COC TOURNAMENT: FOR CANYONS, IT WAS AN UNPLEASANT HOLIDAY SURPRISE; NAVY AMBUSH HITS COUGARS.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Staff Writer

Let Monday night's 84-73 loss to the Naval All-Star team serve as a lesson to College of the Canyons men's basketball coach Lee Smelser: Beware the unknown.

Smelser really had no choice when it came time to fill the open spot in COC's Cougar Holiday Classic Tournament, as College of the Sequoias pulled out of the draw in June. With most other junior colleges already having a complete schedule, Smelser had to do all he could to find any team to participate.

This group of Naval All-Stars had its first practice together the night before its victory against COC (5-11), which served as the team's first game. Not too shabby.

Canyons did not play especially poorly - foul trouble contributed to the final score. But this was purely a case of the rise of the unknown.

A couple of gems and a few top-flight players in their mid-20s were scattered about the Navy's lineup, to Smelser's surprise. It also included one of the team's assistant coaches, who had to fill out the roster because the call of duty prevented three of their players from making the trip.

``We've got some fairly talented players here,'' Navy coach Steve Olson said. ``We've got a couple of 25-, and 26-year-old players and that makes it tough for these (COC) kids who are just out of high school.''

The only kind of scouting Smelser could possibly have done was look over the roster he was sent by Olson. One problem: It didn't even have uniform numbers. How was he to know there were two players who had been selected to the National All-Armed Forces team, which travels to play the best international competition available.

John Jackson (6-foot-7, 210 pounds), who had 22 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks against COC, was on the All-Armed Forces team that lost to the Croatian Olympic team in the finals of the World Games in August.

Robert Alleyne (6-5, 240) has also made the All-Armed Forces team but was unable to attend the World Games. He had an off game against COC, scoring 10 points and grabbing five rebounds.

Then there was Corey Stevens, who made seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points, leading the final push for the Navy All-Stars, who pulled away down the stretch.

``We didn't know what their schedule is, who they play - we didn't even know their numbers,'' Smelser said.

For all of the unknown COC was faced with, it was tied at 60-60 with the Navy All-Stars late in the second half. With Stevens' deadly shooting and Jackson's and Alleyne's defense and rebounding, COC was unable to execute.

It was a frustrating loss for Smelser, who was optimistic about starting the season back up after giving his team a week off for the holidays. It could have been even more frustrating.

Because the Navy All-Stars are not a junior college team, the games they play do not count when it comes time to select teams for the Southern California Regional Championship tournament. Basically, it relegates a win against them to a good practice, as it has no bearing on tournament selection.

Smelser said he matched COC up with the Navy All-Stars in the first round to take that burden off the other junior college teams.

``It only counts against the JC team,'' he said. ``We were going to take the first game and not saddle anyone else with it.''

Schedule: Today is the final day of the Cougar Holiday Classic. The consolation finals are at 3 p.m. with the third-place game at 5 p.m. and the championship finals at 7 p.m.