. The teams, tied for first in conference with 7-1 records, will play at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Gauchos, and especially guard Tes Whitlock, are playing very well. Whitlock scored 75 points in two games last week. Saddleback has won six in a row.

Whitlock, a sophomore guard, averaged 32 points in his last four games and has an overall average of 22 points.

Riverside features Darryle Flicking, a sophomore guard who is averaging 31 points. The game also features two of the best point guards in Southern California.

Riverside’s Raimonds Miglinieks leads the state with 12.5 assists. He is averaging 15 points a game.

Saddleback’s Josh Borella, returning after a year off because of back surgery, is averaging six assists and 11 points.

Saddleback’s only conference loss was at Riverside, 91-78.

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Helping out: The Fullerton baseball team is stepping in to provide some local earthquake relief this weekend.

College of the Canyons in Valencia had several players whose homes were damaged in the recent earthquakes and the team wasn’t sure it could play in this weekend’s season-opening Fullerton/Cerritos tournament.

But in a effort to ease traveling back and forth, Fullerton’s players are going to take in Canyons’ players for the weekend.

“I was pretty pumped when our kids said it would be no problem,” Fullerton Coach Nick Fuscardo said. “We’re not doing this to try and make ourselves look good. We just want to be there to help out anyway we can.”

Notes

Baseball season starts Friday with all six Orange County teams playing. Cypress takes on Cosumnes River at 6 p.m. in the College of the Desert tournament, San Bernardino Valley is at Fullerton at 10 a.m. and College of the Canyons plays Southwestern at 2 p.m., also at Fullerton in the opening round of the Fullerton/Cerritos tournament. Golden West battles Merced at 4 p.m. in the Fresno tournament, Orange Coast is at Citrus at 2 p.m. in the Citrus/Rio Hondo tournament, and East Los Angeles is at Rancho Santiago at 2 p.m. in the opening game of the South Bay Classic. Saddleback goes against Glendale at Palomar at 1:30 p.m. in the first game of the Palomar tournament.