SAN DIEGO PREP BASKETBALL : Avocado League Boys’ Basketball Preview : Story Remains the Same This Season for Inexperienced Oceanside High

The Oceanside High School boys’ basketball team is in a familiar spot these days--inexperienced and not favored to repeat as San Diego Section 2-A champion.

Oceanside Coach Bill Christopher was confronted with a similar situation last year. The Pirates had won the 1983-84 section title, but they graduated four starters and faced a stiff challenge in the Avocado League from neighborhood rival El Camino.

Oceanside finished second to El Camino to qualify for the playoffs. The Pirates went on to beat three playoff opponents, including Mission Bay in the final, and repeat as 2-A champions.

This winter, Christopher has one starter back. El Camino is favored by Avocado coaches to win the league championship.

And Oceanside is 10-1--its only loss was to top-ranked Poway--and ranked sixth in The Times’ Top 10.

Oceanside is winning with a ball-control offense and stubborn defense, Christopher said.

“We know what our formula for success is,” he said. “We have to control the tempo. We have to control the ball more than the other team--55 to 60% of the time. Then we have to really play good defense the other 40% of the time.”

The Pirates give up an average of 39 points per game and score 52 per game. Forward Junior Seau, the only returning starter, leads the team in scoring with a 21-point average.

“We don’t score a lot of points, but we try to give up fewer points than we score,” Christopher said. “Simple concept, isn’t it? And it has worked for us.”

In league play, which starts Wednesday, Oceanside will have to get past revenge-minded El Camino. The Wildcats beat the Pirates three times last season but lost to Mission Bay in the semifinals and didn’t get a chance to face Oceanside in the final.

All five El Camino starters returned this season. The second-ranked Wildcats are 11-2, including a victory over Poway, and have won their last nine games.

“El Camino has to be the favorite,” Escondido Coach Mike Williams said. “However, I would never bet against Bill Christopher. He does a great job.”

A look at the seven Avocado League teams:

Carlsbad

Last season’s record: 14-9.

Finish: Tied for third.

Coach: Scott Wright, seventh year.

Top returners: Scott Porter (6-4, Sr., C) and Tim Smith (6-1, Sr., G).

Top newcomers: Shaun Stoll (6-2, Jr., F), Tony Trousset (6-1, Jr., F) and Bruce Campbell (5-10, Jr., G).

Outlook: The Lancers (3-7) want to avoid a halfcourt offense because of their lack of height and muscle, Wright said.

“We like to run the ball, get into the transition game,” he said.

Carlsbad also shoots well against the zone. Porter leads the team in scoring with 18 points per game and rebounding with 12 per game.

The Lancers’ main weakness is a lack of speed, which could hurt them against quick teams such as El Camino and Oceanside. Defensively, Carlsbad plays a variety of zone and man-to-man setups.

Carlsbad lost its first six games, then won three of four to take the Peninsula tournament championship.

El Camino

Last season’s record: 22-3.

Finish: First.

Coach: Ray Johnson, sixth year.

Top returners: Steve Heard (6-4, Sr., F), Ken Crawford (6-6, Sr., F), Randy Hale (5-9, Sr., G), Kevin Taylor (6-1, Sr., G) and Nate Reed (6-7, Sr., C).

Top newcomers: Edmond Johnson (5-9, Jr., G) and Scott Oatsval (6-3, So., F).

Outlook: The Wildcats are tall, quick, experienced and hungry after last season’s frustrations, Johnson said. With their fast break offense, they average 76 points per game, and allow 53 with a pressing man-to-man defense.

Johnson welcomes his team’s role as the Avocado League favorite.

“That doesn’t bother us at all,” he said. “For us to say otherwise would be ridiculous. We’re favored, and everyone else has to take it away from us.”

Heard leads El Camino with averages of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Crawford scores 16 points per game, and Reed and Taylor each contribute 10 per game.

Johnson, who started for El Camino as a freshman, returns after spending a year in Okinawa. He adds depth to the Wildcat lineup, as does Oatsval, a transfer from Tennessee recovering from a broken wrist.

Escondido

Last season’s record: 5-15.

Finish: Sixth place.

Coach: Mike Williams, 15th year.

Top returners: Paul Baldwin (6-0, So., G), Jose Velasquez (6-4, Sr., F) and Arnie Spiker (6-5, Sr., F).

Top newcomers: Kevin Ahern (5-11, Sr., G), Mason Stevenson (6-2, So., F) and Scott Campbell (6-7, Jr., C).

Outlook: The Cougars (6-5) have height on the front line and shoot well, but a lack of extensive varsity experience has led to inconsistent play, Williams said.

“We play well against a couple of real good teams, then we come out and play not so good,” Williams said. “If we improve, we should have a good season. If we stay where we are, who knows?”

Williams has inserted a motion offense, which has produced some good results. Defensively, the Cougars have had problems, causing Williams to stick mainly with a zone.

Ahern, a point guard who played at Poway last season after spending his freshman and sophomore years at Escondido, leads the team with a 16-point average. Velasquez averages 14 points per game.

Oceanside

Last season’s record: 19-7.

Finish: Second place.

Coach: Bill Christopher, 15th year.

Top returners: Junior Seau (6-4, Jr., F), Mike Owens (6-4, Sr., F) and Okland Salavea (6-6, Sr., C).

Top newcomers: Sai Niu (6-0, Jr., G) and Darryl Wilson (5-8, Jr., G).

Outlook: All the Pirates’ experience is on the front line. Seau, who started as a sophomore, is joined at forward by Owens, while the 235-pound Salavea, a Times All-County football player, is the center.

“It’s not a bad front line,” Christopher said. “They have beef, size, experience. They average 20 or 25 rebounds between them.”

The starting guards lack varsity experience. Niu, the point guard, is up from the junior varsity, and Wilson played last year at El Camino. Backing them up are juniors Darrell Noble (6-2) and Kevin Hardaway (5-9).

Christopher said he considers El Camino the odds-on favorite to win the Avocado title, but added that the league is balanced.

“Neither of us (Oceanside or El Camino) has the luxury of being able to magnify the other team,” he said. “I think everybody in the league is good enough to beat anybody else on any given night. I’m telling my kids that a 9-3 or 8-4 record can get us into the playoffs.”

Ramona

Last season’s record: 11-11.

Finish: Fifth place.

Coach: Larry Bringham, seventh year.

Top returners: Mike Pendell (6-4, Sr., F), John Monetta (5-8, Sr., G), Stan Clancy (6-2, Sr., F), Robert Cronic (6-5, Sr., C) and Don MacInnes (6-0, Sr., G).

Top newcomers: Craig Stoker (6-0, Sr., G) and John Leichty (6-0, Jr., G).

Outlook: When Avocado coaches were asked to list the league’s top teams, they consistently mentioned Ramona third after El Camino and Oceanside. The Bulldogs (5-4) were cited primarily for their experience--the entire starting lineup returns this season and all but Clancy are three-year starters.

Ramona lacks speed and relies heavily on point guard Monetta getting the ball inside to Pendell, Clancy and Cronic. Bringham is trying to develop a controlled fast break, but noted “we’re not a run-and-gun team.” Pendell leads the team with a 21.2 scoring average.

Bringham also counts on MacInnes and Stoker to become outside shooting threats and prevent defenses from concentrating all their attention on Ramona’s inside attack.

Defensively, Ramona plays both a zone and man-to-man, and uses a zone press on occasion.

San Pasqual

Last season’s record: 13-12.

Finish: Tied for third place.

Coach: Frank Vannest, ninth year.

Top returners: Rich Prusinski (6-4, Sr., F), Jeff Baglio (6-3, Sr., F), Jason Bill (6-5, Sr., C) and Leonard Richardson (6-0, Sr., G).

Top newcomer: Tom Sliney (6-0, Jr., G).

Outlook: The Eagles (5-4) have decent height on the front line but lack speed and varsity experience. No full-time starters return, although Prusinski and Baglio started on a part-time basis.

While the Eagles have executed the fast break well in several games, according to Vannest, they primarily use a halfcourt offense and work the ball inside to Prusinski, Baglio and Bill. Occasionally, Richardson and Sliney commit turnovers because they concentrate too much on getting the ball inside to the big men, Vannest said.

Prusinski leads the team with a 13-point average. Baglio is second, averaging 10 points per game.

Vannest said he prefers to use a man-to-man defense, with a frequent press, but the Eagles’ slowness has caused him to rely primarily on a zone this season.

San Marcos

Last season’s record: 3-18.

Finish: Seventh place.

Coach: Richard Belcher, second year.

Top returners: Jim Tingley (6-3, Sr., F) and Keith Helm (6-1, Jr., G).

Top newcomers: Mike Peyroux (6-6, Jr., F), Mike Francis (5-11, Jr., G), Tim Odom (6-6, Soph., C) and Shaun Sweitzer (5-11, Soph., G).

Outlook: The Knights (1-7), with no returning starters and no full-time senior starter, are clearly a year away, Belcher said.

“These kids have little experience in organized basketball,” he said. “They’re very inconsistent. One game we scored 75 points and lost by 3 to Fallbrook, another game we scored 47 and lost by 3 to Mira Costa. It’s really difficult to know which team is coming to play each game.”

Peyroux, the only player scoring in double figures, averages 12.8 points per game. Francis, the point guard, leads in rebounding with nearly seven per game. Belcher needs to find an outside shooter, perhaps Sweitzer, to relieve the pressure on Peyroux and Odom inside.

Offensively, the Knights are slow and prefer a halfcourt game. On defense, they play both a zone and man-to-man, and use a trapping attack as well.