SDSU Hopes to Keep Momentum Going

SAN DIEGO —  Keep the momentum going.

That’s the motto of the San Diego State basketball team that plays host to Cal State Long Beach in a nonconference game at 7:30 tonight in the San Diego Sports Arena (KSDO-1130).

The Aztecs won two important Western Athletic Conference games against Colorado State (75-72 on Thursday) and Wyoming (79-70 on Saturday) to set up a showdown for first place against Texas-El Paso on Thursday night at the Sports Arena.

SDSU is 9-3 in the WAC and 18-5 overall. UTEP is 18-6 and 10-2, and New Mexico is 8-4 and 15-8. The Miners beat the Aztecs, 87-81 in El Paso, and the Lobos beat the Aztecs, 94-85 earlier this season.

However, first things first. Beating the 49ers may not do much for the Aztecs except move them to within one of the magic 20-win mark. But losing to Long Beach could be a severe blow to a team headed into its two biggest games of the year.

“We have to keep the chemistry we’ve had and we also have to work on being consistent,” Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines said. “We have to be able to hold onto those 12 to 15-point leads.”

When the Aztecs and 49ers met on Dec. 15 in the Long Beach Arena, the Aztecs almost let the game get away. In one of the sloppiest performances of the season, SDSU barely held on to defeat the 49ers, 62-60.

Long Beach (1-11 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. and 3-17 overall) snapped a 12-game losing streak--the longest in the school’s history--with a 72-68 win at San Jose State on Saturday night. In his first season at Long Beach, Coach Ron Palmer has been forced to start three freshmen--center DeAnthony Langston, guard Jon Hansen and guard Billy Walker.

When the Sports Arena signed a contract with Alvin and the Chipmunks (entertainment show) for March 6-10, Sports Arena General Manager Phil Quinn said he never thought he’d run into a possible scheduling conflict with the Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

“When the Clippers played here,” Quinn said, “I never had any problem scheduling things for the postseason . . . And you have to admit the Aztecs have been pretty surprising.”

If SDSU wins the WAC title, it -will have earned the right to host the tournament on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9. Alvin and the Chipmunks have the arena on Saturday afternoon, and the Sockers play host to Pittsburgh that night.

It’s a mess. The SDSU athletic department is trying to work something out with the Sports Arena and Alvin and the Chipmunks, but as of Monday, entertainment has the edge on basketball.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Quinn said. “Alvin and the Chipmunks are doing extremely well back East and we did sign a contract, but hopefully we’ll be able to arrange a compromise.”

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, what college basketball team in the Western region does Gaines think is most deserving of a bid to the NCAA postseason tournament?

“I think we could be at the top of the list,” Gaines said. “Don’t you?”

Gaines is on the Western region committee of coaches polled by the NCAA to pick 20 teams from among seven conference and independents that they feel are most deserving of a postseason berth. On March 4, the coaches submit a second ballot. The picks by the coaches are used as guidelines by the NCAA selection committee.

The teams with the best records in the West are SDSU (18-5) and UTEP (18-6) in the WAC, USC (15-5), Oregon State (17-4) and Arizona (17-6) in the Pacific 10, Pepperdine (17-6) and Santa Clara (16-6) in the West Coast Athletic Conference, Montana (19-4) and Weber State (18-5) in the Big Sky, Nevada Las Vegas (18-3) and Fresno State (15-6) in the PCAA, Tennessee-Chatanooga (17-6) in the Southern Conference and SMU (18-5) and Texas A&M; (15-6) in the Southwest Conference.

There are no West Coast independents with outstanding records.

Aztec guard Creon Dorsey has been playing in pain for weeks, but he was visibly hampered on Saturday night against Wyoming.

The 5-foot 11-inch junior has a bruised right heel, sprained ligaments in his right knee and is recovering from a contusion strain in his right thigh. Aztec trainer Bob Moore said that Dorsey also has tendinitis in his left leg because he has “overloaded that leg and is favoring it a little bit.”

Dorsey committed seven turnovers and made just 1 for 10 from the field in Saturday night’s win. He had eight points and four assists. On Thursday night against Colorado State, he scored 13 points, had 9 assists and played one of his best games of the season.

Gaines said Dorsey will start tonight, and Moore said Dorsey should be able to make it through the season.