Arena may be delayed at the start

Ontario's National Hockey League game could be rained out ...

Plans to open Ontario's $150 million arena on Oct.5 with a Los Angeles Kings exhibition hockey game are at risk after three recent storms slowed construction, arena general manager Steve Eckerson confirmed Thursday.

The rain came just as Turner Construction was planning the delicate task of pouring concrete for the concourse of the 10,000-capacity building, formally known as Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Turner won't commit to a completion date for at least three more weeks, Eckerson said, and the Kings may not be willing to wait to secure a site for their Oct.5 game.

"The October 5 date was a little optimistic," Eckerson said. "The storms have put things a bit behind schedule."

A Lakers exhibition game later in the month might be the first sports event in the Ontario arena - if it isn't ready for its Oct.5 closeup. After that would come the debut of the Ontario Reign hockey club of the ECHL.

Sports officials and coaches at San Bernardino Valley College hope MeasureM passes when voters go to the polls on Feb. 5.

Why? Because the $500 million bond would mean two new gyms, a football stadium, a baseball/softball complex, a tennis complex and a new aquatics center for the 80-year-old school.

Prentice Harris is playing basketball in Singapore today and Saturday with the American Basketball Association's San Diego Wildcats. Their opponent:

Chinese team Aoshen Olympian of Beijing.

Harris, who played at Upland High School, Chaffey College and Cal State San Bernardino, is a top performer so far for San Diego, an ABA-best 15-2. Also on the team: Former San Bernardino Valley College big man Jerome Habel, a 6-10 center.

Sheldon Pace is another local kid who will by suiting up in Singapore. Pace, who starred at Upland with Harris, plays for the Beijing team and "is averaging a double-double," said Jeff Klein, who coached Pace and Harris at Upland.

Inland Empire basketball fans may have un-fond memories of the ABA franchise that was based in Ontario for the 2004-05 season. The Warriors stopped paying their players midway though the season and disappeared under a mountain of ill will and unpaid debts.

Not all ABA teams are disasters. Just most of them.

Michael Coleman won't be back at USC this spring. The former Trojans tailback, out of Arroyo Valley High School, dropped his classes at Riverside Community College last fall and remains academically ineligible.

Playing football isn't a be-all and end-all. But a free education at USC is worth more effort than Coleman seems willing (or able) to give.

Coleman's USC experience (2005-06) was notable for a serious hip injury and playing out of position, at the wishes of the coaching staff - which at one point in time suggested he could be "the next LenDale White."

Terrell Thomas, the USC cornerback out of Rancho Cucamonga, is a redshirt junior and has another year of college eligibility. But Thomas is sure to come out for the NFL draft because he will be a high pick.

Can't fault a guy for cashing in when another year of college could end in catastrophic injury.

A Cal State San Bernardino first: Both the men and women have started 4-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association basketball.

The Cal State men (11-1) are gaining national attention, again. They are ranked No.6 in the country in the NABC poll, with games at Stanislaus and Chico this weekend.

Vanessa Wilt, a 6-1 senior center out of Sultana High School, is the most dominant player in the history of Cal State women's basketball.

Wilt leads the conference in scoring (23.9 ppg), rebounding (13.8) and blocks (2.6) and has registered a double-double in every game this season, a big reason the Coyotes are 10-1. She already has been CCAA player of the week four times.

Is Wilt known as The Stilt? Or perhaps The Big Dipper? Those were Wilt Chamberlain's nicknames, another center of some renown.

Greg Kamansky's Cal Poly Pomona men are struggling, at 3-6, but they picked a good year to be less than formidable. The 11-school CCAA is inaugurating an eight-team tournament at the end of the regular season, and the Broncos certainly will make that field.

Larry Reynolds, whose Cal State teams were 110-35 in five seasons (1998-2002), is taking a year off from basketball after being fired by Long Beach State last spring. Reynolds lives in Riverside.

Ronnie Fouch, Washington quarterback out of Redlands East Valley High School, has decided not to transfer to Hawaii, or elsewhere. Fouch apparently will be stuck behind Jake Locker for three more years but isn't leaving Tyrone Willingham's program.

Brian Billick, recently fired as Baltimore Ravens coach, ought to pursue a career in broadcasting. It's easier than coaching, and the Redlands native would be good at it, considering his sharp wit.

Kudos: To Prentice Harris, who gets $100 per game to play for the San Diego Wildcats.

Condolences: To the Ontario Warriors players, who went unpaid the second half of their only season.

Lookalikes: UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland, Cal State San Bernardino coach Jeff Oliver.

Where are they now? Construction workers are 30 feet below ground level at the Ontario arena site, pumping out water.

They said it: "You don't want to get into a situation where you promise something and can't deliver." - Steve Eckerson, Ontario arena GM.

And finally: Let's see, a Kings game in Ontario in early October ... or a Lakers game in late October? Kobe & Co. would make for a far more memorable debut. So maybe those storms were a blessing, not a curse.

Read Paul Oberjuerge's blog at www.insidesocal.com/sb/inthiscorner.