Dominguez Cagers Will Test Unbeaten Grand Canyon Five

Cal State Dominguez Hills won’t have many breaks in its men’s basketball schedule from here on.

The Toros (6-5), who open California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play Jan. 13, will play host to unbeaten Grand Canyon College of Phoenix in their final CCAA tuneup tonight at 7:30. Grand Canyon (11-0) returns three starters and is defending NAIA champion. However, the team’s leading scorer, Danl Williams (24 points a game), is not expected to play. He is sidelined with a hairline fracture in a foot.

Guard Craig Johnson from Mary Star of the Sea High School is second on the team with 17.5 points a game. He averages 8.5 assists. Grand Canyon handed UC Riverside, one of the favorites for the CCAA title, its only loss of the year, 91-90. Riverside (12-1) went on to stun fifth-ranked Iowa in the title game of the Chaminade Classic in Maui, Hawaii.

First-year Grand Canyon Coach Bill Westphal, who prepped at Aviation High School, took over from brother Paul Westphal, now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Assn.

Dominguez Hills has won two of its last three games and ranks seventh in the country among Division II schools in defense.

Dominguez Hills will entertain Chapman College (7-4) in the CCAA opener Jan. 13, then Riverside on Jan. 17.

“We’ll face a tremendous test against Chapman,” said Coach Dave Yanai.

Sandwiched between its CCAA opener and its game with Riverside is a non-league contest Jan. 14 with visiting Biola University, an NAIA power. Biola defeated the Toros in double overtime, 69-67, this season.