Patton Makes His Magic the Simple Way : Mater Dei Point Guard Lets Others Star; He Just Gets the Job Done

His nickname is “The General,” but Chris Patton, Mater Dei High School point guard, plays and acts more like a private.

He isn’t demonstrative on the court. He rarely does anything flashy. He just sort of blends in with the rest of his team.

Oh, Patton will throw an around-the-back pass every leap year or so. But never in an organized game. Maybe in a pick-up game down at the beach during the summer.

And, every once in a while, Patton will do something completely off the wall, like dribble around his back or through his legs. About the closest Patton gets to show time is an alley-oop pass to center LeRon Ellis or forward Kevin Rembert, Mater Dei’s real attention-getters.

So, don’t expect Patton to throw any no-look, wrap-around passes between the legs of some befuddled opponent on the end of a fast break. Magic Johnson, he ain’t.

But that’s just fine with Monarch Coach Gary McKnight.

And Patton.

“I’m not as quick as other point guards, so I have to use my size (6-feet 3-inches) and other skills, such as dribbling, rebounding, passing and shooting,” Patton said. “I try not to commit any turnovers or do anything fancy. I just get the job done.”

That’s the bottom line. Performance. Patton is the perfect point guard for Mater Dei. He’s an intelligent player who makes very few mistakes. An outstanding ballhandler, he can break the best full-court press and make the outside jumper when he’s open.

“He makes me relaxed, because he very seldom coughs up the ball or makes mistakes,” McKnight said.

Patton, a senior in his fourth season on the Monarch varsity, had only four turnovers in Mater Dei’s first five games this season.

He didn’t score against Whitehaven High of Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the King Cotton Tournament, but he did an outstanding job of breaking the Tigers’ full-court press.

Patton committed only two turnovers, as the Monarchs defeated Whitehaven, 49-47, in overtime. He also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“Ballhandling is really important against the pressing teams, because if we can’t get into our offense, LeRon isn’t going to score,” Patton said. “Every time we broke the press (Wednesday), it seemed like we scored or got a good shot. You can’t get too emotional or let the fans bother you. That’s when you get rattled.”

Composure is Patton’s greatest asset. He never steps onto a basketball court without it. He may be team captain, but he isn’t a highly emotional leader. He is General Patton in nickname only.

“I try to stay as relaxed as I can,” Patton said. “It’s my responsibility, as captain, to get everyone up for the big games, but I try not to get too fired up out there. For some guys, like Mike Hopkins, this is their first year on the varsity, and I want to make sure no one is too nervous.”

That’s the voice of experience. Patton didn’t become a starter until this season, but he learned a lot under players such as Matt Beeuwsaert, Chris Jackson and Tom Peabody, all former Monarch point guards.

“I played behind a lot of great players, and they always worked with me after practice,” Patton said. “They told me to always stay relaxed. They helped my confidence a lot.”

Spending most of his first three seasons on the bench did little for Patton’s morale, though. There were some frustrating moments. Transferring to Mission Viejo, where he lives, was an option, but Patton never seriously considered it.

McKnight admitted that he probably should have let Patton play at least a season on the junior varsity. But, now that he’s starting, Patton said it was worth the wait.

“I’m glad I stayed with it,” he said.

Said McKnight: “He could have very easily gone into the tank and not worked hard, but he didn’t do that. He’s very dedicated, and he showed a lot of patience.”

Compared to many of the point guards in town for the King Cotton Tournament, Patton seems very plain, ordinary.

Though he can score from outside, Patton doesn’t have the shooting range or consistency of Henry Clay High (Ky.) guard Sean Sutton, who is headed for the University of Kentucky.

Though he plays excellent defense, Patton isn’t nearly as quick or as intimidating as John Crotty, the ball-hawking, Christian Brothers Academy (N.J.) star named by Street and Smith Magazine the best all-around high school guard in the nation. He’ll play next year at the University of Virginia.

Nearly all of Patton’s passes are on the mark, but he doesn’t make the incredible, jaw-dropping, “I-can’t-believe-he-did-that” kind like Jimmy Hinton, a 5-9 bundle of energy from Little Rock Hall High who evokes memories of Nate Archibald.

But as far as McKnight is concerned, all those other teams can have all those other point guards. He’ll stick with Patton.

“I feel very comfortable when he has the ball, and I like feeling very comfortable,” McKnight said. “He’s a very solid player.”

King Cotton Notes

The tournament, in its fourth year, ranks with the Bassmaster Fishing Tournament as the biggest event of the year for this Southern Arkansas town of 63,000. With a budget of $92,000, the tournament pays all expenses (air fare, room and board) for up to 18 players and coaches per team. The business community of Pine Bluff has provided about $50,000 in corporate sponsorship, and the rest of the funds are raised from ticket sales. Pine Bluff Convention Center crowds for the first two nights have been in the 3,300-range. The tournament also has 750 volunteer workers, who assist the teams and reporters. . . . Mater Dei (11-0) plays Hialeah-Miami Lakes High of Hialeah, Fla., in tonight’s semifinal at 6. The Trojans have a hot-shooting guard in Chris Corchiani, who scored 22 points in their 55-52 quarterfinal victory over Henry Clay, and an extremely physical front line of 6-8 center Derrick Knowles and 6-7 forward Sean Byrd, who combined Wednesday for 19 points and 20 rebounds. . . . Mater Dei injury report: Point guard Chris Patton is slightly bothered by a bad back, and forward Erik Quigly has a bruised thigh, but both started and played most of Wednesday night’s game and will start again tonight. . . . The Mater Dei-Hialeah Lakes winner advances to Saturday’s championship game against the winner of tonight’s game between Flint Hill Prep of Oakton, Va., and Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft, N.J. Flint Hill is ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today. . . . ESPN, which had planned to televise Saturday night’s championship game, pulled out of the telecast before the tournament. According to Travis Creed, tournament director, ESPN couldn’t sell enough advertising to follow through with the telecast. “We got started on the deal a little late and it fell through,” Creed said. “But they say they’re going to do it next year.”