Harmon Glad to Get His Feet Back on the Basketball Court

Ike Harmon remembers feeling as if he were on the outside looking in all last season.

That’s why he was so happy when the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team finally started preseason workouts Saturday.

“I really missed basketball, and I felt all I could do was just look through the window,” Harmon said. “That was hard on me, and that made it an emotionally up and down year for me. But the other players really helped me keep my head up.”

Harmon had to sit out last season as a Proposition 48 nonqualifier, but those days are behind him. He needed to pass 24 units to become eligible; he passed 29.

Harmon was planning to ease back into competition in the Just Say No League at Cal State Los Angeles this summer, but he played in only a few games before he injured his left knee in early July and missed the rest of the games.

But Harmon, a 6-foot-6 forward, says he’s feeling no ill effects now after rehabilitation from arthroscopic surgery.

And he doesn’t appear to have lost any of the ability he showed playing for Santa Ana Valley High. Harmon was one of the top players in Orange County as a senior and dominated the 1996 North-South all-star game with 30 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Titan fans have been eagerly awaiting his arrival and are expecting a lot from him. But Harmon takes that in stride, and points to fifth-year seniors Chris Dade and Chris St. Clair as the leaders of this team.

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Dade and St. Clair say they welcome that role, and are hopeful this team will put the Titans back into contention for a Big West championship.

Fullerton returned to respectability last season with a 13-14 record, and probably would have done better if senior John Williams hadn’t been injured. Williams missed the final 11 regular-season games because of a fractured wrist.

St. Clair and Dade believe the Titans are capable of moving up to the next level.

“We might have set some goals in the past that were unrealistic, but this year we feel we have the ability to reach them,” St. Clair said. “I definitely think this is the best team I’ve been on here.

“We have more depth, and injuries shouldn’t affect us as much as they have in the past. We’re two-deep at every spot this year, and we know that if we do get tired, we have a good player on the bench to back us up.”

Dade and St. Clair, the two top returning scorers from a year ago, say they are confident Harmon will add more scoring power inside, something the Titans badly lacked last year after Williams was hurt.

Harmon says he’s comfortable playing either the No. 3 or No. 4 forward positions. “I think I’m a little more comfortable at the No. 3, but I want to do whatever they want,” he said. “One thing I know I’ll have to do is pick up my defensive game.”

St. Clair says he has been working on his point guard skills, anticipating he will play there, as well as at the shooting guard spot. Sophomore Kenroy Jarrett, who started 13 games at point guard as a freshman, also will be back after sitting out last season because of a knee injury.

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Dade thinks this team also will be stronger physically after a demanding preseason conditioning program ordered by Coach Bob Hawking.

“Coach is expecting a lot out of us,” Dade said. “We’ve been through the hardest preseason [conditioning] workouts we’ve had since I’ve been here. Coach told us we had to beat our mile and two-mile times from last year, and everyone did it. I think we’ll be stronger, as well as quicker this year. I think everyone has put on a few pounds since last year, but we’re faster too.”

The Titans play the first of two exhibition games in Titan Gym Nov. 2 against the Adidas All-Stars. Another exhibition is scheduled Nov. 10 against Next Level Sports. Fullerton opens the season Nov. 15 at Utah.

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The men’s soccer team (8-6) went from being alone in first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after its 3-1 victory over UCLA Friday, to a tie with the Bruins after being upset by Cal State Northridge, 3-2, in sudden-death overtime Sunday.

Fullerton and UCLA are 3-1.

The Titans have one conference game remaining, Nov. 8 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. A victory would assure Fullerton at least a tie for first place in the Southern Division with UCLA, but the Titans would get the berth in the MPSF playoff game because of their tie-breaker victory over the Bruins. Stanford has won the Northern Division title. The winner of the playoff game earns the conference’s automatic NCAA berth.

The women’s soccer team (6-9) is still in contention for one of the four berths in the Big West postseason playoffs with a 2-2 record. The Titans play UC Irvine at 11 a.m. Sunday at Titan Stadium. Irvine is 3-2 in the conference and in a three-way tie for second with North Texas and Pacific.

Two Titan players, senior defender Michelle Rice and freshman midfielder Renee Peterson, are out the rest of the season because of knee injuries.

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Coming Attractions

Key games this week for Cal State Fullerton:

* Men’s soccer against Iona at 7:30 p.m. Friday and against California at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, both at Titan Stadium.

* Women’s soccer against Pepperdine at 6 p.m. today and against UC Irvine at 11 a.m. Sunday, both at Titan Stadium.

* Women’s volleyball at New Mexico State at 7 p.m. Thursday and at North Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday.

* Men’s and women’s cross-country at Cal Poly Pomona Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.