Douglas among best NCAA scorers

Jeff Tully

Catching up with local players competing in college:

BURBANK -- Ruben Douglas (Bellarmine-Jefferson High) New Mexico:

The former Bell-Jeff standout is having a high-scoring senior season

for the Lobos.

Douglas -- a 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard -- had one of his best

performances of the season Monday in a 74-58 opening Mountain West

Conference loss to host Colorado State.

Douglas scored a game-high 35 points, 26 of which came in the

second half.

It was the seventh time in his career at New Mexico that Douglas

has scored 30 or more points in a game. It is also the best output of

a Lobo player in conference since 1997, when Charles Smith scored 27

points against Hawaii.

Douglas seems to like competing against the Rams. He has averaged

26.3 points in six career games against Colorado State.

Douglas has hit a three-pointer in 22nd straight contests.

Coming to New Mexico after playing one season at Arizona, Douglas

has 1,325 points in 71 games for the Lobos, putting him 14th on the

all-time career list. He is also fourth in the NCAA in scoring with a

25.1 average.

The Lobos (5-8) play Saturday at Wyoming.

At Bell-Jeff, Douglas was an All-CIF Southern Section Division IV

Player of the Year, averaging 34.6 points a game.

Derek Jones (Providence High) UC Santa Cruz: Jones, a 6-6

center/forward, is getting playing time for the Banana Slugs.

Jones has played in 22 games and logged 288 minutes (13.1 minutes

a game). He is averaging four points and 2.8 rebounds a game. He

also has blocked eight shots.

Santa Cruz (0-14, 0-1 in the California Pacific Conference) lost

Jan. 4 to Seattle University, 87-67, in the Oak Harbor Classic.

The Slugs play Friday at Menlo College in conference contest.

Kevin Krose (Burroughs High) Cal State Los Angeles: Hampered by a

finger injury earlier in the season, the Indian graduate is seeing

more playing time as of late.

Krose, a 6-4, 178-pound forward, is a junior for the Golden

Eagles.

In eight games, Krose -- who played last season for Glendale

Community College -- is logging 12.3 minutes a contest and is

averaging 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds a game.

The Golden Eagles (5-6, 1-5 in California Collegiate Athletic

Assn.) were defeated by UC San Diego, 72-55 on Jan 11. In the game, Krose had six points and four rebounds.

Saturday, The Golden Eagles host Sonoma State in a conference

game.