By OWEN KEARNS JR. Sentinel Correspondent
SCOTTS VALLEY - Nobody had to tell UCSC's Julius Patterson how to make a grand exit. "This is my way to go out, with a bang," laughed the 6-foot-5 forward, after a 34-point night and several timely steals had led the Sea Lions to the championship of the Bay Area Intercollegiate Conference tournament by beating arch-rival Simpson College. "Now it's all iron and nets," said Patterson, clasping an all-tournament trophy in one hand and the net from the victor's hoop in the other.
Patterson certainly didn't supply all the fireworks in UCSC's 80-72 victory Saturday night at Bethany College's Redwood Auditorium. He shared the spotlight with captain John Saintignon, who burned the nets for 31 points and provided a neat assist to one of Patterson's late-game stuffs. But Saintignon and, indeed, the rest of the Sea Lion squad, were more than willing to stand aside for the graduating senior who scored 14 of UCSC's first 20 points then hung tough as the game's fortunes shifted with yo-yo-like regularity.
"I'm usually start cold but tonight I knew the importance of getting off to a good start," said Patterson. "I like the pressure because it brings out my best." In Saturday's third-place game, Dominican defeated Bethany 90-74. On Friday, UCSC defeated Dominican 91-84 and Simpson defeated Bethany 96-70. Saturday night's victory brought UCSC's final record to 15-14. an unbelievable finish to a season which at one point was 1-11. The Sea Lions won 14 of their last 17 games and took three of five meetings with San Francisco's Simpson. "We struggled because the team wasn't together," said Saintignon, a speedy, deadly-accurate sophomore guard. "I called some meetings and we worked it out." Added Coach Joe Richardson: "It's been a good year and I feel our program is on the upswing."
The championship game was old-fashioned offensive basketball, close throughout the full 40 minutes and was decided only by ball-handling lapses by Simpson and the loss through fouls of two key players late in the second half. The lead didn't get to 10 until the the final seconds and the advantage changed hands 20 times nine at one, three-minute stretch one-quarter of the way into the second half. Ironically, the score didn't go as high as some previous UCSC-Simpson contests, which saw both squads in the nineties. "We wanted to hold them under 70," dead-panned Richardson. "We almost did."
UCSC's lead at halftime was 39-34. a margin which went to seven after Saintignon and Patterson hit baskets shortly after intermission. But Simpson wasn't about to give up, running out a 24-12 string to go up 60-55 at the 10-minute mark. Guard Tim Evers, who finished the night with 16 (behind 17-point scorers Shawny Williams and Joe Meinecke) hit four straight buckets on two drives and a pair of jumpers. Patterson and the rest of the UCSC defense, however, weren't having any of it.
Three steals and three drives two by Patterson and one by Saintignon put the Sea Lions up 66-64 at the 4:40 mark, a lead they never relinquished. UCSC never scored another field goal but they didn't have to. Saintignon dropped eight-of-eight from the line while Patterson went six-for-six. "I started anticipating passes and going for steals," said Patterson. "Those two dunks took the steam out of 'em good. It was the turning point." Simpson Coach Paul Kress agreed, but added that the early exit of all-tournament player Bucky Colbert, a 6-foot-5 junior center, and senior forward Joe Turner, both of whom fouled out, also hurt. "They (UCSC) burned us and they deserved to win it," he said.
