San Diego Player of the Week : Applegate Meeting the Challenge

It took a meeting of the minds, along with a second chance, for St. Augustine High School’s basketball team and its leading scorer, Charlie Applegate, to begin reaching their potential.

The Saints--who were picked to contend for the City Central League--struggled through the first round of league play, with their only victory over San Diego High.

Applegate, the Saints’ leading scorer, had struggled as teams played a variety of defenses designed to stop him.

After their disastrous first round of league, the Saints knew it was time to reassess their offense and their attitudes.

“When we were 1-4, we had a meeting,” Applegate said. “We knew we could beat every team we’d played. We knew we could beat Lincoln at home. . . . At the beginning of the season, we were looking past people. We just decided to take each game one at a time.”

The philosophy seemed to work as the Saints improved to 3-4 in league after the meeting with victories over Crawford and San Diego.

And Applegate, who had been hounded by defenses earlier in the season, is breaking out of his slump just as the Saints make a run for the playoffs.

Last Tuesday, against first-place Lincoln--the same team that beat the Saints by 20 points in their first meeting-- Applegate scored a game-high 28 points, as St. Augustine won in overtime, 80-76.

“We didn’t know what to expect the first time,” said Applegate, The Times’ Player of the Week. “Now we know. Now we’re ready. I know I’m a lot more confident.”

Three days later, Applegate again led St. Augustine, scoring 24 points in a 57-52 victory at second-place Christian.

Applegate said his season started with a frustrating game against Crawford.

“I got into foul trouble right away and had to sit out a lot of the third quarter,” he said. “We ended up losing by two points. . . . It affected my confidence since I had a bad game right off.”

Said Coach Dick Hardick: “Last year, they didn’t box him and didn’t use special defenses to stop him. “This season, they box-and-one, triangle-and-two, keying on Charley. Nobody really played us that way until we got into league.”

Today, St. Augustine plays host to Hoover in a game that could secure a playoff berth for the third-place Saints. That is foremost in the mind of Applegate, who joined the varsity as a sophomore guard but quickly was converted to forward.

“I’d been used to playing outside, and all of a sudden I grew a couple inches and I became a ‘big man,’ so I had to make the adjustments and learn to play inside,” Applegate said.

Applegate is again working on his ballhandling and outside shooting. At 6-feet 4-inches, he figures to play guard in college.

Hardick said several college recruiters have contacted him about Applegate. However, Applegate said he has not picked a college, although he prefers to stay in California.

“Our goal right now is just to beat Hoover and get into the playoffs,” he said. “After that, we’ll go from there.”