With Giants Missing, Prep Cage Season Hinges on the Swing Men

With an abundance of talented, mid-size players on hand, the South Bay high school basketball scene looks like the year of the big guard/small forward.

The musical version of this season’s preview used to be: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

The area’s top teams all appear to have excellent swing men, headed by returning stars David Whitmore at St. Bernard, Tarron Wiley at Morningside, Doug Gehr at Rolling Hills and James Moses at Serra.

All are in the 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-5 range and can “play big” in high school but have the guard skills that make them attractive back-court prospects to college recruiters.

Lack of a highly regarded big man will be noticeable when South Bay teams cross paths with the likes of Fairfax’s 6-9 Sean Higgins and St. Monica’s 6-10 Brian Williams, but the little big men of the South Bay should make their teams competitive.

In an informal poll of coaches, St. Bernard, Serra, Morningside, Rolling Hills, Inglewood, Carson and San Pedro are expected to be the area’s top teams.

Many of the South Bay’s teams are on display this week in the Pacific Shores Tournament at Redondo and Mira Costa. The 16-team tournament semifinals are tonight at Redondo. The finals are Friday night at the same location. In other season-opening tournament action this week, Serra is in the Laguna Tournament and Morningside is in the St. Monica Tourney.

Here are how the teams and leagues shape up:

Angelus League (CIF 5-A)--St. Bernard is a relatively small team built around the marvelous 6-4 Whitmore, considered one of the top five players in Southern California and one of the top high school swing men in the country. He recently signed with Georgia Tech. Whitmore, an extraordinary leaper, averaged 23 points as a junior. He is coming off a broken foot and only recently started practicing. “We’re a good team--with him,” Coach Jim McClune said.

Bishop Montgomery opens the season with several handicaps after the death of Coach Stirling Hart. New Coach Brian Gauthier has only one experienced starter, all-league guard Bryan Dell’Amico, and nobody taller than 6-3. Jim Nelson will play center at 6-3. Gauthier will look at 6-3 freshman Joe Magyar.

Defending CIF 5-A champ Mater Dei is again a contender, led by 6-11 LeRon Ellis. St. Paul expects to fight for a playoff spot behind 6-8 Matt Willig.

Camino Real League (CIF 5-A)--Serra produced the surprise 5-A finalist a year ago and returns two of that team’s best players in the 6-6 Moses and point guard Darvin Jackson. Moses, a starter since he was a freshman, averaged 24.5 points as a sophomore.

The league should be extremely competitive and may have the most talent of any league in the CIF. Verbum Dei will offer guard Kevin Williams, who has signed with UCLA. St. Monica has two major college recruits in big guard Jason Matthews and 6-10 Brian Williams, a transfer from Las Vegas. Pius X could be a factor behind 6-5 forward Anthony Jenkins. St. Anthony has all-league guard Darrick Martin but may struggle to make the playoffs.

Bay League (CIF 4-A)--Rolling Hills is the clear favorite, with the other five teams scrambling for position. Cliff Warren, South Bay coach of the year, has six of his top eight players back, including Gehr and guard Cameron Terry, from a team that won 21 games and reached the CIF quarterfinals.

Warren says his team shoots well and is relatively quick but could be hurt by lack of height. Gehr and Eric Lloyd are the tallest players at 6-4. Terry and sophomore John Hardy are next at 6-3. Warren also likes sophomore guard Mark Tesar. Gehr averaged 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds while shooting 52% as a junior. Terry added 12.4 points and 4.2 assists.

South Torrance returns junior guard Pat Lindsey and will probably get off to a slow start. Three players, including 6-5 Brian Kelly, are still playing football.

West Torrance has six lettermen back including two starters, guards John Kao and Denny Hocking, but is extremely small. Coach Dan McGee likes junior forward Tim Stowe.

North Torrance has four starters back but, like the others, will be small. The Saxons should be quick. Duane Hashiro leads the offense.

Torrance has nowhere to go but up, and Coach Carl Strong sees playoff potential in one of the league’s bigger front lines, averaging 6-5 across. However, the Tartars have average speed and not much depth in the back court.

Veteran Palos Verdes Coach John Mihaljevich says he will have “the most inexperience in my long career” with one returning letterman, Greg Whitley. The Sea Kings will be small but quick.

Ocean League (CIF 4-A)--Inglewood, Culver City, Santa Monica and Hawthorne should provide a tight race, with Inglewood the early favorite. The Sentinels have the good swing man in 6-5 Cory Arnett as well as an emerging star in junior point guard Bobby Sears, who came on as a sophomore.

Coach Art Bias doesn’t have anyone bigger than Arnett, but two other 6-5 players are on hand--senior James Bowens, a returning starter, and sophomore Warren Harrell. Bias is high on 6-4 sophomore Harold Minor as well as 6-4 transfer Patrick Holbart. The Sents are deep and athletic.

Hawthorne could give the Sentinels a run. The Cougars feature two college-bound seniors, 6-7 Willie Jordan and 6-4 Mike Lewis.

Mira Costa hopes to battle for a playoff spot behind 6-5 Tony Urban and transfer students Mike Atkinson, a 6-5 junior, and Curtis Townsend, a 6-3 senior. Letterman Dave Beachum adds height up front at 6-4. The Mustangs will try to play strong defense to slow the running styles of most league opponents.

Culver City has a solid five led by all-leaguer Art Nixon but has little depth. Santa Monica and Beverly Hills round out the league. Santa Monica should be competitive as usual.

Pioneer League (CIF 3-A)--Morningside is again the odds-on favorite to sweep through the league fairly easily and contend for the CIF 3-A title. Centennial looks like the toughest competition, and El Segundo may have the beef to give the Monarchs trouble.

Morningside lacks the overwhelming height of past seasons but is still tall and features the skills of Wiley, a 6-5 senior who has started since he was a sophomore. Wiley averaged 11 points and nine assists as a junior and had clearly become the team leader by playoff time last season. Also back are 6-4 Tuan Munn and 6-6 Tim Little, who will be backed up by 6-7 Tracy Jones and 6-7 sophomore Eddie Scott. Robert Anderson, 6-5, is a speedy forward. Senior Alfie Hill will start at off-guard but junior Dwayne Lucas may shoot his way into the lineup. Junior Marvin Franklin, 6-5, will be the third forward. The Monarchs should be imposing.

El Segundo should have its best team in a while, returning 6-4, 225-pound Scott Talanoa, guards Dave Loops and Joe Montanez and 6-4 junior Heath Jones, perhaps the school’s best athlete. Sophomore Sean Foster, 6-4, is promising. “We have some meat on the front line, Coach Rick Sabosky says.

Miraleste has three starters back but may not have enough supporting cast. The front line of 6-5 Buzz Klein, 6-4 David Johnston and 6-3 Mike Nenadic will be competitive with most teams, but the back court is brand new and the Marauders will probably have to struggle for a playoff spot.

Redondo has two returners in point guard John Riddle and Jeff Ball. The rest of the team is inexperienced. Coach Steve Shaw likes junior David Felix and sophomore Mike Hauck, but he admits, “We’re not going to destroy people.”

Centennial rounds out the league. The Apaches have one of the tallest teams in the league with 6-6 Eric Lewis and 6-7 junior Vince Manning, and may have the best guard combination in all-leaguers Trent Allen and Dwight Thomas. Allen was All-CIF and Thomas earned all-league honors last season.

Leuzinger figures to have trouble making the playoffs.

Marine League (City 4-A)--Manual Arts is the coaches’ favorite to win the league.

Carson has a strong back court in 6-2 Michael Helms and 6-4 swing man Richard Holt, who both saw considerable action last season. After that everyone is new. The team may get off to a slow start, since both Holt and Helms are still playing football. Coach Richard Masson calls Helms, who progressed markedly over the summer and recently signed with Oregon, “the best point guard in the City.” Holt averaged 10 points and eight rebounds last season and is termed by Masson “an excellent all-purpose” player. The top newcomers are guard Torrance Alexander, an explosive leaper, and 6-3 junior Stephen Smith. “We’ll be good in January,” Masson said. “Before that . . . “

San Pedro’s Jack Kordich has shown himself to be one of the canniest coaches over the last three seasons and should have success this time around despite a relatively slow team. Center Mike Sestich, a 6-5 senior and three-year starter, leads the way with 6-2 jumping jack Mike Woods providing the excitement. Dana Johnson and Kevin Thompson form a quick back court. If junior varsity graduates Anthony Vines and Lee Battiste provide help off the bench, “we could be a very good team,” Kordich said.

Gardena can field one of the league’s bigger front lines in 6-6 Dion Davis and 6-7 Alonzo Higgins, but the shooting might come from 5-9 Eddie Shannon, one of the league’s best streak shooters as a junior.

Banning will return point guard Marvin Pollard when the football season ends, which doesn’t figure to be for another week. Guard Luther Abrams also returns.

Locke rounds out the league.

Others--Few things in life are certain but Chadwick winning the Prep League is one of them. Coach Tom Maier, whose 1-A team will play 3-A and 4-A competition (and possibly 5-A in the Pacific Shores Tournament) before league play, has seven players back, though no clear star as in past years. Ernie Woods, junior Charlton Jackson and sophomore Chris Waller are the guards. Forwards Jeff Kaufman, a 6-3 senior, and Fred Clark, a 6-4 junior, may be the team’s best athletes.

Narbonne, playing in the City 3-A Freeway League, returns one player, junior Greg Coleman. Coach Jim Backstrom is counting on junior varsity graduates, notably Jon Gilmore, Nicky Leachman and Norman Torqueza.

Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said this is “a very unpredictable year for our team.” The dilemma: the team is big, but young. “It could legitimately challenge for the City title,” Azzam said--if he can put the right combination together. Top players back are 6-7 senior Jemal Ross, 6-5 junior Michael Brown, junior guard David Hollaway and 5-9 sophomore Sam Crawford, the wunderkind who started at point guard as a freshman. Azzam will try to bring along sophomores Zan Mason, 6-7, and Renaud Gordon, 6-6. “We know we will be there (in contention) the next two years,” Azzam said, “but our young guys might hinder us this year.” The biggest obstacle, as usual, is being in the Central League with defending state champ Crenshaw.

Mary Star of the Sea, which was floundering in the powerful Camino Real League, will play a free-lance schedule against 1-A and 2-A opponents. The best players are underclassmen: junior guard Dewey Dominguez, 6-7 junior John Glavan and sophomores George Pisano and Rich Negrete. The senior starter will be 6-4 Sean Bologna.