News Scrapbook 1989

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Est. 1888

~D not living up to billing ''On paper, we look pretty good. Breakdowns m the Tore ff · • What we have to do JS get it off the this sea~on culminated in ;os o ens~ se!v~ if_ we Just concentrate more," paper and onto the floor.,, change last night. Sophom~rson~e said Jumor guard Pat Holbert, who - Hant F,g~ No_!;.)4, 1989 guard Wayman Strickla~~ ~:! f.eplaced.. Strickland in the starting By Kirk Kenney ~nched after starting the season's t:~:up. . Tw;n,overs ar_e conc~ntra- Tribune Sportswriter first five games. In fact, Strickland the '=1{1,n\, I~ ~ot gomg to give _up Obviously, it takes more than a never <;ame into the game. that. Th~t ti:!.n~ a problem with good blueprint to build a skyscraper Pass1_ng and ball-handling were That was big" the game around. USD needs a lot of work if it is t~ not Stnckland's problems, although T . reach new heights. The Toreros h tho _e were two things USD has had he Toreros remained close - al- been billed as a team with talent ::; di~~iculty with against the Aztecs. ;~rs. on the ~er~e o~ overcoming the potential. So far, the talent is raw I thought maybe the difference in ,;h1C1t .- until s_,x mmutes remained. and the potential is untapped ----------- h en it was time to take charge, Another example came USD' 'Wh b owever, no one stepped forward. 115-75 loss to San Diego tate las~ at othered ~ouli htve gone the final 5:45 mgbt at the Sports Arena. A variety me is the way we n~t ou ha as et from the floor h~d of mistakes prevented the Toreros (2- h d', d h b m sop ?~ore. guard Gylan Dottin 4) from be~ting snsu ( 4. 2) for the an ,e t e all ~~ea tip~n with one second left. fourth tra1ght time. Much of the when we needed We don t execute when the heat's problem can be traced to USD's in- to be careful with 0 ~ a well as we need to in order to consistency on offense and an inabili- i't, wi~ some close basketball games " ty o take command down the sa~ Egan. _"T~is was a close gam~. stre . a then it Just all of a sudden

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' There was no reason for domg what I did," Egan said. "It was inap- propriate." Both the Toreros and Aztecs have struggled offensively this season - USD shooting 43.9 percent from the field and SDSU shooting 43.6. But the Aztecs have been more impressive from the free-throw line (shooting 74.1 percent to USO s 56.3) and more 1mpress1ve defensively - allowing opponents 56.4 points a game. "I'm not trying to lay a trip on anybody," said Egan, who scouted SDSU during Its 51-50 victory over Texas Tech Monday. "I know it's rly ilJ the season, but I wa really impressed with their defense They're executing some fundamental tuff. Obviously, the kids believe what they've been told " The question now is whether to be- lieve all of Egan' and Branden- burg s kind words. Note• - Brandenburg said he plans to redshirt junior forward Nel-

SDSU, on a three-game winning treak, will have an advantage ID size ith 7-foot-1, 240-pound center arty Dow and 6-8, 235-pound for- ward Shawn Jamison, who hav combined for an average of 25 6 points and 12 rebounds. Jami on w1l have the responsibility of contatrun Jerome, a 6-8 seruor center, ho leads the Toreros in scormg with 18 8 pomts per game and reboundmg ith 72 U D has lost its last two games - both m the Lapchick Tournament m Jam tea, .Y But those lo es came aga nst two pretty fair opponents o. 15 St John's (74-59) and South Alabama (77-72), hich made 1t to th ond round of the NCAA Tour- nament la t eason. The Toreros were v1ct1ms of qu tionable officiat- ing in the 1 to South Alabama - officiating that Egan criticized at length durmg and directly after the

Jim Brand nburg Anticipates good game.

- Hank Egan

As f that weren't enough ... _ 'I'm not too sure I was really coach Hank Egan, who built his repu- tatfon with strong defensive teams. points allowed by USU COffilng mto the game was 79. SDSU's The m The i:core was as much a product of ~SDs offensive failures as its de- ''What both red me is the way we handled the ball when we neede to be carc_Iul with It, ' said Egan. "We tutnrd it _over wh n we should have fens1ve lapses. seaso h'gh n- I coming into the game was 67.

.

Jumped away."

son Stewart, a community college transfer from the College of Eastern

The Toreros compounded the prob-

happy with our defense," said USD ____________ lem by missing the front end of three

Utah.

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the ba~lgame was they kept trying to go ms1dc m the econd half" said coach Jim Brandenburg, "and we knocked the ball away and got some cheap baskets on the fastbreak. I thought that was the impetus that put us over the hump." USD_had a 50-48 lead with 15:59 remammg in the game. rt disap- peared for good one mmute later traight turnovers pro- vided SDSU with two layups and a throw and a 53-50 lead. ''Tbmgs will take care of them- after three fr SDSU •

one-and-one opportunities m the final three mmutes. Converting those sh?ts would have made it a four- pomt game with more than l ½ m1·n- o p ay. Instead, it was a 10- pomt gap, and SDSU emptied its !Vothmg was working," said USO semor forward John Jerome wh had 16 points and a team-high '12 r: ~unds. "It was a matter of us break- ing _dow_n. We break down easily. Maki_ng it work just comes w1'th ex- pene~ce and time. It doesn't happen be?,ch. . utes t 1

bee

DEC 7 - 1989

n getting som

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overnight."

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

DEC 7 - 1989

DEC 7 - 1

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P. C. B E,r 1886 T orera,s..beat Aite~s5 to end losing streak~ Kathy Marpe didn't want to make it No. 18, so she gave the ball to Chris Enger. Marpe's USD wom_fill'.s..)>asket- ball team beat San Diego State, 76-68, before 307 last night at the ~ports Arena. It was the first time m 17 career meetings USD has beaten SDSU, and the first since Marpe took over the Toreras pro- gram m 1979. The difference was Enger, a 6- foot-4 freshman center from Vista High. She finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots. SDSU (0-4) had no one to counter Enger, and aid for it orer s: Enge~,S helps beat Azt'ecs Continued from E-1 f\ ''Give USD all the rredit," sbsu ftrst-y~~Beth Burns said. "They played a great game. But I also thought we took some big strides tonight." SDSU averaged 26.3 turnovers its first three games but finished with 19 against USO. The Toreras (3-1) had 23. SDSU sophomore pomt guard Crystal Lee scored 20 and committed just · x turnovers. USD led, 34-32, at , ftime. The Toreras kept the lead roughout the second half, thanks o Enger and Paula Mascari, ho scored 17. SDSU's Julie Evans, who trans- ferred from USO two years ago scored 16. "(SDSU) lost a lot of players from last year and they're re- buildm,t," Marpe said. "They've always been the best team in town - I think we took some steps for- ward tonight. This has been a goal of ours."

Jll~ ••

P, C. B

Fst 1888

Azte play well obe SAN DIEGO - San Diego State combined a strong defen ive effort down the stretch with its best of- fensive performance of the enson and claimed its fourth con ecutive victory, an 85- 75 win Wednesday night over U niversit of San Dil'• _!.0, e victory broke a four-year drought for the Aztecs against USD. The win, in front of 3,535 at die Sports Arena, also marked the first time in four seasons that San Diego State has won four straight games. Shawn Jamison and 1arty Dow scored 19 points each to lead the Aztecs (4-2). Michael Best added 18 points, five assists and four steals. Kelvin Woods scored 18 points and John Jerome scored 16 for the Toreros (2-4), who have lost three straight. San Diego State registered its highest point total of the season, stretching a 44-41 halftime edge. The Aztecs' previous high was 67 points. Six second-half steals helped seal the victory. "I thought this was a game where we did some good things and other things not so good," said Az- tecs Coach Jim Brandenburg. "The ball bounced our way tonight." The Aztecs took a 71-62 lead on a three-point play by Dow with 7:38 remaining. But USD came back to cut the deficit to 73-70 with 5:03 remaining as Craig Cottrell scored six straight points before the Aztecs called time out. San Diego State then put the game away with seven straight points. Best hit a 3-point shot, Ar- thur Massey scored off a Vern Thompson steal and Thompson hit two free throws for an 80-70 lead with 3:34 to play. "We made a bunch of turnovers and missed some front ends ofone- and-ones," said USD Coach Hank Egan. "Now we're trying to play catch-up and we don't do that very well." San Diego State took it. biggest lead of the first half, 25-19, on a 3-point shot by Best. The Toreros eventually went ahead 35-34 on a rebound basket by Jerome. Dow finished the first 20 minutes with 12 points, helping the Aztecs to their halftime lead.

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Tribune photo

•7-foot-l center Marty Dow figh

to keep a rebound from USD's Randy Tbompso (left) and Craig Cottrell

Aztecs reap some revenge against USD

was redshirting two years ago when USO trounced SDSU for the third consecutive season. ' I wanted to pay them back for that," Best said. Best did just that when it came to tile crucial point m last night's game, played before an enthusiastic crowd of 3,535. The Aztecs were leading 73-70 with five minutes re- mainlng, but they were reeling. Cralg Cottrell had scored six straight points for USD, and Aztecs center Marty Dow bad fouled out. If ever there were a time to fall apart, this was it. Enter Best. Following a timeout, the Aztecs worked the ball around before Best drilled a long jumper - from th NBA three-point line. SDSU by six. At the other end of the floor, Best stole the ball and passed to Arthur Massey for a layin. SDSU by eight.

USO tried to work the ball inside, but again Best was there to knock it away. Vernon Thompson was fouled in the scramble for the loose ball, and he made two free throws. With 3:34 to play, SDSU led by 10. End of game. "I had to do something," Best said. "I had to show up and come through for the team." That team now has won four straight games, some- thing the Aztecs haven't done since late in the 1984-85 season. SDSU is now 4-2. USO is 2-4. Brandenburg chose to downplay his team's perform- ance. "Not to take anythmg away from our players, but I felt the ball bounced our way an awful lot," he said. But this clearly was the Aztecs' best game of the young season. Especially offensively, as SDSU had only seven l • A 7'J7iY'(:, n.? £'nl 1

1d Aztecs guard

ZTEC~: Best is best at end agains

Conlinucd From D-1 ,.:2J/~ turnovers and scored 85 points, surpassing its previous seaso high of 67 within the first 32 minutes. Dow and forward Shawn Jamison led all scorers with 19 points each. Best had 18, and Toreros guard Pat Ho!- bert admitteil USO wasn't sure how to defense him. "We knew he could shoot, but we didn't know if be was going to be on or off," Holbert said. "We started trying to come out on him and not cover down on the inside. Then their big men were getting it in the post because we couldn't cover down when we were Gut on him." Best has struggled with his shot most of the year - he' shooting under 40 percent - but teams never know when he's going to get hot He made 7-of-17 last nlght, but he was 3-of-6 from three-point range in the second half. "I know he's a good shooter, and we're just going to have to let him keep shooting until he gets back in the groove and gets his confidence," Brandenburg said. Best had made 4-of-21 shots in his last two games, but he wasn't about to stop firing. "I'm not consistent yet, but some have to fall," he said. At least Best was getting shots. USD's leading scorer, Jo n Jerome, had problems just getting the ball against Jamisvn. •JamISOn's herky-jerky, kind of floppy looking," Bran- denburg said, "but he's awfully quick. Going into the

San Diego, Calif, (~n Diego Col

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game, I didn't think we coulti come Jerome scored 16 points, just three but he took only three shots in the fir Jerome."

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the game.

"Wherever he went, I went with him," Jamison said. Five Toreros scored in double figures, led by Kelvin Woods with 18, but USO made just one field goal in the last seven minutes and none in the last five until a mean- • • • NOTES - Both the Aztecs and Toreros will be back in action Saturday against Pac-10 teams from Los Angeles. USO has the tougher assignment, against No. 13 UCLA at 1 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion. SDSU will host USC at 7:30 at the Sports Arena. Both games will be televised live on Prime Ticket. • The Aztecs will go the rest of the season with an 11- man roster after Brandenburg decided to redshirt junior forward Nelson Stewart. • USD's women downed SDSU 76-68 last night in a game played before the men's contest. Chris Enger and Paula Mascari scored 17 points each to lead USO. State's Crystal Lee led all scorers with 20. ingless tip-in with one second left.

DEC 7 - 1989

• n conjunction with the Sch04 Graduate and Continumg Educa at the University nf San Diego, torytellersc>t San Diego will r nt program of stories from oviet Union from 7-30 to 9:30 Saturday In the Manchester Co1 ence Center on the USO ca!Il~ mi IOn is $5.ni.,,._... ~fj'J,,