Drive for Success Goes Beyond the Court for Golden West’s Scheuerman

Like any determined scorer, Rod Scheuerman of Golden West would do almost anything to get the ball.

During a game this season, he even crawled under the bleachers at Orange Coast to retrieve a ball that had bounced through a gap in the stands.

“I don’t know why I did it,” Scheuerman said. “The ref was kind of surprised that I did it. It was really dark in there. It took me awhile to find the ball.”

Scheuerman, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward from Tustin High, is averaging a team-high 19 points and also leads in rebounds with almost nine.

But it’s not a case of Scheuerman being a black hole where teammates pass the ball never to see it again.

It’s just a matter of numbers.

Golden West has had no more than seven healthy players for the last six weeks and Scheuerman is the team’s best inside threat.

“I’m pretty comfortable with [scoring],” he said. “If I don’t, then I don’t know who else will.”

Thanks to Scheuerman’s successful season, he has moved into fourth on the Golden West all-time list with 1,151 points. He needs eight more to pass third-place Truiett Hatton (1979-82), an assistant coach at Golden West.

But being a successful basketball player is only part of how Scheuerman spends his day. He also works at a Tustin-area pizza place and at night plays or practices with a rock band.

Scheuerman had a friend who played the guitar and he was so fascinated watching, he started to play. He struggled early but slowly improved enough become part of a band called “Da Pimps,” which plays in several local clubs.

“We don’t get paid or anything,” he said. “But it’s really fun. I like to perform.”

Scheuerman, who is being recruited by NCAA Division II and NAIA colleges, would like to continue with the band but has put his education and basketball first.

“I don’t want to base my education on what happens with the band,” he said.

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The race: Saddleback and Riverside meet Friday in Mission Viejo in a game to decide the Orange Empire Conference title--maybe.

Actually, Saddleback (23-4, 11-1) can clinch a tie for the conference title and the conference’s No. 1 seeding into the playoffs on Wednesday. The Gauchos need two things. First, they must beat seventh-place Golden West (13-19, 3-9) in Huntington Beach. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.

The Gauchos then need Rancho Santiago (19-10, 7-5) to beat Orange Coast (16-13, 7-5) Wednesday.

The reason is simple. A Rancho Santiago victory means the Dons would clinch third place. Then even if Riverside and Saddleback tie for the top spot, the first tie-breaker is how the teams did against the third-place team.

Saddleback has swept Rancho Santiago this season and Riverside has split.

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The other race: The Orange Coast-Rancho Santiago game is not only for third place but for the championship of the part-time coaches, as OCC Coach Tim O’Brien likes to point out.

O’Brien, Rancho Santiago’s Ray Rodriguez, Irvine Valley’s Jerry Hernandez, Cypress’ Paul Bottiaux, Golden West’s Tom McCluskey and Fullerton’s Dieter Horton are all in walk-on positions.

Saddleback’s Bill Brummel and Riverside’s Bob Schermerhorn are the only full-time coaches in the conference.

Rancho Santiago and Orange Coast have a two-game lead over Irvine Valley (14-15, 5-7) and Cypress (13-16, 5-7), which are tied for fifth.

Notes

The Fullerton women’s basketball team was credited with a forfeit victory over Rancho Santiago last Friday when the Dons didn’t have enough players because the softball season started the same day. Three players--Cari Remmel, Melissa Cruz and Monica Chavarria--chose to go with the softball team to the Cypress tournament. . . . Golden West recently announced it has dropped its women’s tennis team this spring because of a lack of players. Golden West won the conference title last season.