Cal Poly Enjoys Unusual Success

Cal Poly Pomona is no stranger to great success in basketball, at least not its five-time NCAA Division II champion women’s program. But the men have been a different story. Until this year.

With a 91-84 double overtime upset of Cal State San Bernardino in the West Regional final Monday, Pomona (23-7) advanced to the Elite Eight of Division II men’s basketball, where next Wednesday in Lakeland, Fla., it will play Kentucky Wesleyan.

“This is a huge steppingstone for our program,” said third-year Coach Greg Kamansky, who had 50 phone messages awaiting his return from the regional in Hawaii. “Making the regionals itself was so tough.” And it won’t get easier. Kentucky Wesleyan (29-3) has won eight NCAA titles and played in the last five championship games.

The Panthers are led by New Mexico transfer Marlon Parmer, a point guard who starred at Verbum Dei High. But they don’t figure to faze Pomona, which rallied from a 19-point deficit against San Bernardino.

“These guys know that it’s never over no matter what’s going on the court,” Kamansky said. “We are going to be thrown into the fire immediately and we’ll see how we respond.”

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Ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time since 1986, the USC women’s tennis team has won nine in a row entering today’s match against Pepperdine.

The Trojans (14-1) dispatched 15th-ranked South Alabama, 5-2, on Wednesday. Senior Jewel Peterson has a 10-4 record competing solely at No. 1 singles, while Luana Magnani is 11-3 at the No. 2 slot. USC is also 25-4 at Nos. 5-6 singles, rotating freshman Carrie Vermuelen, juniors Melissa Esmero and Bernadette Bayani and senior Tiffany Brymer.

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Wes Littleton, Cal State Fullerton’s ace right-hander, was suspended for allegedly stealing a school parking pass from a roommate, a source close to the pitcher said.

But he could be back with the team as soon as April 7, according to Titan Coach George Horton.

“As long as he has complied with some other things we’ve asked him to do, he’ll be back,” Horton said.

However, the Titans may now lose All-America outfielder Shane Costa, who has an injured left elbow as the result of being hit by a pitch Wednesday in a 3-2 loss to Loyola Marymount.

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USC men’s volleyball Coach Turhan Douglas, who had been serving in an interim capacity, was promoted and will return for the 2004 season. “Turhan has earned the right to have the interim tag taken off his title,” USC senior associate athletic director Daryl Gross said in a statement. The Trojans are 5-18 this season.

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San Bernardino guard Bobby Burries was chosen player of the year in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Cal State Bakersfield center Heather Garay was the CCAA’s top women’s player.... Occidental forward Finn Rebassoo was chosen player of the year in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. La Verne center Sydni Myrick was the top women’s player in the league.