-Santa Cruz Sentinel Nov. 26 1984
It would not be difficult to come away from Sunday's game at the Civic Auditorium feeling somewhat less than excited about the inaugural appearance there by the UCSC basketball team. The temperature in the unheated and underlit auditorium was not much higher than it was outside in the late November afternoon. The 49ers and the Raiders were both on television, and it was a lot warmer at home and the seating more comfortable.
There was a disappointing crowd of less than 100 at the game, and even though they were partisan in their support of the home team, they were not strong enough vocally to create any sort of "home-court advantage" for the Sea Lions. And if that wasn't enough, UCSC lost by 16 points, 80-64, to the California Lutheran Kingsmen of Thousand Oaks.
 It would also not be difficult to come away from the game interested in seeing more UCSC games at the civic auditorium or on campus. The Sea Lions started the game with a spurt that gave them a six-point lead. They trailed 40-32 at halftime and were shooting to trim their deficit to two with less than four minutes to go.
After four hotly contested shots from in close. Cal Lutheran took control and scored eight unanswered points in 90 seconds, putting the game out of reach. The small crowd and the lopsided loss were not just rewards for the level of play exhibited by the local squad.
 Led by sophomore guard John Saintignon (27 points), senior forward Harrod Blank (10 points, 8 rebounds) and sophomore forward Tom Buffett (8 points, 10 rebounds) the Sea Lions were able to keep the pressure on their opponents even though Cal Lutheran had more strength off the bench. The Sea Lions were also playing without the services of 6-foot-4 sophomore center Erick Wright. This is the only appearance the university team is going to make in the civic auditorium this year but Coach Joe Richardson said his team wasn't let down by sparse attendance.
"Having more people would have made it nicer," he said. "It would have been nice to have a real home court advantage. And we really do appreciate the ones who were here." More important to Richardson though was how his team had played. "This is the only time we could play here and we'd like to play more." Richardson said. "Our kids enjoyed playing here and they really played hard. That's the important thing."
Because UCSC is playing at the NCAA Division III level it means that there are no scholarships for the players, and as a result, academic pursuits often come before basketball, said Richardson. "We don't always get to practice with the whole team so it meant sometimes it takes longer to do things But these kids work very hard and I'm pleased with the improvement they're showing We outre-bounded them (Cal Lutheran) and we didn't have many turnovers " Richardson has been the UCSC coach since the basketball program started in 1980, and last year his team had its first winning sesason with a 14-13 record. In 1967, Bill Domhoff coached a semi-intercollegiate UCSC baseball team whose best pitcher could not be counted on to appear if the Doors were in concert anywhere within California on that date.
"These are definitely more serious athletes." Richardson said. "It's more like it was 15 years ago or so. It's OK to be competitive."
Wednesday night, the Sea Lions take on Cabrillo at the UCSC West Field House, and Richardson said, "our chances are good against Cabrillo. We'll have our big man back (Wright) and he's a good outside shooter and that will help us a lot." The field house is liable to be a bit warmer, more crowded, and noisier than it was at the civic auditorium.
It is certainly going to provide a good venue for local fans to evaluate for themselves the local college basketball talent.
