All Is Well With Braswell and Cleveland, 69-54

Three weeks ago, you could have stuck a fork in Cleveland High’s basketball team and its coach, Bob Braswell. Neither would have reacted.

The basketball team appeared done and Braswell was in shock.

Trevor Wilson, the team’s All-American forward, was out indefinitely with strained ligaments in his ankle. Antoine Shofner, Cleveland’s starting center, had left the team for “personal reasons.” Next on Cleveland’s schedule was highly regarded Fairfax.

The Cavaliers’ Valley 4-A League win streak was in jeopardy. A league championship? Out of the question.

Five games later, the streak is still going and Cleveland leads the league by two games.

El Camino Real became the Cavaliers’ 28th consecutive league victim Friday night, falling, 69-54, before a packed house at the Cleveland gym.

The obvious question: What happened?

Wilson, who was averaging 29 points a game when he was injured, is set to return to action next week. Shofner is back on the team and scored 16 points against El Camino Real. Braswell has regained his composure and his smile.

And Albert Fann? He’s become a star in Wilson’s absence.

Fann, who was the Cavalier’s sixth man until Wilson was injured, has secured a permanent spot in the lineup with performances such as Friday’s. He scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

His explanation: “I really don’t have one. I just know if I don’t score, someone else will pick us up. Tonight just happened to be my night.”

The Cavaliers, who trailed early, were seriously threatened only once in the second half, when the Conquistadores pulled to within five, 50-45, with four minutes left in the game.

El Camino Real threatened to pull to within three, but turned the ball over on an attempted pass to a wide open Sean Jones underneath the basket. Cleveland then outscored El Camino Real, 19-9, the rest of the way by hitting the front end of six one-and-one free throw situations in the game’s last three minutes.

Said Braswell: “I kept telling my coach on the bench that it was going to come down to free throws at the end. It did, and we hit them.”

The loss dropped El Camino Real to 3-4 in league, 9-6 overall. The Conquistadores were led in scoring by Sean Davis, who had 18, and Adam Sacks, who had 12.

Cleveland improved its overall record to 11-5. The Cavaliers are 7-0 in league and lead Fairfax by two games.

“I look back now and think that the Lord must have been testing me,” Braswell said. “When we lost Trevor and then Antoine, I felt we would have to concentrate on getting something out of this season and build toward next season. Then, Antoine came back, and now Trevor. Things are looking up.”

And Cleveland’s looking down--at the rest of the Valley 4-A League.

EL CAMINO REAL--Stephenson 10; Davis 18; Shaw 4; Hergott 6; Sacks 12; Warner 2; Weisman 2.

CLEVELAND--King 4; Fann 24; Shofner 16; Greer 15; Manliguis 2; A. Anderson 2; Branham 6.