News Scrapbook 1986

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341 ,840)

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. o. 127,454)

MAR 6 1986

MAR 6 1986

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I I XXX / M~QJO to NIT: USD's Toreros (19-9) are available From Tnbune and Wire Reports though the Waves already had clinched the seven in the first half and 48-46 at halftime, play. McPhee, who finished with 11 points, The USD men's b,sketball team, hoping to WCAC title. had tied the game at 75-all on an 18-foot jump- gave the Bulldogs their final margin of victory and aninv1tabon to the National Invitation The Waves finished the regular season with er by Mike Yoest, who had 23 pomts for the by hitting a free throw awarded on a technical Tournament, did everything it could to catch an 87-82 victory over Loyola Marymount last Lions. when Portland, with no timeouts left, called the selection committee's attention last mght night at Malibu. The victory gave the Waves a Forrest McKenzie scored 28 points to lead timeout anyway. in Moraga. ---------------• Loyola Marymount, which wound up 10-4 in Portland finished the season 4-10 in confer- Junior center Scott Thompson scored 19 conference, 18-10 overall. ence and 13-15 overall. Gonzaga, of Spokane, points and guard Pete .Murphy added 14 to lead WCAC The victory was Pepperdine's 28th straight ~ash., is 8-6 in the conference and 15-13 over- USD to an 83-53 victory over St. Mary's in the at Firestone Fieldhouse. all. Torero ·' WCAC finale. season-ending, nine-game winning streak. Gonzaga 54, Portland 52 USD (19-9, 9-5) brokf the game open early, Pepperdine guard Dwayne Polee scored 24 Senior guard Jeff Condill scored 20 points, Santa Clara 72, Sao Francisco 55 outscoring the Gaels 41-14 m the final 15 mm- points and keyed a decisive six-point spurt in including two on a layup with four seconds to utes of the first half. Thompson led the charge the final 2½ minutes. The game was tied at 75 play, to lift Gonzaga to a WCAC victory m with 15 points. with 235 to play before Polee hit two free Portland. Semor forward Steve Kenilvort scored a game-high 19 points and guard Ken Mulkey added 10 points to lead the Broncos in San Francisco. r

Gonzaga's Jim McPhee hit a jump shot wih 3:24 to play in the game to put the Bulldogs ahead 51-50. The next score came with 10 sec- onds to play, when Portland's Fred Harris hit a 17-footer to put the Pilots ahead 52-51. Condill responded by driving the length of the court for his layup with four seconds to

throws to give the Waves a lead they would not After Grant Gondrezick, who had 21 points, added two free throws, Polee stole the ball and scored on a slam dunk that made the score 81- Loyola Marymount, which led by as many as relinquish. 75 with 1:41 left.

So now all the Toreros can do 1s wait and hope for a phone call from the 'IT. The NIT will announce its 32-team field Sunday night, after the NCAA names its 64-team field.

USF, which revived its basketball program thi. eason after a three-year layoff, finished 7- 21, with a 2·12 WCAC mark. Santa Clara fin- ished 7-7 in the conference, 12-16 for all games. Forward Anthony Mann led San Francisco with 18 points, making nine of 15 shots from the field, while guard Robbie Grigsby added 10.

EL~ewhere in the WCAC·

Pepperdine 87, Loyola 82

There was no letdown by Pepperdine, even

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341 ,840) MAR 7

1986

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P. C 8 11 ickers keep Toreros on tenterhooks '\ :;"S he said a call would be coming - if Egan spent time lobbying with While Cahill and Egan worked the they could not do on the court this ational Invitation Tourna- we are chosen - at 6, 7or 8 p.m." Portland coach Jack Avina, who is a phones, USD sports information di- season. USD coach Hank Egan, who has member of a West Coast advising rector Ted Gosen prepared a 'season "I'm afraid we have two strikes I , 1888

against us," Cahill said. "We finished third behind Loyola, who was second in the conference, and they beat us twice. Of course we won more games and won more Division I games than The Lions, 18-10 and 10·4 in WCAC play, defeated the Toreros 72-70 and 67-59 during the ret11ar sea~on and they did."

highlight" packet to be sent by Fed- era! Express to each member of the NIT selection committee last night. The Toreros, after recording a 30- point win at St. Mary's Wednesday night, finished 19-9 for the season and 9-5 in the West Coast Athletic Confer- ence. In vying for NIT attention, however, they may first have to beat out Loyola Marymount, something

committee to the NIT.

scheduled a 5 p.m. Sunday practice, was also on the phone yesterday, seeking advice from friend and '85 NIT runner-up Bobby Knight, Indi- "He told me to try to get to the people on the NIT committee and ex- press my feelings of interest," Egan said. "He said don't hesitate in doing ana's coach.

ment confirmed yesterday that the University of San Diego basketball team is bein~ considered for the 32- team tourney. I asked and I was told by Paul Clark (the NIT's chief administrator) that we are bemg considered,'" said the Rev. Patrick Cahill, USD's athlet- ic director. "I gave him the numbe where I could be reached Sunday and

''I just told Jack, 'Remember us.' I know it's a slim chance, but there is a chance because the NIT told us we are being considered," Egan said. "Frankly, I'm very high on San Diego," Avma said. "They beat the hell out of us twice this season; I hap- pen to think they are one of the bet-

See USD on_\ age E-4

ter teams around."

that, so I won't."

U~P; Looking for some help I) (:fl;{ ·1ed from E· l Northern Arizona ($78 round-trip air- (!"' fare plus a bus 1dc to Flagstaff), also are co1~ i1g the powers that be UCLA, Cal, Wyoming ($98 roundtrip m the NIT. airfare to Denver and a bustrip) and

BYU and Utah ($158 roundtrip air- fare) would offer them their best chances of playing in the NIT. "Have team, will travel," said Egan. "We'll go anywhere.'' Teams expected to contend against USD as NIT travel partners include Loyola, UC- Irvrne, San Jose State and Eastern Washingtor,. Last year, the NIT selected five teams from the Wf:'st Fresno ~tate, Montana, New Mexico, Sa ta Clara (from the WCAC) and UCL!\. which L ' went on to win the tournament.

Neither Loyola'filor USD will host an NIT game if se ected, because of the size of therr gyms, and they will not be matcJitd against teams they have already played. After the NIT picks 16 teams with good-sized are- nas, the selection committee will at- tempt to match teams to tournament ,ites that will result in inexpensive travel. After doing some checking, and eomparing some records, the Toreros discovered that games at

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) E¥enlng Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

R8

1986

Anxious for bid, Toreros wait and hope T R R · n the WCAC title. To get into postseason play. have helped the NIT selectors. " . By · · emma How does 1-for-5 strike you? At least the city "It's unfortunate," says Egan, because smce we Tnbvne Sportswriter . USD came so close people might forget what we ac- First a little conjecture. Realistically, what are title belongs to · r bed ,, ' USD's chances of getting an invitation to the NIT,: "I wouldn't say it was a disapp~inting s~ason," co~~r~s a quick reminder: "I don't lmowi' says U,~D coach Hank Egan. I says Murp~y, one of three key semors (swmg1!1an • The ghost of "Jim who?" don't know how 1t wor~. . , . Mark Bostic and re~~rve f~rwa rd James Kmg~t "We came out and played so well with Coach What he doe~ know JS t?at 1t s all right to do a are the other two). We still fee_! good about it Egan's method," says Leonard. "We were in every little campa1gnmg, and hes done tha~ much. because w~ gave all we had. We Just lost a lot of game we played well, and that was just about "I left messages with so~e people 1~ New 'J:'. 0 r~; close ones. " . • every one of them. We know what is expected of saying that we'd be very interested m c~rrun_g, Says ~hompson: That was th e difference be everyone. We should only improve next year." says Egan. "Coming, because we sure aren t gomg tween this year and my freshman year, when Y:e Says Egan· "I certainly wouldn't say 'Jim who?,' to host a game." . went to the NCAA. We won th e close ones th en. but the getting-to-know-you period is over." But while USD finished at 19-9, its best-ever But, says Egan, who shar~ th e w_cAC Co~ch ~f • The development of Thompson Division I record, the Toreros also finishe~ third in the Year honor with Pe~perdme's J 1 1!1 ~amck! 1 The WCAC Freshman of the Year two seasons the WCAC, behind Pepperdine, wh!ch will go to ~on't think you get 19 wms a nd . call it~~~pftmt- ago and an all-conference selection since t~en, the the NCAA as the conference champion, an~ Loyo• mg, no matter what happens wi th th e · was 7-foot Thompson led the Toreros in scormg and la Marymount, which beat USD twice and flmshed a season where there were a lot of good games rebounding again this year, but really blossomed at 18-10. and some bad ones. ~nfortunately,, the b~d .~nes late in the season. "Hmmm," says Egan when reminded of th~t were so close, so there II be a lot of what ifs. . "It was after the second USF game," says Egan. last item. "So it doesn't look good. How about if Of USD's five league losses, three were decided "I'm not sure what happened, but he started com- they want victims, like for UCLA or BYU?" by a total of five points. The ~orer~ had a shot ing down the floor saying, 'Give me the _ball.' I This was offered with the familiar Egan and a couple of tip-in attempts mthe fmal seconds mean, 'Give me the ball now.' He's a different wryness, an almost cat-that-got-the-canar~ sort of at Santa Clara, but couldn't convert and lost by player now than he was at the beginning of the smile. It was the same smile he had back ~n Octo- two. Loyola Marymount won on a l~st sec~nd shot year." ber when he was assessing the then-upcoming sea- from the top of the key. Pepperdme, which lost • The play of Leonard. son. only to USD, DePaul, Kent~cky and KanJas, beat "One thing that has ~n overlooke~," sa~~ Egan knew he had a big man in Scott Thompson the Toreros only after stealing _a pass an scormg Egan, "is what he's n:iea!lt m the over~ll p1~ture. and a shooter in guard Pete Murphy. He also ~ew in the final seconds. Egan said then and gu~rd Leonard, a 6-foot 1umor, was dunking with the it was the start of his second season at USD, time Paul Leonard said yesterday that Pepperdme big boys after yesterday's shootaround. He led the for the ghost of former coach Jim Brovelli to be game at Malibu was still probably USD's beS t of team in assists, and turnovers,_ but his uptemp?" exorcised from the Sports Center. If the team the year. within-the-pattern approach, his defense and his chemistry came together, Egan said at the time, And what if Knight hadn't inadvertantly tipped presence were often missed behind Thompson, its cup would bubble over. in a missed South Florida free throw at the buzzer Murphy and others. . "My goal," says Egan, "was to get them to play in the Texas tournament? The Toreros would have Unless the NIT calls tom?rrow ev_emn~ - at as well as they could play and let the wins fall won by a point and made the championship game which point 3-for-5 would strike USD Just right - where they might." in two of their three tournaments. And they the 1985-86 season highlight film will be called The team set different ones: to make the cham- wouldn't have played and beaten Alaska-Ancho- "Close But No Cigar." pionship game of the three tournaments it had rage a Division II team in the consolation. And, if But smoking stunts your growth, anyway. And scheduled. To beat San Diego State and USIU f?r all eise remained the s~me, they would have won besides~ says ~urphy, "We don't have that .~ar to

go. I thmk they II remember that next yea~

20 games. How does 2-for-5 strike you? That might

the city championship. To win 20 games. To wm

USD COACH HANK EGAN IS HOPING TO HEAR FROM NIT