Wooden Classic to Stay at Pond

Bucking the trend of athletic teams and events leaving the Southland, The Pond of Anaheim management announced Friday an agreement to keep the John R. Wooden Classic college basketball event here through 1999.

Ogden Entertainment, which manages The Pond, signed a three-year extension with tournament promoter Atherton Communications. “The Pond is one of the finest facilities in the country and a perfect venue to showcase the best teams in college basketball,” Kent Atherton said in a release.

The Pond was the site of the first Wooden Classic last December. Games between Kansas and Massachusetts and UCLA and Kentucky drew a sellout crowd of 18,307.

Defending NCAA champion UCLA will play Atlantic Coast Conference co-champion Maryland and Big 10 champion Purdue will play Big East tournament champion Villanova Dec. 9 in the second Wooden Classic.

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The Splash added former Marina High and Cal State Fullerton star Rick Rodriguez on the eve of today’s league roster freeze deadline, Coach George Fernandez announced.

Rodriguez, a 5-11, 165-pound forward, was the Titans’ captain in 1994 and ranks among the school’s top 10 point leaders.

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Peter Anderson has resigned as Santiago boys’ cross-country coach, Principal Don Wise announced. Anderson, a long-term substitute teacher, has accepted a full-time teaching position in Lompoc.