News Scrapbook 1984

CHEERS The Toreros' title-clinching 68-59 victory over St. Mary's last night sent waves of emotion through the USD Sports Center. At far left, freshman guard Eric Musselman Is lift• ed to new heights by the thought of being No. 1. Above, coach Jim Brovem, who may have coached his last game at the USD cam- pus, shares his joy with team members. And, In the Immediate left photo, part of the over- flow crowd supports the WCAC champions. Tribune photos by Bob Ivins /v' () ,

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Kon s,,;p1eytn1• Cetlforn an I - £-ti Torero senior forward Mike Whitmarsh bas plenty to smile about. He Is sitting on bis basketball throne after Thursday night's 68-59 victory over St. Mary's. Whitmarsh pacesUSD to68-59win I l1

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (D. 127,454) CAA!

BLADE TRIBUNE MAR 9 1984

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By Mike Mathison of The Daily Cslltornlan .., Rusty Whitmarsh stood in the parking lot of the University of San Diego Sports Center Thursday night with a few friends. Gus Magee, an assistant coach for the Torero men's basketball team, came strolling by "Mike's player of the year, ain't he?'' Rusty asked Magee of younger brother Mike. "He should be," Magee replied. Yes he should be after his performance in the biggest win in USO basketball history. The Toreros, in front of a standing room only crowd of 2,475, whipped St. Mary's 68-59 to win the West Coast Athletic Conference. With the win came a trip to the 64-team. NCAA Tournament The announcement of what region ID which USO will play was to be announced this afternoon al 1. Early mdications were the Toreros will be headed to Dayton, Ohio. with Philadelphia, Pa., being an outside chance. "I don't care where we go or who we play," said Torero Anthony Reuss. "It's all icing on the cake from here on." Mike Whitmarsh finished the night in an apropos place - silting on top of the basket with hundreds of fans still cheering. Mike belonged there. He led his team to the top After the Torero senior was eased down from his throne, he was mobbed by reporters and television folk. He then was escorted to the other side of the gym via a seat on the shoulders of two friends. Rusty was proud of Mike's 24-point, 10- assist, six-rebound, six-steal outing. "How'd you like to be on that team?" Rusty asked. "I enjoy watching Mike play. He just amazes me with everything he does. I sure would have liked to play with him. That would have been fun. I don't want to compare myself to him. He does every aspect of the game - passing, shooting, playing defense and thinking. "I taught him everything he knows." In most cases that is supposed to be a joke. But not here. It's the truth. "Before I left for Australia last year I told

USD claims WCAC title over St. Mary's United Press International torigshot San Diego has captured the West Coast Athletic Conference crown, wt.ile Washington has cinched at least a share of its first Pac-IO basketball title in 31 years. San Diego wound up WCAC champ West with a 9-3 record by dumping second- Basketball place St.Mary's 68'.59 Thursday behi,nd Mike ,Whitemarsh's 24 points and John ______, Prunty's 17. David Boone, St. Mary's leading scorer for the season, had a game-high 26 points for the night. The 2,000-seat sports center, rarely full during most of the season, overflo.wed Thursday with delirious fans, who saw their team qualify for their first title ever and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

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Conunued From Page G-1 2.q!:77 last night: "We have to do the things we do best and play as Qn to be successful. And we've been doing that. That's why we've been winning down the stretch." The thing that Prunty, who has been on success·ve 10- 16, 11-15, 12-14 and now 18-9 teams, does best is "hit the shot 1f it's there; but mostly look to get the ball Inside to the big guys, maybe spark the defense." . Last night ~e came in for starting guard Chris Carr and hit eight straight pomts in the first hall. "I look for the shot a~d I'll take what's there," Prunty said, "but I wouldn t have taken that fourth one if I hadn't made the f~t three. That one was from kind of deep." Kind of. He practically bad one foot in the pool outside the USO Sports Center. ''This win is for John," said junior transfer Mark Bostic one ?f the_ "be •er_ athletes'.' junior forward Anthony Re~ credits with making the difference this season. "John bas been here through the bad times." "Bad times?" said Prunty. "There were some tough seasons, a lot of tQugb losses. But what did I know when I came here? I thought we could take the league then. I thought we could this year, too, but maybe that was just another optimistic thought. I always dreamed of going to the NCAAs, but the chances always seemed pretty slim." Now the Toreros are in Fat City. ''But I wasn't too sure when we were down 45-42" Prun_ty said. "By the time we were up seven with a guy ~t the line I figured all we had to do was hit the free throws and not turn 1t e . er gave up, but I never t ought it was in the bag there for a wlu1e, e1 er." In an eight-point St. Mary's win earlier this season Gaels' forward David Boone and guard Paul Pickett ra~ wild and St. Mary's owned the boards. Doing a better job ID both areas, Brovelli said this week, would be the keys to a win this time. Pickett scored two points in the first half, eight overall, although Boone hit 26. And St. Mary's had a 37-23 rebound margin. "But we rebounded when we had to," Brovelli said. "When we were down I told them our defense was going to get us the win, and it did. An outstanding bunch of gutty, no-quit guys. All the credit goes to them." One final spurt, after taking leads of four, seven and three points only to trail 49-48 with nine minutes to 'play, made the Toreros' travel agent a happy person. With 5:33 to go and USO leading 51-50, Whitmarsh fought long enough on a rebound to get a jump ball, then hit two free throws on the resulting possession. Whitmarsh grabbed a defens1~e board and hit Bostic with an outlet pass Bostic t mto a goaltended layup. Bostic then scooped up a loose ball and when he missed the runaway stuff Prunty followed it in for a 57-50 lead. Then they "were ~p seven with a guy at the line." ·nutes later, Whitmarsh was sitting on one rim while Prunty stripped the net from the other one. The PA an- nouner didn't bother to tell people to stay off the court. The little pep band, which had lulled the crowd with swing tunes for fight songs in the breaks said the heck with it and joined the dance on the floor. Prunty, who for tom: years has set up his mortar 15, 20, 22 feet from that net fmally got to wear it as a necklace. The alumni of the Brovelli school, some of whom were toasted at the Division II Final Four in 1978, others who were only treated rudely in Division I, shook hands with each other and almost anybody else within reach. Dayton or Philly? This was the Promised Land. Afterward, Rusty Whitmarsh, Mike's older brother who played four years under Brovelli and graduated in '82, stopped by and told bis coach, "Congratulations. Glad I could be a part of it." Brovelli squeezed bis band and smiled. Dave Babcock, an assistant coach, asked Brovelli if he sh?,uld le!! th_e team an_~hing about Friday. Y~h;, said B~ovelli, instantly snapped out of his noisy reverie. Three o clock. Here. Practice, man." Dayton or ~hilly, and an experience, another experi- ence, was wa1tmg.

The next 'experience' for Brovelli's champs By T.R. Remman i/ Tribune Sportswr,t~r f f:)':7 T IIF. WE TIU,R In Dayton yesterday was snowy with a high temperature of 33. In Philadelphia, it wa a cloudy 31. 'Oh, g z, don't tell me that," said native Mike Whit- ~arsh, ho hsts hls hobbies as surfing, golf and tennis. Tb ls going to an experience." Last night 2,475 sardines took in an experience at the ~LLJSpw:~oillt r bile dozens of a more frenzied school swarmed th gates outside. Inside, the Toreros spurted and_eased, spurted and eased through most of their game agamst St. Mary' , th n hauled in a 68-59 win. They came from behind to do it, of course, as they've done six straight times now. It gave the Toreros the Western Collegiate Athletic Conferen Ille and an invitation to the NCAA tourna- ment for th fir-st time in their five-year NCAA exper1- e_nce. Tb y 11 know tbas afternoon if they have to play a first-round game, and whether it will be in Dayton or Philly. Snowy or not, 22 or 72, Dayton and Philly are lookmg h e the Promised Land this time of year. was the only prom1;1C John Prunty bad four years ago. I was a pretty good high school player " he said last mght after he hit six of seven shots from th; field and all vcn from the line. "Stanford, Santa Clara and San Jose State, th three schools right near me thought so much of me they didn't ven write me a lette; ... Bu U D L ch Jim Brovelli got a call from Prunty's coach ID unnyvale and had the kid scouted at an all-star gam "We kn w he could shoot," said Brovelli "and when we saw him dive for a loose ball and end up three rows deep ID .~he bleachers w~ thought he was our kind of guy." , I came _here without seeing the place," Prunty said. 'The first time I saw Brovelli was the first day here. But ! was here on a full ride. We've gotten along pretty good 111 my four years." .. Why not' Th! line on Prunty, Brovelli says. as ~v. r_ach1ever with a lot of heart." Through all of U 's D1v1S1on I years, until this one, when a new breed of athlete came to USO, that was the kind of player Brovelli coached Brovelli has said it all along and he said it a In Please ce 11 EROS, G-9

Ken Shipley/The Ca,lforman University of Sau Diego center Scott Thompson, a candidate for the WCAC's Freshman of the Year, throws up a hook shot good for two points in the second half of Thursday night's 68-59 conference win over St. Mary's. So did the rest of Mike's teammates - especially John Prunty. Mike and Prunty are the seniors who see playing time. Prunty is a four-year player, while Mike went to USO after two seasons at Grossmont College. Mike played 39 minutes as USO won its sixth straight. It is 18-9 overall. "Mike was at his best tonight," said Brian Caradonna, who teamed with Mike at Gross- mont College for two years "He was good then, but he has gotten better and better He gets better with each level he goes up. It's unreal to think about how they're going to the NCAA's. I had a lot of fun watching him from the stands. I'm so happy for him." Prunty came off the bench and netted 17 points. "John had one of the best games of his career," said reserve guard Al Moscatel, "and definitely the season. Every team has come at us and every game someone has made a big play for us." The key bucket was Whitmarsh's inside scoop with 8:37 left in the game. The Toreros trailed 4948 and the 2,500 on hand wanted a reason to blow the roof off. They got it when Mike drove the middle, tossed up a soft finger roll and was fouled. He sank the free throw for a 51-49 lead they never gave back. "We were just standing around at that point," Mike said. "So I drove to the basket. Everyone was looking at me and I was trying to tell them to run the offense. . We finally got it going again." "I was right behind him on that play," said Reuss, Whitmarsh's running mate. "He's been coming through with plays like that all season." The Toreros didn't stop there. They hit 12 of 16 from the line in the final 8: 37 to stop any Gael threats. "With our defensive pressure we got some steals and some easy lay-ups," Reuss said. "And then they had to foul us. And when they do that, you might as well call in the horses because it's over." "I won't be up before 1 p.m. tomorrow (today)," Whitmarsh said. "I feel like I'm about 60 years old right now. I think I just might sit here for another hour and relax, go find a local Jacuzzi somewhere, have a few beers and relax.'' "Mike was pretty determined from the start," said Magee. "This was one he really wanted. He played his heart out. Not bad for a guy who I took one-on-

Tribune photo by Bob Iv,as USD'S MIKE WHITMARSH BATTLES ERIC COOKS Tia Torer defeat l. Ma ' to w!JI WCAC title