The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Walker at home in leading Cal State L.A. to CCAA men’s basketball championship
North High and Riverside City alumnus had 12 points in Saturday's title-game victory
Deuce Walker seized what could be his last opportunity to play in front of family and friends.
A North High School graduate and Riverside City College alumnus, Walker helped Cal State L.A. secure the California Collegiate Athletic Association men’s tournament title with a 73-62 victory over Cal State San Bernardino in the championship game Saturday night.
“It felt like a home game in a way,” said Walker, who had 12 points in a team-high 38 minutes in the title game. “It was crazy to see that many Cal State L.A. people fill the gym.”
The 6-foot-2 senior guard added six rebounds, four assists and a gamehigh five steals for the Golden Eagles (24-7 overall), who are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Division II West Regional tournament.
“It’s a very exciting moment, and I’m glad I did it with this team,” Walker said. “These guys are all my brothers. I love them.”
Walker was 2 of 2 from 3-point range and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line as Cal State L.A. climbed back from an early deficit to grab the lead at halftime. The Golden Eagles then outscored San Bernardino by 10 points in the second half.
“Just to see all that love and support from our fans; it helped us a lot down the stretch,” he said.
Walker has made 24 starts in 31 appearances and averaged five points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal per game this season for Cal State L.A., which advances to play Azusa Pacific in Los Angeles on Friday at 5 p.m.
One of only four players to appear in all 28 games last season for Cal State L.A., Walker, a civil engineering major, also earned the conference’s all-academic award.
In two seasons at RCC, Walker averaged 11-plus points and nearly four assists per game while shooting 48.3% from 3-point range. He helped the Tigers win back-to-back Inland Empire Athletic Conference titles and reach the Elite Eight of the California Community Colleges Athletic Association tournament.
Walker was a four-time league champion and averaged 12.4 points and 4.2 assists per game for North High School and helped the Huskies claim the CIF Southern Section 1AA
title as a sophomore in 2016.
Walker was among several Inland area natives participating at the CCAA tournament at Coussoulis Arena.
Andre Ball (Chino Hills) was a key contributor as CSU Dominguez Hills reached the conference semifinals against Cal State L.A., with Demorian Lowe (Murrieta Mesa) seeing time off the bench. Cal State East Bay’s Tyree Campbell (Etiwanda), Ramsey Huff (Centennial) and Payden White (Riverside Poly) all played key roles in the Pioneers’ run to the semifinals, and Kelvin Wright (Rancho Cucamonga) was Chico State’s second-leading rebounder this season.
Cal State San Bernardino is the No. 2 seed for the Division II West Regional. The Coyotes open the regional Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Alaska Anchorage.
• Senior all-american guard Josh Angle had 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals but it wasn’t enough as the season came to an end for the Claremont-muddscripps men’s basketball team in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Caelen Jones had a career-high 34 points on 12 of 21 shooting for CMS (22-7 overall), which mounted a comeback in the second half but could not overcome a 12-point halftime deficit in a 74-70 loss to Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday, March 8.
The Stags finished second during the regular season but went on to claim their seventh Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title.
Women's basketball
The UC Riverside women’s basketball team starts the Big West Conference Tournament on Thursday under interim head coach Brad Langston.
The Highlanders (18-12 overall) are the No. 3 seed after winning six of their final seven regular-season games. Leading scorer Jordan Webster (16.9 points per game) also is ranked among the top 50 players nationally with 2.46 steals per game.
Langston has had the position since Nicole Powell took a leave of absence at the start of the season.
UCR opens the tournament against the winner of UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State at Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada on at noon.
Golf
The University of Redlands women’s golf team beat five ranked teams to win the George Fox Westbrook Invitational in Peoria, Arizona on Sunday.
The seventh-ranked Bulldogs shot a two-round total of 580 (289-291) to finish two strokes ahead of a field of nine other teams, five ranked in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Top 25.
Led by a second-place finish from Iris Liu (140), Redlands shot a 289 first round — the sixth-lowest single round team scored in program history — en route to a win over defending Division III champion George Fox (585).
Miscellany
CMS distance runner Natalie Bitetti finished in 9 minutes, 31.74 seconds to place second behind St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith (9:25.97) in the 3000 meter final at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at Virginia Beach, Va . ... B.J. Brown (Citrus Hill) had 16 points but the Mt. San Jacinto College men’s basketball team lost 92-69 to Fullerton in one of the CCCAA Southern California Regional championship games Saturday, March 9 . ... Breyonna Bell had 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and six steals as MSJC’S women’s basketball team lost to Orange Coast College 88-66 in a CCCAA regional final . ... The California Baptist men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 68-47 loss to Grand Canyon on Saturday night at the Fowler Events Center, and has lost nine of 11 dating to Feb. 3. CBU (15-16, 8-12) begins play in the Western Athletic Conference tournament tonight at 6 p.m. The eighth-seeded Lancers face No. 5 Utah Valley. The winner advances to face No. 4 seeded Seattle on Thursday at 6 p.m.