There is no mention of him in the team's media guide for this season and until recently, his name didn't even appear on the roster on the university's Web site.

But since the first part of January, Kenny Johnson has been making a name for himself on the California University of Pennsylvania's men's basketball team.

"I was like the phantom or something," said Johnson, who graduated from Beaver Falls High School in 2003. "Nobody knew much about me when I first started here."

It's a good bet it didn't take opposing coaches long to figure out that the guy coming off the bench wearing uniform No. 4 was a pretty good player.

Since joining the team for the second semester, Johnson has become an important part of California's guard rotation. He has played in 20 games, starting one, and is averaging 4.7 points a game with 39 assists, 24 steals and 4 blocks.

He has helped California, which defeated Millersville, 64-52, Tuesday night in the NCAA Division II East Regional final, to a 28-5 record and a spot in the Elite Eight at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.

The Vulcans will meet Alaska-Anchorage in a quarterfinal at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The winner will play either Central Oklahoma or Augusta State at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Division II title game is 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Although Johnson, who is listed as a 6-foot freshman on the Web site, isn't the main reason the Vulcans won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title, he has had his moments.

In a PSAC semifinal at Cheyney, Johnson scored 24 points. He made all eight of his field-goal attempts in that game, including four from 3-point range.

Against Edinboro in a regular-season game March 1, Johnson came off the bench to score 19 points in an 80-77 loss. He was 5 of 7 from the floor in that one. And against Clarion three nights later, he scored 11 points and handed out six assists in an 82-66 victory.

"I'm so proud of him," Beaver Falls High School coach Doug Biega said. "He never stopped, never quit going after it."

Johnson is majoring in business and appears to have settled in at California. His path to the school was hardly direct.

After high school, Johnson didn't go immediately to college. He ended up at Ferrum College in Virginia for the 2004-05 school year after then-coach Scott Shepherd's mother-in-law, a secretary at Beaver Falls High School, matched the player with the school.

"I was teaching summer school and was in the office talking about what I was going to try to do for Kenny," Biega said. "The one secretary said that her son-in-law has just gotten the head coaching job at Ferrum and that it was a Division III school and wouldn't be that hard for Kenny to get in."

Johnson was an immediate success. He averaged 15.9 points and 6.3 assists as a freshman, tops on the team in both categories, and was named to the 2005 Virginia Sports Information Directors College Division Men's All-State Team.

All seemed perfect, then Shepherd left Ferrum for another job. Johnson decided he didn't want to stay at the school located in southwestern Virginia.

He returned home and kicked around for a while before playing the second half of the 2006-07 season for the Community College of Beaver County. That's where California coach Bill Brown saw him play.

"I was supposed to go here [California] in the fall, but I had to stay [at CCBC] for another semester to get some grades in order," Johnson said.

He stayed in shape by working out at the Beaver County YMCA and at practices at Beaver Falls High School a couple days a week.

"You couldn't find a better guard than Kenny to have players go against in practice," Biega said. "It's not surprising to me that he's gone to California and played well."

For some players, joining a team midway through the season would be tough. There are new plays to learn and teammates' likes and dislikes to become familiar with. Johnson didn't have any problem fitting in.

"It was [harder] offensively, but not defensively," Johnson said. "I just went out and played my role and didn't try to do too much."

He has entered games at both the point and shooting guard spots and has tried to provide energy off the bench.

While he is capable of scoring points in a hurry, Johnson said he still has a pass-first and play-tough-defense mentality.

"Really, I'll do whatever the game dictates," he said. "If we need points, then I'll try to score. If not, then I'll pass the ball and get after people. Whatever we need."

A business major, Johnson has one more year of eligibility with the Vulcans. He isn't worried about moving into a starting job because he has been playing just about as many minutes as the starters.

"I just enjoy playing," he said. "I don't worry about starting or not starting. Everybody wants to start ... but I'm just happy getting a chance to play."