COLLEGE DIVISION / ARA NAJARIAN : This Game Lures NBA Scouts

Cal State Bakersfield and Azusa Pacific have the best local men’s basketball teams below the Division I level.

And to prove it, each might bring home a national championship this season.

Bakersfield won the NCAA Division II title last season, and set a record for most victories, 33, in a perfect season at any level. Four of five starters from that team return.

Azusa Pacific, which was 30-4 last season, advanced to the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ national tournament, but lost in the quarterfinals.

When the teams met two weeks ago, the game attracted scouts from the Seattle SuperSonics.

They were there to see Tyrone Davis, an All-American and the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the year last season, and Azusa Pacific’s Ronnie Winbush.

Davis is a 6-foot-3 senior who handles the ball well, is a good outside shooter, goes to the basket, can back his man down and make a turnaround jump shot, plays good defense and is a good rebounding guard.

Winbush is a thin, 6-8 swingman who leads the Cougars in scoring, rebounding and three-point baskets. He was an all-conference selection in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

Azusa Pacific won in overtime, 97-94. Both Davis and Winbush scored at critical points in the game, although their point totals were not spectacular. Davis had 16 points, Winbush 19. Bakersfield’s Reggie Phillips had a game-high 28 points and Azusa Pacific’s Scott Day had 25.

“I think it was really important (to beat Bakersfield),” Azusa Pacific Coach Bill Odell said. “You can play with anyone in the nation if you can play with Bakersfield. Obviously, it was a game that the kids set their sights on. We have great respect for their program and it helped that we played in the friendly confines of our gym.”

Friendly is an understatement. According to UC Riverside Coach John Masi, “The Lakers could get beat there. Their gym is like my office (in size). It’s a tremendous home-court advantage.”

The victory left Azusa Pacific at 9-0. Two tough games, at Hawaii Hilo and defending NAIA champion Hawaii Pacific, are probably the biggest challenges to the Cougars having an undefeated regular season. There does not appear to be a conference team that can beat them.

It was Bakersfield’s second loss of the season.

“It didn’t surprise me--losing at Azusa Pacific,” Coach Pat Douglass. “Losing at home to San Francisco State kind of surprised me. But we knew Azusa Pacific was a real strong team.”

“No one comes out flat against us.”

But don’t expect many more losses.

*

There are teams in the CCAA that can push Bakersfield, but none is likely to take the conference crown away.

The plan? Play well enough to qualify for the four-team CCAA tournament and hope for a break.

UC Riverside and Cal State Dominguez Hills, two of the best-coached rivals, are likely to be the toughest competition.

Dominguez Hills’ Coach Dave Yanai might be the most respected in the conference. Two seniors can make the Toros physically dominating, and the backcourt is improved because junior college transfer Carlos Paul has taken over at point guard. Center Darnell Patterson and forward Joe Bertrand are good rebounders and can score inside. Chris Thompson has moved to shooting guard and leads the team with an 18-point average.

Riverside has had several injuries but figures to be strong after the holiday break. Center Bob Fife leads the team in scoring and rebounding. William Wilson, Boo Purdom and Craig Marshall give Riverside threats on the perimeter and they can also go inside.

Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona figure to battle for the fourth spot in the tournament.

*

Bill Cover is Pomona-Pitzer’s new career scoring leader.

Cover, a senior center, scored 15 points Saturday, running his total to 1,395. The record had been 1,390 by Rick Duque, who played from 1985-89 and is an assistant coach now.

“I didn’t know that I was close until last week when someone mentioned it,” Cover said. “I got it on a dunk, which is pretty lucky because I don’t get many of those.

“I wasn’t counting points, so I didn’t know until they announced it and that got the crowd going. I never thought about it. I was lucky to play a lot as a freshman.”

*

Temper, temper: Cal Baptist basketball player Keith Greeley was so mad about blowing a 26-point lead against Chapman last week that he punched a window, cutting four tendons in the hand. He will sit out the rest of the season.

The prognosis is that he will regain full use of his hand.

Greeley, a senior transfer from USC, was in his first game back after a sprained ankle. Cal Baptist Coach Jerry King is hoping that Greeley will be granted another year of eligibility because of the injury.

“We were winning by (26) and then we lost by two,” Greeley said. “I was (ticked) off.”