FAR FROM EASY; AVC TRIO IN CULTURE SHOCK.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

Newton Chelette called the home of three of his Antelope Valley College basketball players and invited them to accompany him to a junior college football game where Chelette would be officiating.

Freshman guard Miles DeGruy answered and relayed the invitation to freshmen Lance Silvester and Carlos Wheeler. When told the game was at Mt. San Antonio College, one of the players asked, ``Where's that at?''

To which DeGruy responded, ``What's the difference where it is? We're not going anywhere from here.''

DeGruy, Silvester and Wheeler, all childhood friends, are without a car and 2,000 miles away from home. So when they're offered a chance to take a ride out of town on a Saturday they rarely turn it down.

``They've probably watched more high school and junior college football games than some coaches,'' Chelette said. ``They go out with me whenever I referee games.''

The Antelope Valley is about as far away from New Orleans as three college freshmen can imagine.

``It's a different environment. It rains a lot back home but here it's so dry,'' said DeGruy, expected to back up Marauders point guard Trevor Beal. ``We're pretty homesick.''

What they have is each other.

Though the trio attended different New Orleans high schools, DeGruy and Silvester both attended John A. Shaw Grammar School, and Silvester and Wheeler were classmates at Francis W. Gregory Junior High.

They all played on the same AAU team and remained tight despite playing for rival high schools in the same district.

``They're very close,'' said Chelette, a Louisiana native who recruited New Orleans heavily while an assistant at McNeese State (his alma mater) and while head coach at Southeastern Louisiana.

``New Orleans has really good talent,'' Chelette said. ``It's a large metropolitan area, and when you have such big numbers you have a lot of recruitable talent.''

The Big Easy hasn't made this kind of invasion at AVC before, though Chelette has tapped his home state a few times during his eight-plus seasons with the Marauders.

DeGruy, a 6-foot-1, 180-pounder from John McDonogh High, is the perfect fit as Beal's eventual successor as point man in Chelette's high-RPM attack.

``Miles is strong, makes good decisions, and he's solid on defense,'' Chelette said.

The 6-6 Silvester (John F. Kennedy High) and 6-7 Wheeler (Marion Abramson High) not only fit into the Marauders running game but add what Chelette calls a ``new dimension to our team.''

``Lance tries to block every shot that comes his way. He challenges people when they go to the basket,'' Chelette said. ``Carlos has some defensive work to do, but there's no doubt when I say that all of these guys are going to contribute right away.''

Football: The inaugural McDonald's Charity Bowl is scheduled for Dec. 6 at Marauder Stadium, and bowl officials are keeping their fingers crossed that they can reserve a spot for AVC.

The Marauders' 21-14 win at Citrus Saturday night means 4-2 AVC can all but guarantee its first bowl bid since 1993 with a 2-2 finish in its final four games.

Volleyball: In the Marauders' wild, five-game win over visiting Mt. San Jacinto last Thursday, a couple of streaks came into play.

A 17-15 AVC win in the deciding game 5 was the Marauders' 20th straight over the Eagles.

A less-modest accomplishment was the number two - AVC's current win streak after it began the season with seven consecutive losses.

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PHOTO AVC basketball coach Newton Chelette is helping three New Orleans natives adjust to life in L.A.

John Lazar / Special to the Daily News