For Chapman Men, Pride Is Enough

The Chapman men’s basketball team completed the regular season on a hot streak, just the type of thing NCAA playoff selection committees look for.

But the Division III committee never had a chance to consider the Panthers, their five-game winning streak and all. Chapman, in its first year as a Division III independent, isn’t eligible for the playoffs.

Coach Mike Bokosky and his players knew from the start they were only playing for pride and a good overall record.

“It was in the front of our minds the whole season,” Bokosky said. “Our players knew it and we talked about it.”

Although it lacked that postseason carrot, Chapman banged on plenty of opponents. The Panthers finished 18-7, their best record since Walt Hazzard directed a 22-6 season in 1983-84, and would have had a chance at a playoff spot if they had been eligible.

Pomona-Pitzer, the champion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was the only team from the West Coast to get a bid. Pomona-Pitzer beat Chapman, 73-57, in December.

The Panthers won 12 of their final 14 games.

“I’ve had more fun coaching this team than I’ve had in a long time, because they want to be coached,” Bokosky said. “They play hard all the time and they are motivated intrinsically by what they want to do.”

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Nice finish: Stefan Mumaw finished his Chapman career with 14 points and eight rebounds in an 83-74 victory over Menlo Saturday. Mumaw, a 6-foot-8 center from University High, averaged nearly 16 points and nine rebounds in his two seasons with the Panthers. His .533 career shooting percentage ranks fifth on the school’s all-time list.

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The Chapman women’s team finished the season in a situation similar to the men’s and also isn’t eligible for the postseason. Coach Mary Hegarty’s team won its final five games and nine of its last 11 to finish 16-8, the Panthers’ first winning season since 1989-90 and best since 1984-85, when they were 25-4.

Six of the losses were to teams that qualified for the Division III playoffs. The Panthers split with two playoff teams, UC San Diego and Cal Lutheran, breaking the latter’s 23 game-winning streak.

Chapman broke the single-game school record for field goal percentage in its 84-75 season-ending victory over Occidental and also set a school record by shooting 46% from the field for the season, a mark that ranked the Panthers 10th in Division III this season.

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Nice finish II: Melody Earle finished her four-year Chapman career as the program’s third-leading scorer with 1,335 points. Earle, a guard from Estancia High, averaged 16.1, 16.9 and 16.7 points in her three seasons as a starter. Despite playing mostly on the perimeter, Earle shot 53% from the field this season.

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Upset time: The Concordia and Southern California College women’s basketball teams each were knocked out of the Golden State Athletic Conference playoffs in the first round Tuesday night.

Fourth-seeded SCC lost, 87-71, to No. 5 Biola and second-seeded Concordia lost, 66-59, to No. 7 Cal Baptist.

“The team exceeded everyone’s expectations, in some ways even their own,” said Dave Wolter, who was named conference coach of the year. “And we are not going to let one game dampen that.”

Notes

Concordia’s Craig Martin, a senior, and Jeff Putnam, a junior, and Southern California College’s Kevin Carlson, a junior, were selected to the All-Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball team. Freshman Audre Moss and sophomore Michelle Kravik of Concordia and freshman Heather Woodruff of SCC were named to the women’s team. Concordia’s Kristin Weddick, a freshman from Orange Lutheran, was named the conference player of the week. She had 16 points in an overtime victory over SCC and 24 in a victory over Point Loma Nazarene. She made 75% of her shots from the field . . . . Chapman’s 1,600-meter relay team--Mary Folino, Cynthia Engler, Danielle Garrison and Christy Carvin--finished third at the Caltech Invitational II Saturday, finishing in a school-record time of 4 minutes 19.67 seconds. Tanya Oliver won the discus with a mark of 35.28 meters and Makela Theriault, who set the school high-jump record of 5-2 the week before, won in 5-1 1/4. Chapman finished fourth in the meet. . . . The Chapman softball team, 6-2 after sweeping Point Loma Nazarene in a doubleheader Tuesday, is ranked 24th in Division III. . . . Keri Donoghue, a defender from Orange High, has made an oral commitment to play for the Chapman women’s soccer team.