SIDELINES : Coffee, Tea or Sky-Hooks? CSUN Gives Big Assist at 30,000 Feet

Passengers on a recent flight from Los Angeles to Chicago with the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team were served by the airline industry’s tallest makeshift flight crew.

Northridge basketball players Peter Micelli, Shane O’Doherty, Tom Samson and Eric Gray came to the rescue of a shorthanded crew by serving drinks and picking up trash on the four-hour leg of the team’s trip to Ohio for games against Cincinnati and Xavier.

“It was a way to pass the time,” said Micelli, a 6-foot-8 forward. “You have to keep your mind on something else because, God knows, 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-11 don’t fit well in coach.

“I had one knee in the aisle and the other in the seat next to me.” Occupying that seat: Samson, who is 6-7.

A similar rescue act a few years ago by former player Brian Kilian ignited a lengthy romance with one of the attendants. However, one player’s experience this time around wasn’t entirely positive.

“You know those screens that hang down in the middle of the aisles? I must have bumped my head on those about 20 times,” said O’Doherty, who, at 6-11, is the tallest Matador.

Team player: It won’t go down as one of the greatest moves Davis Delmatoff ever made, but Valley College football Coach Jim Fenwick said he never heard a word of complaint.

Delmatoff, the former Hart High and Pierce quarterback, saw limited action at Valley this season because the Monarchs had record-setting Jim Arellanes at the position. Delmatoff had passed for 1,961 yards and nine touchdowns at Pierce in 1993 but transferred to Valley after the season.

Talk about bad timing.

Arellanes, a transfer from Northern Arizona, showed up at Valley about the same time as Delmatoff.

He won the starting job and went on to set school single-season and career records with 3,909 yards passing and tied the Valley career mark with 30 touchdowns. He also established a state single-game record with 639 yards passing against Bakersfield.

Delmatoff this fall was 25 of 49 for 349 yards and two touchdowns. Someone else might have even quit but not Delmatoff.

“Nobody will ever know how valuable that guy was to us because of his attitude,” said Fenwick, who guided the Monarchs to a 10-1 season, including a 36-28 victory over Rancho Santiago in the Orange County Bowl.

Meeting ‘em halfway: The eyes of Texas were on the Providence High boys’ basketball team this week.

Providence Coach Paul Sutton took the team to the Lone Star State, in part so he could play a game against Las Cruces (N.M.) Mesilla Valley Christian, which is coached by one of his cousins.

The teams met in El Paso and played the game there. Providence then played in the two-day Van Horn tournament in tiny Van Horn--”a one-horse town about an hour and a half outside of El Paso,” Sutton said.

Providence split the first two games Monday, against Tornillo and Fabens, to earn a berth against Fort Hancock on Tuesday in the consolation championship. The Pioneers won, 47-36.

Quirky stat: Sutton’s team shot 79 free throws in the first two games. It outscored Tornillo, 25-3, from the foul line.

“At least we didn’t get homered,” Sutton said.

Caught in the crease: Senior guard Brandon Creason of Oak Park High, who led Ventura County players in assists last season, will be sidelined until mid-January because of a broken right arm suffered Dec. 9 against Thousand Oaks.

Creason, a second-team All-Southern Section selection last season, was averaging 16 points through five games.

“It was really weird,” Coach Rob Hall said. “I’ve watched it on film five times. He didn’t even hit the ground. He just got his arm trapped between two guys.”

Oak Park, projected to be among the county’s best teams, has sputtered out of the gate. The Eagles are 3-5.

Glum alums: A group of former Chatsworth soccer players recently proved that while you can go home again, you might not be able to keep up with those who took your place.

Chatsworth’s third annual alumni game was staged last week and the current team whitewashed their elders, 4-0, in a match shortened to two 30-minute halves at the alumni’s request.

“It’s a good workout for the varsity; the alumni give them real good competition,” said Coach Jack Sidwell, who coached City Section championship squads from 1988-92.

Quotebook

Newbury Park boys’ basketball Coach Steve Johnson, on 5-foot-7 perimeter bomber Brent Bush: “If he hits his first one, look out. He’s becoming almost a cult hero with his fellow students. He’s a little guy out there trying to slay the dragon.”

Basketball fever: Agoura boys’ basketball Coach Kevin Pasky, on missing his team’s league opener because of a stomach virus: “I had to be within 10 steps of the bathroom for 24 hours.”

Registrar

The College of the Canyons golf team will hold its annual fund-raiser tournament at Valencia Country Club again this year--but there’s a new wrinkle: There will be two tournaments, on Feb. 6 and Feb. 27. It is a scramble format.

Information: 805-259-7800, ext. 379.

Contributing: Kennedy Cosgrove, Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Mike Hiserman, Vince Kowalick and Tris Wykes.