News Scrapbook 1984

In first place! Jean Willrich leads Sockers past Golden Bay - Sports/D1

Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Co.) Los Angeles Times (Cir. D. 1,072,500) (Cir. Sun . 1,358,420)

In the playoffs! University of San Diego grabs basketball crown

- Sports/D1

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first time has a wmning record as a Division I basketball school. Students at Alcala Park who only remotely knew what the NCAA was a month ago were chanting the letters at the Toreros' most recent home game. "We are riding a mental and physical high," said Brovelli, whose WCAC co-leaders will take a 15-9 record onto the floor at Portland (10-15). To reach that high, however, some players paid a higher price than others. There is a human side to improvement where better play- ers replace incumbents. Prunty and Coronado are not alone at USO. Bill Penfold started 15 games at guard last season but has played only four games this campaign. And Randy Brickley made almost no impact at all after coming to

Then Coronado cornered roommate John Prunty and bad a heart-to-heart talk. Prunty had gone through the same thing, not once but twice at USO He had been a starting guard as both a sophomore and a senior. Both times he was eventually replaced. "It does no good to pout or mope," said Prun- ty. "I have to admit it, at first it was tough ... both times. But when you look around and see what's really happening it gets easier to live with the personal disappointment. I know. I was here when the players dreamed of this day." Tonight, at the University of Portland, the University of San Diego begins the stretch drive of its first run at the West Coast Athletic Con- ference title. In the fifth year of coach Jim Brovelli's "five.year program,'' USO for the

By Bill Center Staff Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. - There were days in De- i:ember when Mario Coronado's insides pained him terribly. It wasn't a broken rib, nothing that simple. Coronado's pain was anguish. A sophomore, Coronado had just lost his starting center position on the University of San Diego basketball team to freshman Scott rl'hompson. Not only was the hurt for the moment, it was for the future. "At first the hurt was terrible," said Corona• do. "I didn't know how I was going to cope with it. When you have three years ahead of you and lose your job to someone even younger, it doesn't look good. For a few days it was terri- ble."

See USD on Page C-5 "When you look at people like Pen- fold and Brickley and how they've kept their spirits up, it can only help players like Mario and myself," said Prunty. "That helps the whole team. I don't know if it was planned, but a support group grew into this system as we were improving." The improvement has been marked. After averaging 20 victories a season its last three campaigns as a Division II school, USD climbed the major-league ladder slowly - 6-19 in 1979-80, 10-16 the next year and last again in the WCAC, 11-15 in 1981-82 and 11-15 again last season, when they tied for fourth. "We've always bad some good players," said Prunty, "but we've got depth this year we've never had be- fore. The biggest improvements are having guards that would allow us to pressure all over the court, and the big man in the middle." Ironically, those are the things that have restricted Prunty and Coronado to support roles. Junior- college transfers Mark Bostic and Chris Carr have relegated Prunty to the role of late-game shooting spe- cialist. Thompson is the player of stature in the middle. Prunty lost his starting role after five games this season, Coronado after nine. "I don't have to look at the stat shee or th Jin to know that I am ontributing" said Prunty. "I'm providing a lot of leadership. If things get out of control, I can go in and settle them down. And I can hit the long jumper (53 percent shooter) aga ta zone." "If I teach Scott something, mak_!! him work a little harder, I've helped," said Coronado. "Before this year, the big games in our history were the close calls," said Prunty. "We beat Stanford but the biggest games were the on~ that got away ... losing to San Francisco, a ~op 10 team. in double overtime; los- i~g to San Diego State and Pepper- dme. •:close, but not there. This year we ve gotten some great wins. We've got confidence, in ourselves and in our program."

Four years ago, Prunty came to USD without ever having been seen by Brovelli. No other Division I school recruited him. An MVP effort in a post-season all-star game won Prunty a USD scholarship. Two years ago, the 6-8 Coronado came to USD after deciding not to return letters of interest mailed him from Wyoming, TCU and Texas AM. Last year the Toreros signed a 6-11 ce ter named Scott Thompson who was No. 1 on the hst of several Pac- 10 schools, plus a pair of forwards - Nils Madden and Steve Krallman - who selected USO after taking their maximum number of NCAA visits. This year, for the first time, USD had a high school recruit, Steve Moser, who committed early. "We've got guys playing for us now bo weren't even visiting the cam• pus four years ago," Prunty said. "Coach Brovelli has got bis message across ... that you can go to a good school and be competitive in basket- ball at the same time. Everyone gets along. We stick together. Alot of my satisfaction is playing for a champi- o p for a school th t has come this far ... I wish a lot of those guys from four years ago could be here. 'I'm glad that I ould make all the ~teps. A lot oi pie ho worked bard couldn't take this step. But there was always the feeling here that if we worked hard, better play- ers could be recruited who would get the job done." "There is great chemistry here," said Coronado. "Not just between players on this team. Guys who played here are great to be around. It's like a club. They know what you are trying to do and the ups and downs. When I got beat out by Scott, lot of_ people I really knew only by names m the record books made con- ~ct with me. The support is excep- tional." Coronado, Prunty and Penfold share a room with Mike Whitmarsh "We've been joking with Mike that if the jinx continues, Brovelli will re- place ~• too," said Prunty. Upon graduation, Prunty will move in with former USD forwards Rocha and Bartholomew.

Continued from C-1 USO with good credentials. " rovelli. "Frankly, I've ~n more than pleasantly surprised by the response of the individuals. All along, the kids caught in the transi- tion have been some of our strongest people mentally." "There is both a feeling of excite- ment and helplessness when Brovelli started recruiting the better players the last several years," said Prunty, the only four-year player on USD's team. "You could see we were going to get better with the players they were bringing in. But you thought about yourself and also of other guys like Steve Rocha and Bob Bartholomew who were there when it was really a struggle at the start. "In a way, I'm living their dream today. At USO we're probably closer to each other as mdividuals than most other college basketball teams. Probably that's made both the highs and lows easier to live with and ac- cept." "When I lost my job, a couple of things became clear to me," sa d Coronado. "First - and Prunty and Penfold helped me here - I dido t see how it would help the team by being vengeful. Two, if I worked bard and did improve my next two years, my time would come. Brovelli is straight and the players are straight here. "It might be the school, maybe the way basketball is really kept a part of the thing at USD, but the players are close. No one blames anyone else when they are down or after a loss.A lot of basketball players aren't fun people. The players here also select- ed USD to advance themselves .. it's neat to know that it's just not basketball." Would ronado transfer if he had a better chance to play basketball elsewhere? "No," he said. "San Diego has a lot of good-looking girls, and there is an education here." Prunty and Coronado are among eight USD basketball players on the dean's list. Prunty has a 3.75 grade. point average and will graduate on schedule in accounting. Coronado is a 3.5 in computer science. "Still, the bottom line of basketball is winning," said Prunty. "I'm a link player between what USO was and wb?t it's become." re not easy decisions " said

ION ,g Toreros Mark Bostic (24) and Antho-

atop the basket after USD's victory

y Reuss celebrate their championship over St. Mary's last night.

Toreros head for NCAAs By Bill Center 'laff Writer Cinderella is wearing both slippers. The University of San Diego is the bas• ketball champion of the West Coast Athlet• ic Conference. The Toreros are in the NCAA playoffs. ''This is not unbehevable," Coach Jim Brovelli said seconds after USD defeated St. Mary's 68--59 last night before a SRO estimate of 2,500 screaming partisans at the USD Sports Center. "This happened." And the last chapter happened just like all those before it. Down by three points eight minutes into the second half, the Toreros rallied behind their defense and the court savvy of forward Mike Whit• marsh Once ahead. the hosts blew the game open from the foul line - bitting nine of 13 late opportunities to go up by as many as 13 points in the final minute. ''The last 10 minutes we just defensed them to death," said Toreros guard Mark Bostic. "I can't remember how we did it. "But I know we did it." "These kids are something else," Brovel- Ji said of bis team, which was picked to finish sixth in the preseason WCAC fore- . d they cl regular season with six straight wins to finish 13-9 - USD's first-ever finish above .500 in five years as a Division I school. More importantly, the Toreros finished 9-3 in the WCAC to claim their first title by two full games over St. Mary's (7-5, 12-16) and Santa Clara (7-5, 20-9). Whitmarsh, with 24 points, again led the Toreros, but guard John Prunty came off the bench to bit six of seven bombs from the floor and finish with_ 17 points. ''This is really bard to believe," said Bro- velli. ''The credit goes to all those kids. I can't single out one, not even Mike. "It's just a gutty group. We got down by three again in the second half. But we did not give in. What else can I say except that we battled the same way we have been over the last month. We made every pos- session count." See USD on Page C-4

C-4

.jonlMtgoBnloa -----~-----~------~"-- USD: Toreros NCAA-bound Continued from C-1 After jumping out to as much as a seven-point lead in the first half behind the long-range shooting of Prunty, USD managed to leave the court at intermission with a three-point lead thanks to a technical foul against the Gaels' Eric Cooks and an off-balance baseline jumper by Al Moscatel at the buzzer. St. Mary's, pounding the Toreros on both boards, out- scored USO 12-6 in the first five minutes of the second half to open up the first of three three-point leads the Gaels held. "I was concerned but not worried," said Brovelli. "Thev caught fire when we were playing well. I thought that we'd settle down and come around defensively. "My biggest fear was the rebounding. In the end, though, we got the rebounds when we needed them." The most crucial moment of the game came with 13:10 to play. All-WCAC guard Paul Pickett stole the ball from Bostic at midcourt and drove in for a short jumper to put St. Mary's up 4~. Aminute later the Gaels got the ball back when San Diego's Anthony Reuss missed a shot from underneath the basket. But the Toreros' trap defense forced St. Mary's into a turnover. Back at the other end Reuss drove the lane and brought USD to within a point. When Prunty buried an 13- foot line drive, USO was back on top at 46-45. For 2½ minutes, the lead seesawed. David Boone scored on a tip-in to give St. Mary's the lead, but fresh- man Scott Thompson answered with a six-foot hook from inside the lane. David Cooke hit a jumper to put St. Mary's back on top 49-48. USD then did what it does best. It worked the ball to Whitmarsh down low. The master of the clutch three- point play got another with a power move against Cooks. When he hit the free throw, USD was up 51-49 with 8:37 ,o go. St. Mary's got one of the points back when Boone hit a free throw. His miss of the second gave USD the ball with the lead. The Toreros then played against the clock. With 5:09 to go, Whitmarsh was fouled and hit two free throws to put USO up by three. The Toreros immediately broke the lead open to seven points. First Bostic scored on a breakaway off a goaltending call to make it 55-50. Then, when Pickett fell, Bostic stole the ball and fed Prunty for a layin. With 2:37 to play, the Toreros started their march to the foul line. With a half minute to play, St. Mary's coach Bill Oates offered Brovelli bis congratulations. "I don't know what the bell to say," said Brovelli. "I just don't know what words will sum this up." Boone led St. Mary's with 26 points and 13 rebounds. St. Mary's won the rebounding war by a 37-23 count, but USD turned the ball over only seven times. To go with his point total, Whitmarsh had six rebounds, 10 assists, a blocked shot and six steals. "The biggest thing was the way we played defense in the second half and Anthony wheeling in the lane for some key baskets," said Whitmarsh. "I think Anthony thought there were a lot of people around him. During one of the timeouts I just told him to turn and go." "When we have to get something going, someone usual- ly does," said Reuss. "Tonight it was my turn." Now the waiting game starts for USD. Although they have an NCAA berth, the Toreros do not know where or when they will open post-season play. They might have to play as early as next Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio (D

Friday, March 9, 1984