News Scrapbook 1986

San o,ego, Cllii. Union (Circ o 217,324) c, rc s 339 , 788)

JAN 19 1986

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P. C. 8 . /Jf 1888 Br velli's old team beats his new one, 67-59 B ill Cen~ ctually, Jim Brovelli the re- until the game was out of reach. recover." season-high 12 rebounds in 27 min- cru1ter had quite a night before a •·we started and played the game The Toreros (11-5, 1-1) were led by utes. crowd of 2,860 at Memorial Gym. on all cylinders," said Egan, whose two players whose output at Santa USD was up 58-34 with 6:13 to play Players recruited by Brovelli and his tean, saw a five-game winning Clara was below par. when Egan retired his starters with as i -tants scored 117 of the 126 points streak snapped Friday night in a con- Guard Pete Murphy, who had only wholesale substitutions. in this Wc"t Coast Athletic Confer- ference-opening 55-53 loss at Santa 11 points after missing most of the "The only thing I did wrong was ence match. Clara. first half Friday, scored 18 points put in all those new players at the But his Dons were no match for "Sometimes a game is decided by and pulled down 11 rebounds last same time," he said. "They were aw- the Toreros of Hank Egan who the way things start. We weren't night. fully cold." turned the ball over only o ur!il ready at Santa Clara and it's hard to Forward Nils Madden, who was 2- Although USF (6-10, 1-1) outscored the final five mrnutes and h U 'F recover in a game. It was a slap in for-7 from the floor Friday, was 7- rb shooting 25 percent from the floor the face. Tonight we didn't have to for-10 this time for 16 points and a See US{ on Page H- 7

U D: ounces back to even WCAC mark '7~ Continued from H- USO 25-9 in the last s11 minutes, the outcome never was in doubt. he was when he played for me as a freshman." Last night the Toreros had every- lhing working for them that had failed at Santa Clara.

'It was good seeing those (USD) guys again. We were very close the year we won ... a close team with a chemistry. We're still close. That's the hard part. I'd love to have some of those guys with me still.' USFcoach Jim Brovelli

"We were a step behind all night," 1d Brovelli, who was coaching his first game against the team he led for 11 year , during which time USD r e from the ranks of an NCAA Di- Vt ion II chool to a WCAC champion ID 1983-84. "I knew how good they were. Sure, it felt a little strange. I was close with a lot of USD's players," Brovelli said. Three of USD's starters - includ- ing forward Mark Bostic, who start- ed for the first time smce the second game of the season - played for Brovelli on the 1984 NCAA team. A fourth, Murphy, was recruited for USD by Brovelh assistant Dave Bab- cock. All but nine of USD's points came from players introduced to the Toreros by Brovelli's staff "It was good s •cmg those guys again," Brovelli said. "We were very close the yea we won . .. a close team with a ch mistry. We're still close. That's the hard part. I'd love to have some of those guys with me still'' "Even if we had lost, it would have been all right because of Coach Bro- velli," said Madden. "But the guys who played here under him probably wanted to win the most." In that group were Madden, Bostic (four points), 7-foot center Scott Thompson (six points, six rebounds in only 23 minutes), reserves Steve Krallman (10 points) and Eric Mus- selman (four) plus reserve center Mario Coronado, who didn't make this trip. "I was looking for some of the plays we used to run, but USF didn't use any of them," said Madden. "I think the guys who had played here under Coach Brovelli really wanted to play a good game." They did. "I knew by their junior years Mad- den and Thompson would be fine players," said Brovelli. "Thompson is the best center in our conference ...

Madden had a lot of movement and continually got open underneath. Murphy hit three of the six long- range bombs he took in the first half - and on the three he missed, Thompson scored a basket by tipping in the rebound. After weathering an early shooting blitz by Don guard Mike D' Aloisia, the Toreros pulled away. USD never trailed after the first 10 minutes. They were up by nine (30-21) at the half and held a 20-point lead at 50-30 midway through the second half when Murphy sank a I -in and two ensuing free throws for an illtention- al foul after making a steal and being pulled down from behind as he drove to the basket. "There was a lot more movement tonight," said Murphy. ''Santa Clara took us out of a lot of things. We took that loss pretty tough. Egan talked to us and we came out a lot different tonight." • "We were a lot more aggressive right from the start," said Madden. "We played with a lot of intensity tonight, we didn't play with any the night before." For the second straight game, USD was off the mark from the floor . The team that had been shooting 53 per- cent from the floor before confer- ence play hit 34 percent last night after 39 percent at Santa Clara. But the Toreros shot 81 percent (25-of-31) from the foul line and played flawlessly until Egan, now 4-1 in his coaching career against Bro- velli, began substituting. USF was almost as cold from the floor, hitting 38 percent. The Dons' three top shooters - Ken Ramirez, Anthony Mann and Mark McCathrion - were a combined 5-for-25. Ramirez, who had hit 15 of his previ- ous 20 shots going into last night, was l-for-9. Mann, who hit five of seven second-half shots Friday to pace USF's 72-69 victory over St. Mary's, was 4-for-14.

San Diego, Calif . Union (Circ. o 21 7,324, (Circ. S. 339, 7G3)

JAN23 198&

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Home might never be as swe~t for Torero By Bill Cen~taff Writer Life on the road in the West Coast Athletic Conference is full of surprises. Just ask Hank Egan's U~tf of Sao Qie&Qjlasketball team. The Toreros (11-5 overall) lost a road game against a supposedly weaker Santa Clara team last week to drop a game off the WCAC lead at 1-1. Now, however, the Toreros have four straight games in the cozy USD Sports Center. •'For some reason, the homecourt advantage means even more in this conference than others," Egan said. "Nothing comes easy on the road." At home, the Toreros are 6-0 this season and 18-4 since Egan became head coach before last season. Extending the run to 10-0 over the next two weeks would ensure the Toreros of regaining at least a share of the WCAC lead. They play Gonzaga (7-8, 0-2) tonight at 7:35 and Portland (9-7, 0-2, plays St. Mary's tonight) on Saturday, and next week they meet Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount - the WCAC co-leaders before games this week. Physical teams in the Santa Clara mold, Gonzaga and Portland lost to Pepperdine last week at the foul line. Gonzaga is rebuilding under head coach Dan Fitzgerald, who returned this season after retiring three years ago. The Bulldogs are led by 6-3 senior guard Jeff Condill {12.7-point average, one of the conference's top defensive players) and freshman forward Jim McPhee (9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds). Scott Thompson, a 7-foot center, leads USO in scoring (13.6), rebound- ing (8.0) and blocked shots (2.2). The Toreros' second-leading scorer is guard Pete Murphy (12.8 points).

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

JA 2 t 1986

P CB' " ,xxx /J:fl hope:~~:~~:~ Tribune Sportswriter don't think we have particular trou-

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Even in 1983-84 when Brovelli coached the Toreros to the WCAC title, Gonzaga banded USD one of its three conference losses and pushed the Toreros to double overtime in the second meeting before losing by a The Toreros' lifeblood is 7-foot all- conference center Scott Thompson, the club leader in both scoring (13.9) and rebounding (eight). But Thomp- son has been subpar in the past two games after getting kicked in the calf against USIU on Jan. 9. Thompson has been a 57 percent shooter this season, but in the past two games has hit just eight of 26 shots {3-for-12 against USF). Other key contributors to the USD attack have been guard Pete Murphy (12.8 points per game), and forward basket.

The lesson? "Once conference starts," Egan said, "nothing comes easy and nobody is in awe of you. Every game is hard knocks. You can't go out and just play fairly bard like we did in the opener. You have to play really hard, against every- Egan, USD's second-year coach, said that Gonzaga presents a "good news, bad news" situation. "The good news is that they have no superstars, no people to really key on," the coach said. "The bad news is that they are well-balanced. They play a lot of seven or eight. They go everywhere. You don't know who they will give the ball to." Gonzaga hasn't finished above .500 in conference play since the 1980-81 season. But the Bulldogs have a habit The teams have split their two meet- one." people -

ble with this sort of team as a rule. I just think we weren't mentally pre- pared to play them last wPek, to begin conference play. The intensity level naturally tends to rise when you start conference. Well, ours didn't. And, as the saying goes, if I knew the reason, I'd be rich. I didn't The Toreros rebounded, so speak, and whipped USF the follow- ing night in San Francisco to even their conference record. "I think that was an emotional game for us," said Egan, "not because we lost the night before, but because of (Dons coach) Jim Brovelli's ties here. We may have been looking past Santa Clara. I don't know. But I don't expect a let- down against Gonzaga, simply be- cause I like to think we learned a lesson last week. Santa Clara got our to see it coming."

Hank Egan just hopes bis Toreros learned their lesson last week, that's all. Th y'd better, he figures, espe- clally since they have this nasty scar in the bapc of an L - a conference to show for the experience. Egan's Toreros (11-5, 1-1 in the WCAC) ho t Gonzaga University (7-8, 0-2) tomorrow mght at 7:30 Egan knows that Gonzaga i n't exactly one of the truly great teams of our time. But unfortunately for USO, the Bull- dogs are a lot like th Santa Clara And the Toreros remember the Bron os. USD underachieved and lo t to Santa Clara by a basket last Friday night up in the Bay Area. "Gonzaga has big people, they pnd themselves in their defense and after you," Egan explained. "In tbat L - Broncos. aggr lvene and they just get

of rising to the occasion against USD. Nils Madden (9.8 points, five re-

bounds).