‘Struggling’ Has Ended for CS Bakersfield

Maybe Cal State Bakersfield needed a little fear-generated motivation.

Despite a 24-6 record, the Bakersfield men’s basketball team struggled, star point guard Tyrone Davis says.

From his perspective, maybe losing six games is struggling. After last season’s 33-0 national championship season and an NCAA record for most victories in an undefeated season, Bakersfield finished second in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Bakersfield had its five starters back from last season, but never looked as sharp as it had in ‘92-93.

But the struggling ended after Bakersfield lost to UC Riverside in the CCAA tournament final two weeks ago.

Bakersfield received an at-large invitation to the NCAA Division II West Regional anyway, but the fear of a quick exit from the playoffs became a motivator. In the regional last week, Bakersfield defeated Alaska Anchorage, 92-61, then Riverside, 75-62. That was the same Riverside team that had beaten the Roadrunners two of three times this season.

Now Bakersfield is back in the tournament’s round of eight for the fifth consecutive season. On Wednesday, the Roadrunners will play Indiana (Pa.) (27-2) at Springfield, Mass.

Was this season more of a struggle because of last season’s success?

“No, not really,” said Davis, who was chosen most valuable player of the CCAA and the NCAA tournament last season. “Last year, we just took every game one at a time, so we didn’t really feel pressure. We did that this year too, but we just lost some games.”

Said Center Jeff Kuehl: “(Before the regional) it wasn’t do or die. We knew we would be going to the playoffs anyway. I wouldn’t say we took things lightly, but we know there is no tomorrow in the playoffs.”

Davis thought it might have been more pride than fear.

“We are very proud, and we have a tradition,” he said after the Riverside game. “We like to go to Springfield--anything else would have been a disappointment.”

A key player at Springfield could be Roheen Oats.

Last season, Oats led Bakersfield in scoring and rebounding. He was an All-CCAA player, was MVP of the Western Regional and was also named to the NCAA all-tournament team. But this season he was in and out of the starting lineup and did not even get an honorable mention in the CCAA.

But in the last six games, he has worked his way back into the starting lineup and was a key player in the West Regional victory over UC Riverside.

“The last couple of weeks, I got more confidence,” Oats said. “I wasn’t as strong earlier in the season. But the guards have been giving me the ball more, and that helped my confidence and focus.”

Oats and Kuehl give Bakersfield a 1-2 punch at the post position that was too much for Riverside. Riverside center Bob Fife was the CCAA’s player of the year, but Oats and Kuehl got him into foul trouble in the West Regional final.

Oats is optimistic about repeating as national champion.

“Last year, we were a bunch of players who hadn’t played together before the season. This year it’s the same players, so we should know what we’re doing.”

They should, but a little fear couldn’t hurt.

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Diver up: Brian Foster of Pomona-Pitzer won the one- and three-meter diving competitions at the NCAA Division III swimming and diving championships at Williams College in Massachusetts on Saturday.

Foster also was named the Division III diver of the year.

He rallied to win both events, scoring 441.50 points in the one-meter competition and 487.00 in the three-meter. Last year, he finished second in both.

He is only the third Pomona-Pitzer men’s team member ever to win an individual event at the NCAA championships.

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Cal Lutheran lost in the Division III men’s basketball regional March 11, then lost its coach.

As expected, Mike Dunlap stepped down to pursue a coaching opportunity in Australia. When the Kingsmen lost to Greensboro (N.C.), 104-99, it marked the end of a successful five-year run for Dunlap.

Dunlap’s teams were a combined 80-55, and won at least a share of the conference title in all three of its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference seasons. This season, the Kingsmen tied with Pomona-Pitzer for the SCIAC title and finished with a 25-3 record.

Rich Rider was named the new coach last Wednesday.

Rider, 47, was district athletic director for the Boise Unified School District last year in Idaho. Before that, he was the associate men’s basketball coach for nine years under Bobby Dye at Boise State. Rider also coached under Dye at Cal State Bakersfield in 1982-83, after having been head coach at Chapman from 1973 to 1982. At Chapman, he was 136-94.

College Division Notes

Tisa Read of Pomona-Pitzer was selected SCIAC women’s basketball player of the year. Damon Ridley of Cal Lutheran was selected men’s player of the year. . . . John Masi of UC Riverside was voted CCAA men’s basketball coach of the year. Kim Young of Cal State San Bernardino and Mildred Conston of Cal Poly Pomona were selected as the CCAA women’s basketball co-players of the year. Also in women’s basketball, Luvina Beckley of Cal State San Bernardino and Van Girard of Cal State Dominguez Hills were selected co-coaches of the year.

Chris Fick of Cal Lutheran is off to a fast start in baseball. Through 10 games, Fick has a batting average of .500, with seven home runs, 23 runs batted in and 15 runs.

Although The Master’s, Azusa Pacific and Westmont all lost in the first two rounds of the NAIA tournament last week, that is not necessarily an indicator that West Coast basketball is on the decline at the NAIA level. It might be that the contrary is true, considering that it was the first time three teams from California had been invited to the NAIA tournament in the same season. . . . Six of Westmont’s winter sports teams qualified for postseason play--men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s volleyball and men’s basketball.