N. Hollywood Plays Its Cards Right to Win

Coach Steve Miller looked like he was at war on the North Hollywood High basketball team bench, using a semaphore system to direct messages to his troops via a set of 2-foot flash cards containing the Huskies’ plan of attack.

“Referees don’t allow coaches to stand up anymore,” Miller said. “And in a gym like this, there’s no way the team can hear me. When it’s noisy like this game was, the cards are really effective.”

The system, Miller’s way of making sure his team could understand his strategic commands, worked Wednesday. Despite losing battles for three quarters, North Hollywood finally triumphed, erasing a five-point Poly lead with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter to defeat the Parrots, 56-52.

Poly controlled the battle of the boards early, as all-league center Carlos Ortiz scored 12 of his 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first half. The Parrots took a 32-29 lead at halftime.

But Miller made a tactical defensive adjustment in the second half, and limited Ortiz to just two points and three rebounds for the rest of the East Valley League game as Poly (7-5, 1-1) failed to extend its lead.

“Ortiz hurt us in the first half, so we decided to put a man in front and behind him,” said Husky assistant Coach Eli Essa. “We made a human sandwich out of him.”

With Ortiz effectively neutralized, North Hollywood (6-6, 1-1) stayed close behind the outside shooting of guard Danny Klein, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.

But Poly still managed to forge a 50-45 lead with just 2:30 left.

After Dominic Nappi scored inside for North Hollywood, forward Alan Breslauer keyed the Husky comeback by drawing a charge from Ortiz and stealing a pass on the next Poly possession with two minutes left. North Hollywood then converted two free throws into a 51-50 lead.

North Hollywood guard Peter Nappi made 3 of 4 free throws when Poly was forced to start fouling with 1:35 left, and the Huskies widened their lead to 54-50.

Mike Ornelas drilled an 18-foot jumper with 35 seconds remaining to bring Poly to within 54-52, but Peter Nappi made both ends of a one and one with eight seconds left.

“Peter is our clutch man,” Essa said. “In a close game, we try to keep the ball in his hands as much as possible.”

Nappi made 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with a team-high 17 points.

Miller predicted many more skirmishes of a similar sort.

“It should be like this for the rest of the year,” Miller said. “There are so many good teams in the league, and they are all competitive.”

POLY--Huff 0, Diacuna 0, Ortiz 14 and 10 rebounds, Ramos 18, Ornelas 15, Bates 2, Ntoya 2, Kang 1.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD--D. Nappi 9, Breslauer 6, Topps 4, P. Nappi 17, Klein 14, Schray 6.