CND beats Menlo, keeps rolling in spite of adversity

The Argonauts were led in scoring by center John Jackson with 17 points on 5-for-7 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Joe Glosson added 16 on 3-for-8 shooting and 10-for-11 from the line, and point guard Thomas Washington had 12 points and three steals.

Tyrone McKinney led the Oaks (6-5) in points with 23 and rebounds with eight. Jes Thomson followed with 12 points and six boards.

CND began the week ranked 16th in the nation in the NAIA Division II poll, a jump of four places from last week. But despite its success, the team is squarely in the middle of a transitional period following the departure of Head Coach Gerry Frietas last Friday.

The details of the move are being guarded by the college, the players, the coaches and Freitas himself. The public relations office of the college will not even disclose whether Frietas was fired or quit of his own volition, but the move does come following a bench-clearing fight between CND and Dominican College players in a Jan. 27 game at CND.

Assistant coach Trons Grimes took the position of interim head coach that day and the team was packed into a bus almost immediately to travel over four hours to Simpson College in Redding.

"We were in shock on Friday," said Grimes following last night's win. "Things happened so fast though that we didn't have time to react. We were in a bus, we played a game, then we were coming back again, getting home at 2:30 in the morning, and back on the court Sunday for a game against Pacific Union [College]. And that's when it finally caught up with us and we almost let that game get away."

Naturally, the secretive nature of the entire affair has led some people in the CND community to question Grimes' motives in taking the position. He admitted that he understands some of the suspicions due to his inability to discuss the facts of the case, but added that people should withhold judgement until the facts are revealed.

"When they came to me and asked if I wanted the position, I knew that if I stayed people would percieve me as being disloyal. But if I left at a time like this I'd be disloyal too," said Grimes, who is in his third year with the program. "So I thought heavily about it, I prayed, I talked to others in the coaching community, and I decided that if some other coach was brought in it would hurt the team and thier chances of finishing what they've started.

"There are five seniors on this team. We've all been working since October. I'm not John Wooden, but I knew that keeping the team together as much as possible was the best way to accomplish what we've set out to do this season."

Grimes concluded by stating that the team is still in a state of confusion and mourning for Freitas. He made the point that Frietas lived, ate and drank basketball, something fans at CND home games may have guessed from Frietas' emotional demeanor and animated behavior on the sideline.

"(The players) lost a great coach. A coach lost his livelihood. We lost a great leader. He tied a record for wins in a season here two years ago, set a record for wins last year, and was on his way to eclipsing that again this year," said Grimes. "His defensive philosphy led us to where we are, and now we just have to continue the work."

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