AROUND THE LEAGUES : San Fernando Almost Bombs Out in Bombs-Away Win Over Granada Hills

The most impressive aspect of San Fernando’s 70-66 upset over Granada Hills last week at the Sports Arena was the long-range bombardment that gave the Tiger basketball team the win.

Although Coach Dick Crowell repeatedly instructed his players to pass the ball at least four times before shooting, they ran the offense as if a 10-second shot clock were in effect.

One pass, maybe two, then let fly.

Crowell would yell. Another player would shoot from outside. Crowell would substitute. The new player would shoot. Crowell again would substitute.

San Fernando, which shot 30% in the first quarter and 40% in the second, trailed, 37-31, at intermission. “I told them at halftime to feel rested before shooting,” Crowell said.

The Tigers shot 58% in the second half--again mostly from outside--to score the come-from-behind win.

Said a relieved Crowell: “Our guys play at a certain tempo and have a hard time being patient.”. . . . San Fernando’s protest of a 65-64 loss to Birmingham two weeks ago was denied by the City Section.

Pass the points, please: When a player’s grade-point average is several points higher than his scoring average, he might be better off passing up basketball for the library. Jason Bromberg is passing all right, but his efforts are getting him into the Taft record book.

A senior guard and 4.0 student, Bromberg leads area City players with 8.7 assists a game and has had 16, 13, 12 and 10 in his past four games. Small wonder Coach Jim Woodard keeps him in the lineup despite a scoring average of 0.6 points. Bromberg has made two baskets and five free throws in 14 games.

“He’s just a team-oriented type of guy,” Woodard said. “Jason is our best defensive player and an excellent passer.”

Bromberg missed a game and played only a few minutes in two others because he had chicken pox. “That cost him quite a few assists,” Woodard said. And probably didn’t cost him any points. . . Center Sean Roberts quit the Taft team last week, reducing the roster to eight players. Brian Smith, who had been sharing time with Roberts, is now the full-time center. . . . Kevin Franklin’s 39-point performance in Taft’s 71-68 win over El Camino Real on Friday was his sixth 30-point performance in six Valley 4-A League games and eighth 30-point game this season.

Victory Song: Harvard reserve guard George Song was scoreless against Salesian last Friday until the final three seconds. That’s when he made an 18-foot jump shot to win the game, 55-54. “I set up an inbounds play and I told them to look for this, and this and this,” Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said. “And, of course, they were all covered like blankets. George was standing all by himself and they threw it to him. Great coaching, huh?”. . . . David Pessin averaged only eight points a game before last week’s Marmonte League contest against Westlake. But his performance, which produced 23 points and 13 rebounds, was typical of his workmanlike efforts. “He’s a blue-collar worker,” Coach Ken Barone said of his 6-3 center. “He works hard. It was like it finally paid off.” . . . Sophomore Brent Lofton of El Camino Real might start his first game today against Cleveland. “He’s the best 10th-grader we’ve had in a long time,” junior varsity Coach Jeff Davis said. Lofton, a 6-4 forward, has 44 points and 44 rebounds in seven varsity games since being promoted from the junior varsity, where he was averaging 32 points a game.

Injury report: Greg Paskwietz, Canyon’s leading scorer with a 21.8 point-per-game average, injured his hip two weeks ago against Antelope Valley and “hasn’t been 100%,” Coach Greg Hayes said. Paskwietz had some healthy numbers against Burroughs (Ridgecrest) last week anyway: 20 points and seven assists. . . . Providence, which earlier lost leading scorer Jeff Cirillo (20.3 points per game) for the season because of a dislocated thumb, lost Fabien Gracian for the season with a broken foot. Gary Arakalien, the team’s second-leading scorer, suffered cuts and bruises when he wrecked his car Friday.

Silver-screen therapy: After posting a 1-4 Santa Fe League record, St. Genevieve Coach Pete Cassidy decided the Valiants needed less practice and more motivation. So Cassidy took his team to the theater Monday to watch “Hoosiers,” a movie about a small school basketball team winning the Indiana state championship. “We wanted to get them a little psyched up,” Cassidy said. “We decided that going to the movie might be better for us than practice.”

Hart-felt thanks: Number 7, the football jersey worn by Hart quarterback Jim Bonds the past two seasons and by Tom Bonds in 1982 and 1983, was retired last Sunday at the team’s annual football banquet. While at Hart, Jim passed for 5,643 yards and 55 touchdowns. Tom passed for 3,496 yards and 32 touchdowns.

Girls basketball: Both of Burroughs’ Foothill League losses have been by one point. Schurr upset Burroughs, 50-49, when the Indians missed two shots in the final eight seconds. Against San Gabriel, Burroughs fell behind, 46-45, with 10 seconds left. After a timeout, Burroughs (11-3, 1-2 in league) missed three shots and lost again. “The players deserve so much better,” Coach Jerry Libman said. “They work hard and there’s no justice for them.”. . . . Julie Arlotto is averaging more than 20 points a game, but Coach Dave Murphy said Dani Elton is Simi Valley’s “steadiest player.” In five league games, Elton has 36 points and 34 rebounds. “She’s by far the most improved,” Murphy said.

Track and field: Staci Leach’s running career appeared to be over when she was diagnosed as a diabetic six months ago. But in the Sunkist Invitational on Friday, the Thousand Oaks senior finished second in a 500-yard dash heat in 1:09.1 and ran a 58.5 third leg in the girls mile relay. Each time was more than a second faster than Leach’s performances at last year’s Sunkist meet. “She’s running as well now as she ever has,” Thousand Oaks Coach Art Green said. . . . Teammate Sharon Manship ran a 58.7 anchor leg of the mile relay after finishing third (2:19.8) in the girls 880. Despite her performance, Manship said she would concentrate on the 300-meter low hurdles--and not the 800--this season. “I think that’s my best event,” said the senior.