COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Bokosky Gets Hot; Chapman Gets Going

When Chapman Coach Mike Bokosky got into a heated exchange with the referee in the first half Saturday night, it was his team that got the message, and the Panthers pulled away for a 73-53 men’s basketball victory over visiting Menlo.

“I got into it with the official when I did, because I wanted my team to know the importance of this game,” Bokosky said after Chapman improved to 14-7. “It was really important for us to win this game before we play Concordia and then go up to Northern California for two games.”

Menlo (9-14), coming off a six-point loss on Friday to UC San Diego--a highly rated Division III team--led, 14-13, with 10 minutes left in the first half before Umahl Anderson and Toby Curto carried the Panthers to a 35-27 halftime lead.

Chapman went on an 11-2 streak at the start of the second half to make it 46-29 on Stefan Mumaw’s basket with 16:19 remaining. Menlo came back to make it 50-43 with 10:08 left and stayed within striking distance until Curto and Brian Wood led a 12-2 streak in the final three minutes.

Curto and Anderson led Chapman scoring with 15 and 13 points. Menlo’s Ed Knight led all scorers with 16 points and also had eight rebounds.

In Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball:

Azusa Pacific 81, Concordia 72--Vujadin Jovic scored 18 points, and Craig Martin added 17 for host Concordia (15-11, 3-6). Raymond Tutt led Azusa (23-3, 8-1) with 21 points.

In Western Christian Athletic Conference men’s basketball:

Pacific Christian 134, Life College 55--Ruxton Schmietenknop scored 28 points and Chuck Henderson had 23 points and 18 rebounds for PCC (20-14, 7-1), which had seven of eight players score in double figures.

The Royals assured themselves of a co-championship, their sixth consecutive conference title.

In nonconference men’s basketball:

Southern California College 79, American Indian 69--Southern California College trailed by four at the half, but outscored American Indian, 44-30, in the second.

Eric Carmichael led SCC (13-13) with 24 points.

In Golden State Athletic Conference women’s basketball:

Concordia 71, Azusa Pacific 63--Gitte Mejer led host Concordia with 32 points and 15 rebounds.

In nonconference women’s basketball:

Southern California College 80, The Master’s 32--Southern California College (20-6) held The Master’s to 26% shooting from the field and forced 43 turnovers.

Sanja Simidzija scored 19 points, Tina Demarsh had 18 and Jamie Zitterkopf had 10 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for SCC.