Waves Go to Wire in Struggle for Top Seed in WCAC Basketball Tournament

The Pepperdine men’s basketball team will be aiming for the top seed, and thus weaker opponents, in the West Coast Athletic Conference tournament when it closes out the regular season Friday night at the University of San Francisco and Saturday night at Santa Clara.

Last week the Waves, 18-9 overall and 10-2 in the conference, remained tied with St. Mary’s (22-3, 10-2) for first place in the conference by defeating Gonzaga, 69-66, and Portland, 86-68.

Craig Davis scored 17 points and had three 3-point baskets against Gonzaga and had four 3-pointers and 19 points against Portland. In their last home game, Pepperdine seniors Casey Crawford and Marty Wilson did well against Portland; Crawford had a game-high 15 rebounds and 9 points, and Wilson had a game-high 9 assists and 4 points.

The Waves could finish from first to third place, depending on its games with USF (14-11, 6-6) and Santa Clara (17-8, 6-6) and on how St. Mary’s and third-place Loyola Marymount (16-9, 9-3) do this weekend. The Gaels are at sixth-place Gonzaga on Friday night and at seventh-place Portland on Saturday night. The Lions will play Friday at Santa Clara and Saturday at USF.

If Pepperdine wins twice this weekend and St. Mary’s loses one game, the Waves would win the championship and the tournament’s top seed.

If Pepperdine and St. Mary’s finish in a first-place tie, the Gaels would earn the top seed because they defeated Loyola twice, while the Waves split with the Lions.

If Pepperdine and Loyola tie for second, the Waves would be seeded second because they split with St. Mary’s and the Lions lost to the Gaels twice.

If Pepperdine loses twice this weekend and Loyola wins two, the Waves would be seeded third.

In earlier games at home, the Waves defeated USF, 71-53, and Santa Clara, 72-63.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said that both USF and Santa Clara “have played inconsistently during conference action, but both teams have recorded some impressive wins during the season. Hopefully, we can catch them on a down night.”

The Santa Monica College men’s basketball team, which completed the regular season with a 30-3 overall record, best in school history, is ranked first in the state and is the top seed in the Southern California playoffs, which begin this week.

Coach John McMullen’s Corsairs have a bye in the first round and will play host to the winner of Saturday’s first-round game between No. 16 Orange Coast (20-11) and No. 17 Los Angeles Harbor (15-13) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Corsair Gymnasium.

If SMC advances to the third round, the Corsairs would play host for the Southern California final at 7:30 p.m. either March 3 or March 4. The top four teams from the south and the north will advance to the state championships March 9-11 at Santa Clara.

Last Saturday the Corsairs extended their school-record winning streak to 18 with a 93-71 victory over Bakersfield. The win gave SMC a 15-0 record in the Western State Conference and its second straight WSC championship. It was also the first time that the Corsairs had gone undefeated in conference play.

The Corsairs have five players who have averaged double figures in scoring, led by Von Shuler at 16.6. The others are Keith Amerson at 13.8, Kemo Patrick at 12.5, Troy Batiste at 11.3 and DeShawn Pullard at 10.4. Reserve Mark Day has averaged 9.7 points and 5.4 rebounds. Amerson and Patrick have averaged 7.2 rebounds to lead the team.

McMullen said that all the teams in the Corsairs’ regional bracket are strong, adding:

“I’m just glad we’ll be playing at home. We’ll take a deep breath, take some time off and get ready for some good practice time during the week off.”

The UCLA women’s basketball team, 10-12 overall and 6-6 in the Pacific 10 Conference, will play host to Washington State (12-11, 5-8) at 5:15 this evening and to Washington (17-9, 10-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

At Friday’s game, Girl Scouts wearing their uniforms will be admitted free, and UCLA players will sign autographs afterward.

Last week the Bruins lost to Arizona State, 86-73, but snapped a five-game losing streak with a 75-64 win over Arizona. Rachelle Roulier had a team-high 16 points against the Sun Devils, and Sandra Van Embricqs led the Bruins against Arizona with 21 points and 9 rebounds.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team, 9-17 overall and 4-8 in the West Coast Athletic Conference, will end its season by playing host to the University of San Francisco (6-18, 2-9) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and to Santa Clara (7-18, 3-8) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves split road games, losing to Gonzaga, 59-48, but defeating Portland, 57-50.

At Saturday’s game, the No. 44 jersey of former All-American forward Maureen Formico will be retired. Formico, who played from 1982 through 1986, holds school records for career scoring with 2,190 points and single-season scoring with 713.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s gymnastics team, 11-0 overall and 3-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference, will compete Friday at No. 11 Nebraska. The Bruins have won 23 consecutive dual meets in the last three years.

Last week UCLA scored a school record of 190.95 points in winning the UCLA/Los Angeles Times Invitational. Bruin Tanya Service won the all-around with a meet-record 38.83 and the floor exercise with a school-record 9.85. UCLA’s Shawn McGinnis scored a 9.8 in floor exercise just before Service for the previous school record.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball team, tied for first place with No. 4 Stanford in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. at 6-1, will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cal State Long Beach (9-3, 3-2).

Last week the Bruins (12-2 overall) defeated No. 1 Hawaii in five games at John Wooden Center. The Bruins were led by middle blockers Mike Whitcomb and Trevor Schirman. Whitcomb had 26 kills and 10 blocks and Schirman 23 kills and 10 blocks.

The No. 7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, 7-5 overall and 3-3 in the WIVA, will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (12-5, 7-2) and play host to Loyola Marymount (3-8, 1-6) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost to No. 5 USC in three games. Outside hitters Geoff Hart and Randy Bergstedt continue to lead Pepperdine. Hart has 117 kills and 29 digs, and Bergstedt has 108 kills and 36 digs.

The Santa Monica College men’s volleyball team (1-1) will play at Palomar at 7 p.m. Friday. Last week the Corsairs lost to Long Beach City in five games.

Glenn Bassett, coach of the nationally top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team, 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference, could become the coach with the most career victories when his team plays in the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. National Team Indoor Tournament at Louisville, Ky.

Bassett, whose 22-year record is 474-72-2, needs two victories to pass Furman Coach Paul Scarpa, 475-257.

The Bruins will open today against the winner of Wednesday’s match between Miami and Trinity.

Last week the Bruins routed No. 12 Arizona, 9-0, and defeated Arizona State, 7-2. All-American Brian Garrow is 6-0 in singles and sophomore Jason Netter 7-0. In doubles, Garrow and partner Pat Galbraith are 6-0.

The No. 12 Pepperdine men (3-2 as the week started) is also in Louisville and will open this evening against No. 5 UC Irvine. The Waves will play host to Utah at 1:30 p.m. March 2.

The No. 3 UCLA women (5-0) will play host to UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. Friday and to No. 9 Pepperdine (4-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. Last week the Bruins won at Arizona, 7-2, and Arizona State, 5-4.

Pepperdine’s women, who lost, 5-4, to top-ranked Stanford last week, will play host to San Diego State at 1:30 p.m. today.

The Santa Monica College women’s tennis team (2-0) will play host to Moorpark at 2 p.m. today. Last week the Corsairs opened the season by defeating Santa Barbara City, 8-1, and Long Beach City, 9-0. SMC’s top two singles players, freshman Cindy Corrales and sophomore Adrienne Von Teuber, won their matches.

The SMC men will play at 1 p.m. today at Moorpark.

The No. 4 UCLA men’s swim team, 8-2 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-10, will compete against No. 2 USC at 1 p.m. Saturday at the men’s pool. USC (7-2, 2-2) leads the series, 23-9, and has won the last four meets.

Ten 1988 Olympians--four Bruins and six Trojans--are expected to compete. UCLA’s Olympics performers are Craig Oppel and Mark Dean of the United States team, Roderigo Gonzalez of Mexico and Darren Ward of Canada. USC’s Olympians are Dave Wharton and Dan and Lars Jorgensen, all of the United States; Gary Anderson and Chris Chalmers, both of Canada, and Javier Cargaga of Mexico.

UCLA enters the meet with a 16-2 lead compiled last Saturday in diving held at UCLA’s Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. Scott Upper of the Bruins was first in the 1- and 3-meter events.

The No. 9 UCLA women’s swim team, 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10, will compete today through Saturday in the conference championships at the Cerritos Olympic Swim Stadium.

The Bruins, who lost only to Stanford in the regular season, will attempt to use the conference meet to qualify more performers for the NCAA championships March 16-18 at Indianapolis. UCLA’s only qualifiers are Sheri Smith in the 500-yard and 1,650 freestyles and the 400 medley relay team.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s swim teams opened the season last week in their own relay invitational. The women were second and the men third in the 28-team meet. The Glendale men and women finished first.

Returning Corsair men are Mike Frazier, Luca Gaetani, Takashi Kadouchi, Tim McNulty, Durrell Rittenberg and Yorihiko Takeda. SMC sophomore women are Liana Banders, Andrea Bardin, Leighton Dolmseth, EunJung Kong and Karry O’Mahoney.

The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team (6-0) will compete Friday through Sunday in the Fresno State Invitational. The Bruins will play U.S. International on Friday, the University of San Francisco on Saturday and No. 2 Fresno State on Sunday. Fresno State finished second last year when UCLA won the NCAA championship.

Last week UCLA swept a doubleheader from UC Santa Barbara, 4-0 and 2-0. Lisa Longaker, who has struck out 30 batters in 20 innings, pitched her third straight shutout in the first game, and Samantha Ford, in her first start, won the second game.

Shanna Flynn leads the Bruins with a .529 batting average.

Pepperdine’s baseball team (3-5 as the week began) will play a noon doubleheader Saturday at UC Irvine. The Waves will play host to Cal Poly Pomona at 2:30 p.m. Monday and play at 2 p.m. Tuesday at UC Santa Barbara and at 2 p.m. Wednesday (3-1) at Cal State Long Beach.

Leading hitters for Pepperdine are outfielders Jalal Leach, .345, and Richard Barnwell .344. Left-handed pitcher John Kuzmic is 2-0 after last week’s wins over Cal Poly Pomona, 5-3, and UCLA, 10-7.

The Santa Monica College baseball team (5-6 at the start of the week) will compete today through Sunday in the Mt. San Antonio College tournament. The Corsairs will open against Chaffey.

Catcher Ernie Soto is leading the Corsairs with a .419 batting average, and outfielder-pitcher Chico Garcia has stolen 10 bases in 10 attempts.

The Santa Monica College women’s softball team will compete Friday through Sunday in the Fullerton College tournament.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s track teams will open their seasons in a triangular meet at 2 p.m. Friday at Bakersfield College. Cuesta is also in the meet.