SIDELINES : Xavier Gave CSUN a Quick Reminder When Cassidy Wouldn’t

Been there, done that.

Basketball Coach Pete Cassidy didn’t linger on the subject of Cal State Northridge’s 62-point loss to 13th-ranked Cincinnati on Monday.

“I’ll probably never mention this game to (the players) again,” he said.

Cassidy knows how it feels.

He played on the Northridge team that lost to Chapman by a school-record 65 points in 1958.

“I was angry and certainly embarrassed,” Cassidy said, recalling the moment. “And I vowed that I would do whatever it took to make sure that it didn’t happen again.”

Two days later, Northridge was routed by Xavier, 101-65.

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Called for traveling: Former Notre Dame High and UCLA basketball player Nigel Miguel has been performing in movies and on TV for several years. Now, he’s an ambassador.

Miguel, 31, has been appointed a goodwill ambassador by his homeland, Belize, a Central American country with a population of 230,000.

“This is sort of a training ground and steppingstone.” Miguel said. “I’m hoping my acting enhances my visibility as to bringing attention to the country.”

Miguel has had parts in “White Men Can’t Jump,” “The Air Up There,” and “Blue Chips” and just finished working on Billy Crystal’s “Forget Paris.”

Miguel played guard at UCLA from 1981-85 and averaged 13 points and four assists as a senior.

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All together now: For years, opponents of the powerful Buena High girls’ basketball team have been singing the blues. And for 10 years, the Bulldogs have been singing Christmas carols.

Coach Joe Vaughan and his team have caroled principals, boosters, convalescent homes and even Vaughan’s parents.

“It’s the going out and giving that’s important,” Vaughan said. “We try to do some things that build beyond their basketball years.”

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Business is business: Newbury Park’s first-year boys’ basketball coach, Steve Johnson, might not have been sure which team he was supposed to be coaching last Friday.

Johnson coached the junior varsity at Simi Valley for the past six years. And Simi Valley’s varsity this season, with the exception of one player, is identical to his Pioneer junior varsity from last season.

Johnson’s old team beat his new team, 74-70, in overtime.

“It was a very strange feeling because we had a very close team last year,” Johnson said. “We went through a lot with the earthquake. I care a lot about those guys. They are great players and great kids, but I wanted to beat them.”

Honors

Rio Mesa High track and field Coach Brian FitzGerald will be one of six coaches inducted to the Sunkist Invitational coaches’ hall of fame on Feb. 11.

FitzGerald coached sprinters Angela Burnham and Marion Jones to nine state titles between 1986-91 and guided the Spartan girls to a share of the 1988 state title with Bakersfield. Rio Mesa also won the 3-A Division title in the 1990 and ’91 Southern Section championships after finishing second in 1988 (4-A) and ’89 (3-A).

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Watershed moment: Jack Kocur, a former water polo standout at Royal High, was selected a third-team NCAA All-American by USA Water Polo. Kocur is a sophomore at Pepperdine.

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Mr. All-Around: Simi Valley High senior Brian Kavanagh, a starter for the football and baseball teams, has been selected as one of 24 national semifinalists for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award. Kavanagh was chosen for his athletic, academic and community-service accomplishments. He won a silver medal and $1,000 will be donated in Kavanagh’s name to the Simi Valley athletic department.

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Riding high: The Cal Lutheran baseball team is ranked eighth nationally in NCAA Division III by Collegiate Baseball in the magazine’s preseason poll. Cal Lutheran was 31-9-1 last year.

Stats

No boys’ basketball team is more deserving of a holiday break than Moorpark. On Tuesday, the Musketeers played in their 14th tournament game in a little more than three weeks, including 10 games in the past two weeks. Coach Tim Bednar gave his tired troops five days off before reconvening Dec. 26.

“They can go skiing, snowboarding, whatever,” Bednar said. “I just told them not to get hurt.”

Perhaps Moorpark should keep playing. The Musketeers put together an eight-game winning streak during the stretch.

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About-face: After struggling last season with an 8-15 record, the Cal Lutheran women’s basketball team is on a roll. The Regals are 8-0 and ranked 11th in Division III.

Cal Lutheran also leads Division III schools in offense with an average of 96.2 points a game.

* Compiled by Steve Elling. Contributing: Associated Press, Dave Desmond, Fernando Dominguez, Jeff Fletcher, Mike Hiserman, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega and Bryan Rodgers.