COLLEGE NOTEBOOK / ALAN DROOZ : Loyola’s Westhead Is Eager to Czech Out His 6-Foot-10 Center

The big question facing the Loyola Marymount basketball team after losing its starting front line--Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Per Stumer--was where the power and rebounding were going to come from.

The big answer Czeched into campus this week when 6-foot-10 Czechoslovakian National Team center Richard Petruska started classes.

Nobody really knows what Petruska can do for the Lions. He wasn’t a standout on the Czech team and he has never played in a run-and-gun system like Coach Paul Westhead’s. As the Loyola coach wryly noted, “He has to make a double transition--just playing U.S. college style basketball, and playing Loyola outer space-style basketball.”

Although Chris Knight’s play in the NCAA Tournament was promising, the 6-9 junior remains an unproven talent. The other returning front-line players, 6-7 junior John O’Connell and 6-8 sophomore Chris Scott, are too small to defend imposing centers. In the coming season, the Lions will face the likes of 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal of Louisiana State and 7-1 Ron Reis of Santa Clara.

So at 6-10 and a self-professed 220 pounds, Petruska can be a physical force under the basket. Two years ago, when the Czechs played Loyola in an exhibition game, Petruska made 15 of 17 shots and scored 36 points.

“He’s a low-post player,” assistant coach Jay Hillock said. “We think he can score points. He’s not cat-quick like Hank, but we think he can be an impact player in our conference.”

Petruska is believed to be the first Czechoslovakian player to play for an American college. The 21-year-old, who has friends in Fullerton and was looking to attend a California school, appeared headed to UCLA until Ed O’Bannon left Nevada Las Vegas and enrolled at Westwood. Petruska then turned to Loyola.

“When he told friends and relatives he was thinking about coming here, people in Czechoslovakia knew of our running game,” Westhead said.

A native of Leuice, Czechoslovakia, the left-handed Petruska played three seasons with the Czech team, making two U.S. college tours. His favorite stop was Indianapolis.

Petruska, who was cleared by admissions last week although he doesn’t speak fluent English, has an idea of what Loyola’s offense is about. “We run,” he said.

He will room with senior Tom Peabody and figures to pick up beach slang--and probably assorted bumps and bruises--quickly. He might even learn to “Hang 10.”

If he can hang 18 or 20 points a night, grab rebounds and keep up with the fast-break style, Petruska might be the big man Loyola lacks.

“He’s bigger than we’ve been able to recruit,” Westhead said. “We look to him as a player who can help us right away. His performance against us two seasons ago gives a pretty good indication of what he can do in our system.”

Before Hank Gathers, who led the nation in scoring and rebounding, Loyola centers in the 1980s were tall, but failed to make a major contribution.

Mike Lahm, a 7-footer who weighed less than 200 pounds, had problems holding his own under the boards and transferred after two seasons to Murray State, where he ended up having a productive career. Leonard Agee, a 6-10 standout at Hawthorne High, added some offense punch but played only one season. Larry Irwin, at 7-2 the tallest player ever at Loyola, played two seasons without a notable contribution.

The Lions’ best big man in recent years was 6-10 John Veargason, who capably backed up Gathers when the team won the West Coast Conference Tournament went to the NCAA Regionals in 1989.

Marine Cano is calling this a rebuilding year, but his counterparts around the country apparently have faith in the Cal State Dominguez Hills soccer coach. In the first Division II poll of the Intercollegiate Soccer Assn. of America, the Lady Toros are tied for second with North Carolina-Greensboro. The top-ranked team is another traditional power, Barry University of Florida.

Also in the top 10 are Dominguez Hills’ perennial rivals Sonoma State (sixth) and Cal State Hayward (seventh).

The Dominguez Hills men’s and women’s teams open the season at home on Saturday against San Diego State. The women play at 1 p.m., and the men at 3 p.m. The San Diego State men’s team is rated 20th in Division I. The Dominguez Hills men are unranked.

First-year Loyola Marymount volleyball Coach Steve Stratos said having assistants take over some coaching responsibilities has been a new--and not entirely comfortable--experience. Stratos, who has previously coached on the high school and club level, is Loyola’s first full-time volleyball coach and is assisted by Larry Smoot and graduate assistant Pam Lawrence.

“I always believed you have to do everything yourself if you wanted it done right,” Stratos said. “It’s tough (for me) to delegate authority, but they’ve done such a good job I can step back, oversee things, step in when I see something and not actually get involved in every drill. I never trusted anyone enough before to do that.”