THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Hawking Has No Excuse for ‘Clinker’

Six minutes into the game, Simi Valley High’s Don MacLean was on the bench with his third personal foul, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the first half. Later, with one second left in overtime, MacLean fouled out of a game for the first time this season--on a play that resulted in the winning point for Santa Monica.

So, Coach Bob Hawking appeared to have an easy excuse for Friday’s 55-54 defeat in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs: The officials stole the game from the No. 1-seeded Pioneers.

Not so, said Hawking, whose team’s 26-2 record will seem insufficient to those who expected a Southern Section title for Simi Valley.

“They were blowing a quick whistle and it was tough to deal with Don not in the game, but that’s not why we lost,” he said Saturday. “We just didn’t execute well. We knew Santa Monica was a good defensive team and they were well-prepared. We just didn’t play well.”

Hawking rated Friday night’s performance among the worst of the season for his team. Simi Valley shot well, making 19 of 35 (54%) and 16 of 17 free throws. But Santa Monica’s full-court pressure defense kept the Pioneers off-balance. Simi Valley was shut out in overtime and Shawn DeLaittre’s basket with 1:40 left in regulation was the team’s only field goal in what proved to be the final 11 minutes of Simi Valley’s season.

“We seemed to be in a state of paralysis,” Hawking said. “It was a collective effort; it wasn’t the fault of one player. We just couldn’t run our offense, either the running game or the half-court offense.

“We know the playoffs are sudden death. You have to play five good games in a row to win the CIF. We just played a clinker.”

The clunk put a damper on a reunion for Hawking and Denny Crum, coach of defending national champion Louisville. Crum, who coached Hawking at Pierce College from 1966 to 1968, was in town for Saturday’s game against UCLA and attended the Simi Valley game at Santa Monica College. He sat in the stands with Hawking’s former Pierce teammates, Bill Mayer, who also played at Georgia Tech, and Bob Lynn, who played for Jerry Tarkanian at Long Beach State. Crum, who has monitored the development of MacLean, later headed to the Sports Arena to watch Fairfax defeat Dorsey.

“Denny was there to see his former players but he was also there to watch Don,” Hawking said. “I just wish the reunion could have had a happier ending.”

Four starters, including MacLean, return next season, providing some solace for Hawking, but not much.

“At this point that doesn’t alleviate the hurt at all,” he said. “It’s going to take time to get over this. But we will. We’re looking ahead, not back. I still like this team and wouldn’t trade it for any in the CIF.”

Land of revenge: Cleveland buried a year’s worth of frustration by ending Crenshaw’s season Friday with an 87-75 semifinal victory in the City Section 4-A playoffs and also practiced the team’s victory celebration should the Cavaliers upset Fairfax next Friday in the City championship game. A year ago, Cleveland lost in the final to Crenshaw, 95-79, giving Crenshaw its third straight championship.

“It felt like we just won the City championship,” Cleveland junior Michael Gray said of Friday’s victory. “They kind of humiliated us last year and we paid back the favor.”

Said senior guard Andre Anderson: “Last year was a real disappointment and we’ve been hearing at school how we had to beat Crenshaw. We got our revenge and that’s why it felt like a championship game.”

Gray and Anderson expect Cleveland (20-3) to upset Fairfax despite three losses this season to the Valley League champion. Not even Fairfax’s 24-0 record, No. 1 ranking in the state by Cal-Hi Sports or the No. 2 ranking in the country by USA Today worry the Cavaliers.

“Fairfax hasn’t proved anything yet,” Gray said. “They haven’t won a title since they’ve been in the 4-A. We’re the ones who went to the City title game last year. We’re going to the Sports Arena to beat them, not just to say that we were in the final.”

Gray and Anderson expect Fairfax to crumble if the Cavaliers get an early lead.

“If we get ahead by six points, they’re going to panic,” Anderson said. “We want to get on them and get them scared.”

Said Gray: “We have to pressure them all over the court and not let them power us. Fairfax isn’t used to being down. If they get behind, their players might start trying to take things into their own hands. That will get them out of their game plan.”

Thanks, coach: In the midst of Birmingham’s most successful season and its drive to the City Section 3-A final, the Braves owe a large measure of gratitude to San Fernando Coach Dick Crowell, whose knocks on the Birmingham team have served as primary motivation for the Braves. Nothing Birmingham accomplishes impresses Crowell.

Birmingham (22-2) won the Northwest Valley League title, is seeded first in the playoffs and defeated San Fernando twice. Crowell remains unconvinced, saying earlier this week that the winner of Friday’s Granada Hills-San Fernando game would be the City 3-A champion. Granada Hills won, 80-67.

Said Crowell: “I’ve always felt that Granada Hills is better than Birmingham and I’ve always felt that we’re better than Birmingham.”

“In his own way, he has really inspired us,” Birmingham Coach Jeff Halpern said Saturday. “Anytime he comes out and says something like that I put it up on the bulletin board.”

Birmingham gets one more chance to prove Crowell wrong in Friday’s title game at the Sports Arena against Granada Hills, which split two league games with Birmingham.

Said Halpern about Crowell: “I don’t understand why he makes statements like that. But he’s finished. He can sit and watch us play Friday.”