North Torrance might be hunted team, but it’s no Bambi

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You gotta love a coach who can paint a vivid metaphor. ‘We’re that deer in the wilderness,’ he said. ‘We got to keep our eyes moving and our ears must stay perched. It’s that awareness that we need.’

The deer, so to speak, is the North Torrance boys’ basketball team.

The metaphor-speaking coach is Gary Duperron. ‘We’ve never been the hunted team before,’ he said.

Hunted is the truth, as the Saxons sit atop the Pioneer League, undefeated at 5-0 and gunning for their first league title in 34 seasons.

So, what’s gone right at North Torrance? Almost everything.

Senior center Jeremy Mitchell has morphed into a rebound ruler, lately grabbing eight or nine boards a game. Or, as his coach puts it: ‘He does all the dirty work.’

Luke Duperron -- the coach’s son and former team star -- will often stop into the locker room to deliver pregame motivational messages.

And the team rotates two units, which have been gelling better than Jell-O. ‘We’ve been playing pretty well,’ Duperron said. ‘But, now that I’ve said that, I don’t want to put a hex on us.’

Don’t worry about hexes, Coach. Just keep giving us those cool metaphors.

North Torrance (11-10) hosts El Segundo at 7:30 Friday night.

-- Anthony Stitt

-- Image from weblogs.variety.com