Cal State L.A. Athletics

2009-10 CSULA Record: 14-13. CCAA Record: 10-12

 

Golden Eagles To Travel To Pomona For CCAA Tourney Opener: Cal State L.A.’s men’s basketball team, which has advanced to the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament for the second time in three years, will open the tourney on Tuesday with a game at Cal Poly Pomona. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., although the start could be delayed pending the outcome of a women’s basketball game that begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the game are $10 for general admission and $5 for students with I.D. The game will be available via audio webcast on the Cal State L.A. athletic website. Log onto www.CSULAathletics.com/FanZone and follow the action. The Golden Eagles, who finished in a three-way tie for sixth in the conference, drew the No. 8 seed. The winner of the conference tournament will receive the CCAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs. The semi-finals and finals of the CCAA Championship Tournament will be held on Friday-Saturday at Humboldt State. The Golden Eagles are looking for their first trip to the NCAA playoffs since 2000 and will need to win three straight games to capture the tourney and get the automatic bid. Cal State L.A. struggled down the stretch and went only 3-8 in the second half of conference. Cal Poly Pomona, meanwhile, was 11-0 in the second half of conference play and 13-0 since losing to Cal State L.A. on Jan. 16. Cal State L.A. has four players returning from last year’s squad, including senior guard Chris Fields, who earned second-team All-CCAA honors despite missing nearly half of the conference schedule with an injury. Senior guard Dwayne Jones, junior center Trenod Smith and sophomore forward Leland Jones also return.

 

Golden Eagles Are On The Web: Cal State L.A.’s home basketball games are streamed live with video and audio on the Golden Eagles’ athletic website. Log onto www.CSULAathletics.com/FanZone and follow the action. Tuesday’s conference tournament game at Cal Poly Pomona will be available via an audio webcast with sports information director Paul Helms calling the action. Fans can also follow live stats on the same page as well as receive text messages with final scores and stat leaders just minutes after the final buzzer.

 

Conference Tourney Is Back For Third Year: The California Collegiate Athletic Association added an eight-team championship tournament in 2007-08 and the tourney is now in its third year. The top eight teams in the conference – Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt State, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Chico State, San Francisco State, Sonoma State and Cal State L.A. -- will compete in the tourney. The first-round games will be held at campus locations, while the semi-final and championship games will be held at Humboldt State. The winner of the tournament will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Last season, Cal State San Bernardino, the No. 3 seed, won the tournament. In the first year of the tourney, UC San Diego, as the No. 7 seed, won the tournament and earned the automatic NCAA Division II playoff berth. Cal State L.A. was the No. 3 seed and was edged by San Francisco State, 60-57, in a first-round game at the Eagles Nest. The semi-finals and finals in the first two years were held in San Bernardino.

 

Golden Eagles Set To Face Broncos In First-Round Game: Cal State L.A. will face Cal Poly Pomona for the third time this season on Tuesday in Kellogg Gym in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament opener. The Golden Eagles are the No. 8 seeds, while the Broncos are the No. 1 seeds. This will be the third meeting this season between the Golden Eagles and Broncos. The Stephen Thompson-coached Cal State L.A. team beat Cal Poly Pomona, 54-53, after rallying from a late seven-point deficit and winning when Leland Jones got an offensive rebound and basket with 2.2 seconds remaining in Pomona on Jan. 16. The Golden Eagles trailed, 48-41, with 8:50 to go, but scored the next nine points to climb back into the game. Carl Hoffman had 13 points to lead three Golden Eagles in double figures. Leland Jones and Chris Fields had 11 points each. The Broncos won the rematch in the Eagles Nest, 68-54, on Feb. 19. Chris Robinson had 14 points to lead the Golden Eagles.

 

About Last Week: Cal State L.A. will not have any momentum heading into the conference tournament after splitting a pair of home games last week. The Golden Eagles started the week with a 75-59 win over Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 43-24 halftime lead and led by as many as 25 points in the second half. Chris Robinson had 21 points to lead the Golden Eagles, while Dwayne Jones had 15 points and Carl Hoffman had 14 points. The Golden Eagles, though, couldn’t complete the weekend sweep and lost to Chico State, 68-62, on Friday. The game was tied at 53-53, but Chico State had a 15-9 edge in the last five minutes of the game. Dwayne Jones had 24 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Chris Fields had 12 points. Leland Jones and Hoffman had nine points each.

 

Where We Stand: Cal State L.A. is sixth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in scoring with 64.6 points per game and sixth in scoring defense, allowing 62.7 points per game. The Golden Eagles are No. 1 in the conference, limiting opponents to 38.5 percent shooting. Chris Fields is second in the conference in scoring (15.2 points per game) and seventh in rebounding (5.9 per game). Dwayne Jones is eighth in the conference in scoring (13.7 per game). Carl Hoffman is ninth in rebounding (5.9 per game) and sixth in blocks (0.9 per game), while Leland Jones is third in blocks (1.0 per game).

 

Fields Named CCAA Player Of The Week: Cal State L.A.’s Chris Fields was named the Wilson/California Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 14-20, the conference announced. Fields, a senior guard from Long Beach, helped the Golden Eagles win three non-conference games against Holy Names, Dominican and West Coast Baptist. He averaged 19.3 points and 11.3 rebounds for the week. He had 22 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in a 77-66 win over Holy Names, followed that up with 20 points and five rebounds in a 72-59 win over Dominican and had 16 points and 11 rebounds against West Coast Baptist.

 

About Last Season: Cal State L.A.’s men’s basketball program struggled down the stretch of an injury-plagued 2008-09 season. The biggest injury sidelined leading scorer Chris Fields for nearly the entire second half of conference play. Cal State L.A. was 2-8 in 10 games without Fields. Even without their top scorer for a big part of the season, the Golden Eagles challenged for a second straight trip to the CCAA Championship Tournament right up to the final game of the season. The Golden Eagles shocked Humboldt State, 76-63, in Arcata in the next-to-last game to remain alive in the chase, but a last-game loss to Sonoma State ended their season. Cal State L.A. finished just one game behind a there-way tie for sixth place. The Golden Eagles also played in some tough luck, dropping four conference games in overtime. Cal State L.A. was coming off a big 2007-08 season which saw the Golden Eagles go 17-11. The 17 wins were the most for the Golden Eagles in a season since the 1999-2000 campaign. Cal State L.A. also finished in a tie for third in the CCAA, which was its best conference finish since 2000. The 11 conference wins were the most since 2001. Cal State L.A. earned the No. 3 seed for the eight-team CCAA Championship Tournament and hosted a first-round tournament game against No. 6 San Francisco State. The Gators held on to edge the Golden Eagles, 60-57, in the Eagles Nest. Cal State L.A. was ninth in the West Region rankings and was included in the regional poll for the first time since 2000.

 

The Thompson Tales: Cal State L.A. Head Coach Stephen Thompson is in his fifth year as the Golden Eagles’ head coach and his eighth year overall with the program. Thompson was an assistant coach for Dave Yanai for three years before becoming head coach prior to the 2005-06 season. Thompson has guided the Golden Eagles into the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament for the second time in three years. He has led the Golden Eagles to a 14-13 overall record and a tie for sixth in the CCAA with a 10-12 conference mark. The Golden Eagles have split season series this year with tourney teams Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Sonoma State. Thompson guided the Golden Eagles through an injury-filled 12-15 season in 2008-09. Cal State L.A. was in position for another strong run in the CCAA, but a season-ending injury to leading scorer Chris Fields and nagging injuries to several other key players led to a 2-9 record over the last 11 games. He led the Golden Eagles to a 17-11 overall record and a third-place finish in the CCAA in 2007-08. The Golden Eagles finished the season ranked ninth in the NCAA Division II West Region and made their first appearance in a regional poll since 2000. Thompson was able to lead the Golden Eagles to their best season in eight years despite losing two of the team’s top three scorers – one after just eight games and the other after 14 contests. He led the Golden Eagles to a 10-17 record in 2006-07 that included a 94-85 win over California Collegiate Athletic Association champion Humboldt State and a 70-63 win over Division I bound Cal State Bakersfield. He took over the program in March of 2005 following the retirement of Yanai. The Golden Eagles went from one victory in 2005 to 10 in his first season. Thompson, a Los Angeles native and Crenshaw High School graduate, was a three-year starter at Syracuse from 1986-90, including the 1987 squad that made the NCAA Championship Game against Indiana and the 1989 squad that made the regional final before falling to Illinois. Thompson earned All-America honorable mention honors in both 1989 and 1990 and was the Big East Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1990. He holds the Syracuse record for games played (144) and ranks second in career field goals made (801), fifth in career field goal percentage (.560), sixth in career scoring (1,956) and is tied for 12^th in career steals (184). At the end of his playing career, he was third in Syracuse history in scoring. Professionally, he had stints with the Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets and also played in Europe, Japan, the CBA, ABA and the Southern California Pro League. Earlier this year, Thompson had his jersey retired at Crenshaw High School, where he was part of two state championship teams.

 

Look Who’s Back: Cal State L.A. has four players returning from last year’s team, including leading scorer Chris Fields, who is back for his senior season. Fields averaged 16.5 points per game, but suffered a season-ending injury at Cal Poly Pomona on Jan. 30 and missed the remainder of the season. Cal State L.A. was 10-7 with Fields in the lineup and 2-8 in games he missed. Despite missing nearly the entire second half of the conference schedule, Fields earned second-team All-CCAA honors. Senior guard Dwayne Jones returns after averaging 9.8 points per season last year. He led the team in 3-pointers. Junior center Trenod Smith is back for a third season, although he has not played yet this season because of injury. Smith appeared in 24 games last season and started 12 times. Sophomore forward Leland Jones is back for his second season after appearing in all 27 games and starting eight times last season.

 

Look Who’s New: Cal State L.A. has a total of 10 newcomers, including six freshmen, a sophomore and three juniors. The three juniors include Duwayne King, a 6-1 guard from Cypress Junior College, Mark Dorsey II, a 6-6 junior forward from Citrus Junior College and Nuno Furtado, a 6-7 junior forward from Central Arizona Junior College. The sophomore is Christopher Robinson, a 6-5 guard who played last year for Metro State. The six freshmen are Trevor Hopkins, a 5-10 guard from Montana State, Kenny Robinson, a 5-11 guard from King Drew High School, Carl Hoffman, a 6-9 center from Loyola High School, Chris Smith, a 6-2 guard from Bellflower High School, Jordan Varnado, a 6-3 guard from King Drew High School and Oscar Ortiz, a 5-11 freshman from College Ready Academy High School.

 

Last Week: DNP

2009-10: Is redshirting.

Season Highs: Has not played

Career Highs: First year with the program

Last Week: Had a season-high 21 points and eight rebounds against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; had four points and five rebounds against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.

Season Highs: Points – 21 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10); Rebounds – 8 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10), vs. Humboldt State (1-30-10); Assists – 4 at Sonoma State (12-5-09).

Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

Last Week: Had a season-high 24 points, four rebounds and four assists against Chico State on Friday; had 15 points, six rebounds and a career-high seven assists against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday.

2009-10: Averaging 13.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Is second on the team and eighth in the conference in scoring. Leads the team in assists and is second in 3-pointers.

Season Highs: Points – 24 vs. Chico State (2-26-10); Rebounds – 8 vs. San Francisco State (1-9-10); Assists – 7 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10).

Career Highs: Points – 25 vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills (12-31-08); Rebounds – 8 vs. San Francisco State (1-9-10), at Cal State Monterey Bay (2-14-09); Assists – 7 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10)

Last Week: Had five points against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; went scoreless against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 2.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.1 assists per game.

Season Highs: Points – 12 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09); Rebounds – 6 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09); Assists – 4 vs. Cal Poly Pomona (2-19-10), vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09).

Career Highs: First year with the program.

Last Week: Did not score in final minute against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; DNP-CD against Chico State on Friday..

2009-10: Averaging 1.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.

Season Highs: Points – 6 vs. Sonoma State (1-29-10); Rebounds – 6 vs. Sonoma State (1-29-10); Assists – 4 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09), at Humboldt State (12-3-09).

Career Highs: First year on the active roster.

 

            Last Week: DNP-CD.

            2009-10: Has not played.

            Season Highs: Has not played.

            Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

15        MARK DORSEY II (F, Jr., Los Angeles, Citrus Junior College)

Last Week: Had three points, eight rebounds and two assists against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; had two points and one rebound against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 4.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Is fourth on the team in rebounding.

Season Highs: Points – 13 vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (1-8-10); Rebounds – 9 vs. Cal State East Bay (1-3-10); Assists – 4 at Dominican (12-16-09).

Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

Last Week: Had 12 points, two rebounds and one assist against Chico State on Friday; had seven points and one rebound against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday.

2009-10: Averaging 15.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Is second in the conference in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Leads the team in scoring, rebounds and 3-pointers and is second in assists.

Season Highs: Points – 36 at San Francisco State (2-12-10); Rebounds – 18 at Holy Names (12-14-09); Assists – 6 at Cal State San Bernardino (1-15-10).

Career Highs: Points – 36 at San Francisco State (2-12-10); Rebounds – 18 at Holy Names (12-14-09); Assists – 6 at Cal State San Bernardino (1-15-10), vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (1-9-09).

 

Last Week: Had nine points and seven rebounds against Chico State on Friday; had seven points and nine rebounds against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday.

2009-10: Averaging 7.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Is fourth on the team in scoring and third in rebounding.

Season Highs: Points – 17 at Holy Names (12-14-09); Rebounds – 10 at Holy Names (12-14-09); Assists – 5 vs. UC San Diego (1-2-10).

Career Highs: Points – 17 at Holy Names (12-14-09); Rebounds – 10 at Holy Names (12-14-09), at Cal State Monterey Bay (2-14-09); Assists – 5 vs. UC San Diego (1-2-10).

 

Last Week: DNP-CD

2009-10: Has not played.

Season Highs: Has not played.

Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

Last Week: Played in the final minute and had one rebound against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; DNP-CD against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 0.7 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.0 assists per game.

Season Highs: Points – 2 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09); Rebounds – 1 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10); Assists -- 0

Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

Last Week: Had 14 points, five rebounds and one assist against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; had nine points, five rebounds and one assist against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 9.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 0.4 assists per game. Is third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding.

Season Highs: Points – 19 vs. Humboldt State (1-30-10); Rebounds – 13 at San Francisco State (2-12-10); Assists – 1 vs. Chico State (2-26-10), vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-25-10), at San Francisco State (2-12-10), vs. Humboldt State (1-30-10), at Cal State Stanislaus (1-23-10), vs. Cal State East Bay (1-3-10, vs. UC San Diego (1-2-10), vs. Grand Canyon (12-22-09), at Holy Names (12-14-09), at Humboldt State (12-3-09).

Career Highs: First year with the program.

Last Week: Had three points and three rebounds against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; had two points and one rebound against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 3.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.

Season Highs: Points – 11 at Sonoma State (12-5-09); Rebounds – 9 vs. UC San Diego (1-2-10); Assists –2 vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (1-8-10)

Career Highs: First year with the program.

 

Last Week: Saw two minutes of playing action against Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday; DNP-CD against Chico State on Friday.

2009-10: Averaging 0.5 points, 1.3 rebounds, 0.2 assists.

Season Highs: Points – 2 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09), at Holy Names (12-14-09); Rebounds – 5 vs. West Coast Baptist (12-18-09); Assists – 1 at Cal Poly Pomona (1-16-10), vs. UC San Diego (1-2-10).

Career Highs: Points – 12 at Cal State San Bernardino (1-4-08); Rebounds – 9 vs. Cal State Stanislaus (2-21-09); Assists – 2 at Vanguard (12-13-08).