Prep Review : Who’s Got a Scouting Report? : Not Two Coaches in City Eastern League

The City Eastern League is considered by most to be the toughest prep basketball league in San Diego County. And with league play set to begin on Friday, you would think the coaches would know the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents.

Wrong. The coaches at Patrick Henry and Morse high schools--the City East’s top two teams--haven’t even seen each other play.

“I have seen Madison and two minutes of Serra against Hoover,” Patrick Henry Coach Fritz Ziegenfuss said. “I don’t know anything about Morse and Point Loma.”

No doubt Ziegenfuss will know quite a bit about the two by the time the San Diego Section playoffs roll around. Patrick Henry (12-0), Morse (6-3), Point Loma (9-2) and Serra (8-3) are expected to contend for the league title.

“From what I’ve heard about the other teams, we should stack up pretty well,” Ziegenfuss said. “Morse has always been tough for us, though.”

Morse has been tough for each of its opponents this season. The Tigers completed a convincing performance in the Barons-Optimist Tournament with a 97-51 title win against Madison on Friday.

“I’m pleased with the way we’ve played,” Morse Coach Ron Davis said. “I wanted to start league play in a nice grove. We’re a young team. We’re not as ready as we want to be. We have to keep improving as we go along.”

Davis said Madison is the only City East team he has seen this season, too.

“But I would have to say Patrick Henry is the team to beat,” he said.

The Patriots beat Monte Vista, 52-51, to win the Kiwanis Tournament two weeks ago and Santana, 76-64, to win the Santana Tournament on Saturday.

“I’m satisfied with our progress,” Ziegenfuss said. “We’ve been very consistent. We’ve had a couple of bad halves and bad quarters, but we only had two days of practice in nine games.”

The Patriots open on Friday at Mira Mesa. Morse is at Serra.

Add Ziegenfuss: One of Patrick Henry’s bad quarters apparently occurred on Friday against University.

The Patriots led, 30-25, at halftime, but were outscored by the Dons, 14-3, in the third period. Ziegenfuss responded by removing his entire starting lineup during the Patriots’ lapse.

“We were playing terrific,” Ziegenfuss said. “But in the third quarter the play was so bad. I’ve done it (change the lineup) before. If the kids play that badly, you have to shake them up.”

The Patriots outscored the Dons, 19-7, in the final quarter and won, 52-46.

Other tournaments: In addition to Morse and Patrick Henry, four other tournament champions crowned last week.

The Point Loma girls beat Inglewood, 61-34, on Saturday to win the Ben Fisher Memorial Tournament at Point Loma. The Point Loma boys beat Chula Vista, 65-63, to win the Peninsula Tournament. Montebello of San Gabriel Valley beat La Canada, 58-55, on Friday to win the boys Rohr/Aztec Classic. And El Centro beat Brawley, 26-24, to win the Rohr/Aztec girls title.

With their win on Saturday, the Point Loma girls improved their record to 10-0 and have won a San Diego Section record 65 straight games at home.

Add section records: El Camino girls basketball standout Sharon Turner scored 43 points in successive games last week against Basic High of Nevada and Brawley to make her the San Diego Section’s all-time leading scorer with 1,883 points.

Turner passed Cathy O’Brien of San Marcos (1979-82), who had 1,839. Third on the list is Kirsten Cummings of Patrick Henry (1979-81) with 1,824 points.