News Scrapbook 1986

The San Diego Union/ Peter Koeleman With 7-foot center Scott Thompson (left) anchoring the squad, Coach Hank Egan (above) looks forward to a good season.

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o eros hope to be there at en

'Thompson-Era' USD may be best

1985-86 WCAC standings

Over. 25-5 19-11 19-9 15-13 12-16 13-15 10-17 7 21

Cont. 13-1 10-4

Team Pepperd,ne Loyo_la_________ USD Gonzaga Santa Clara Portland Sl Mar, San Francl9co USD roster

By Hank Wesch, Starr "•iter Universit of San Diego asketball coach Hank gan obviously had made a careful study of the videotape an the stat sheets following his team's exhib tion Joss to Ath- letes in Action early this month. He was well-prepared when he addressed the weekly, gathering of sports media at a luncheon a few days later. Egan pointed out that when senior center Scott Thompson was in the l•neup, USD more than held its own against 's squad of for- mer college standouts, some with National Basketball Association experience. When Thompson was rested early, AIA surged. When the center fouled out with more than seven minutes left, AIA took control of the game "Surprise, surprise," Egan deadpanned. "I gue we can conclude that Scott Thompson means a lot to our team. What else is new'!" The 7-foot, 260-pound Thompson has meant a lot to USO since his arrival in 1983. As a freshman he started 20 of 28 games,

and the Toreros won the West Coast Athletic Conference champi~ship and went on to the NCAA playoffs. Last season, he averaged 14.4 points and 7.3 rltounds, both team highs, and was selected to the all-WCAC te m for the second consecutile year The Toreros, 19- last < since Thompson enrolled. an th t rnplation is to refer to his tim, at USD as th " homp- son Era." But in looking to\lard bis fmal collegiate season, which beginsFriday against utah in Salt Lake City, Thonpson points out that he wasn't the Toreros' only freshman recruit for the 1983-84 seaso1. "Steve Krallman, Yils Madden, Eric Mus- selman and myself lnve been together here all four years," Thonpson said. "We won it our freshman year. ie've had great seasons our last two years. N1w hopefully we can get some icing on the cale. ' As the premier reurning big man in the WCAC, and consideral one of the best in the See USDon Page r-2•

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4-10 3-11 2-12

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Ht. 6-7 6--5 6-5 6-8 6-1

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Paul Leonard Nils Madden Mark Manor Danny Means Marty Munn Enc Musselman

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6-6 6-1 6-6 5-7 6-9 7-0 6-0

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Jim Pelton

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Scott Thompson Charlie Wicks1ran,'

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San Diego, CA -(San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

NOV 29 1986

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*Toreros--t----------------- / ,Continued Fr-:,m B-1 contribut.!Af just 20 points. 56-54 with 1:11

remaining. The Toreros ran down the clock until the Utes played right into USD coach Hank Egan's hand when Utah's Sie Moore fouled forward Steve Krall- man with 21 seconds remaining. Krallman, who finished with seven points and seven rebounds, comes off the bench for his defense and clutch free-throw shooting. He calmly hit two free throws as the boisterous crowd of 9,756 tried to distract him. Utah guard Tommy Connor came back with a three-pointer to make it 58-57 with 14 seconds left, then the Utes went into a full-court press. The Toreros broke the press when Krall- man broke for the basket and Thompson found him with a full- court pass for an uncontested layup. USD will host Boise State at the USD Sports Center on Thursday be- fore returning to the road for six straight games.

streaks by both teams. USD went on a 16-0 tear late in the first half for its big lead. The Toreros watched Utah open the second half with an 8-2 spurt, with Smith scoring six of his 12 points, trimming the Toreros' lead to 42-32 with 16:43 remaining. USO then scored five straight points on a 14- footer by Madden, who had 10 points, and a free throw and 18-foot jumper by semor guard Paul Leonard. Then it was Utah's turn again, led by junior guard Gale Gondr~zick. Gondrezick scored on a tip-in, a 16- foot jump shot and a three-pointer from the left side as the utes scored 12 straight over the next 3½ minutes to move within 47-44 with 10:53 left. Gondrezick finished with a team- high 21 points, including 5of 10 shoot- ing from behind the three-point line. The teams traded baskets for the next nine minutes before Gondrezick hit another three-pointer to make it

Tribune tall Report oreros opener U T H earned a WAC basketball championship and an NCAA Tourna- ment berth last season on the strength of its outside shooting, but the utes planned to move their game mside this ~son. USD' 7-foot center Scott Thompson had other ideas last night, collecting a career-high 31 points and 10 rebounds as the To ros opened the 1986-87 son with a 60-57 wm at the Special Events Cent mSalt Lake City. Utah's top three scorers from last season's 2 10 t m - Jerry Stroman, nuel Hendrix and Kelvin Upshaw - have gradua ed, sending Utes coach Lynn Archibald to the drawing board. Archibald d w up a plan to get the ball into 6-foot-11 freshman redshirt center Paul Van Maren and 6-8 sopho- more forwards Jimmy Madison and Mitch Smith, who were also expected to clean th boards. Thompson, the Toreros' nior All- merica candidate, sent Van Maren for co er early and, with the a istance of forwards Nils Madden and Mark anor, helped the Toreros to a 19-10 rebounding advantage in the first half. Utah stayed with Its game plan for, oh, two minutes before kicking the ball on Ide Van Maren did not score in the game and the Utes' front line Plea e TOREROS, B-7

"I tt nk he'll (Van Maren) be a good player once he gets some expe- rience under his belt and some meat on his bones," Thompson said. "They took him out after I scored a couple of buckets. Then they put in some 6-8 guy who did a little better job." The operative word there is little. Thompson scored 20 first-half points - including three on a 20-footer - to help the Toreros to a 40-24 lead at intermission. "We wanted to take it to whom- ever was guarding us inside," said Thompson, whose previous career- high was 26 points two years ago against Missouri Baptisl "Our of- fense allows the big men to move around and the guards got the ball to us. Tonight, that's what the game plan was, and it worked." The game was marked by scoring

Tribune file pboto SCOTI THOMPSON HAD CAREER-mGH 31 POINTS VS. UTAH