The games might not have counted, but they counted in a lot of other ways for California University's basketball team.

Division II California stepped out of its league before the season for exhibition games on the road against high-profile Division I teams, losing by one at Maryland, by seven at Arkansas and 15 at Pitt.

Because the coaches in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West handed in their votes before they saw the scores of all those games, California was picked to finish fourth in a preseason poll.

"I think some people realized they missed the mark on us," said coach Bill Brown, whose Vulcans are 12-3 with a six-game win streak going into a home game Saturday against Lock Haven. "We were a surprise to a lot of people.

"I thought we had a chance to win this thing."

The Vulcans used those exhibition games as a springboard to their league season.

"Nobody on our schedule is like those teams," Brown said. "Going into D-I arenas gave us a sense we could play on the road and to be a champion, you have to win on the road. We found out we could compete. They were tremendous assets to our cause and have given us a sense of worth."

The Vulcans, who have 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game, are led in scoring by 6-4 James Petty (15.9 ppg), 6-6 Kelvin Green (13.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg), 6-6 Osborne Gardner (12.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg), 6-4 James Hairston (9.1 ppg), 6-0 John Owens (8.9 ppg, 4.0 apg, 31 steals) and 6-6 Ron Banks (8.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg).

Hairston and Banks are junior-college transfers in their first season at California and the others are seniors.

Green, who transferred from Division I Coppin State three years ago, has missed four games because he is a Seventh-day Adventist and can't practice or play games from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday.

"I commend him for his commitment," Brown said. "He's been able to make the adjustments and just shows up to work at practice and our games."

This is a typical Brown team because it doesn't have a 20-point scorer.

"I normally have four or five guys in double figures," he said. "That way you can't key on just one player. Every night somebody else steps up for us. Honestly, we're two-deep at every position. My lineup may change from half to half, depending on who's got the hot hand. We make the extra pass and everyone gets a touch.

"Our focus is we're better together."

Stopped cold
An ice storm around Rochester, N.Y., kept the unbeaten Point Park Pioneers (19-0) from playing their game Tuesday at Roberts Wesleyan. The game was rescheduled for Feb. 6. Point Park, which remained No. 3 in the NAIA Division II poll, plays at Myers College (3-15) tomorrow in Cleveland.

CMU hopes to rebound
Carnegie Mellon (9-4, 2-1), coming off a 66-65 loss Monday at Lycoming that ended a four-game win streak, returns to the University Athletic Association with road games against the University of Chicago (11-3, 2-1) tomorrow and Washington (Mo.) University (12-1, 3-0) Sunday. Washington, ranked 13th in NCAA Division III, has won nine in a row. Seven of the eight teams in the UAA have winning records and the league is a combined 77-32. The UAA regular-season champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs because the league doesn't have a postseason tournament.

LAST WEEK REVISITED
Highlights from individual and team performances in district colleges last week:

IUP's Gerald Brooks, a 6-5 freshman from Schenley, averaged 11.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in two games and is the PSAC West men's rookie of the week for the fourth time. For the season, he is averaging 11.2 points per game and 8.3 rebounds and shooting 56.8 percent from the field.

Slippery Rock's Nikki Presto, a 5-7 freshman from Thomas Jefferson, had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block in a 69-55 victory at Cheyney and is PSAC West women's rookie of the week for the second time. For the season, she is averaging 9.4 ppg and leads the team with 27 assists and 21 steals.

Penn State Behrend's Brittany Mays, who averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds in two games, is women's player of the week in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

The Carnegie Mellon swimming and diving team is seventh, Washington & Jefferson, led by junior All-American Kaitlyn Orstein (Mt. Lebanon), 17th and Westminster 20th in Collegeswimming.com's Division III women's Top 25 poll.

Washington & Jefferson senior guard Brandon Studer, who averaged 25.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal in two games, is the player of the week in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.