ASPIRING AVIATOR : Tim Stowe, High-Scoring Forward, Is Top Gun for West Torrance Warriors

Tim Stowe’s dreams are like a mirror of his own performances on the basketball court. Both usually hover way above the ground.

On the court, Stowe is a board-crashing, high-scoring forward for West Torrance High School. He plays much taller than his 6-foot-2, 175-pound frame would suggest. Off the court, his mind is similarly up in the air.

“Our family is what you might call flight-oriented,” said Stowe with an edge of understatement. The 18-year-old senior only needs 15 more solo flight hours to earn his pilot’s license.

Stowe would like to follow the footsteps of his father and his older brother into the cockpit of a military jet. Both were naval aviators.

His father, Charles Stowe, a retired lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve, flew attack planes from the aircraft carrier Coral Sea. His brother, Lt. Martin Stowe, is still active in the Navy and flew F-14 Tomcats from the carrier Enterprise.

And this month, Tim Stowe will have an interview with Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) to try to get a nomination to either the Air Force Academy or the Naval Academy. Nominations for appointment to military academies generally are made by members of Congress.

Although both schools are very selective, Stowe says his chances of getting a nomination and appointment are pretty good. After all, he carries a 3.5 grade-point average in addition to his scoring average of 20.2 points per game on the court.

“Tim is a very conscientious, hard worker,” said West Torrance Coach Dan McGee. “He takes school as a very serious matter and it shows both on and off the court.”

That’s one of the reasons Stowe has upped his scoring average from last year’s 13 points per game. And despite his relatively small size as a forward, he still averages 8.1 rebounds per game.

“He never lets up,” McGee said. “He sprints up and down the floor every time we have the ball. And he fights for every rebound or loose ball like it’s life or death. He’s not a big kid physically but he uses his intelligence and work ethic to get the right positioning.”

Stowe’s performance in the Torrance Christmas Classic last week earned him most valuable player honors for the tournament, and he led West to a 72-51 rout of St. Monica in the title game.

He’s one reason West has stayed on a hot streak throughout these recent cold weeks. The Warriors have won eight straight games and are now poised as Bay League contenders with a 10-3 record.

Stowe is happy being the top gun in West’s offense, but he gets considerable help from senior Denny Hocking, who has blossomed into a versatile playmaker and has been directing a lot of passes toward Stowe this season.

“Hocking is a fabulous passer,” Stowe said. “He can dribble past guys and then gets the ball in to anybody. I don’t know how he does it. He’s just so quick and sees the court so well.”

Hocking, who is averaging seven assists per game, has several other weapons up his sleeve. Against St. Bernard early in the season, Hocking hit all five three-point shots (he has 17 three-pointers overall), and he’s also a creative force in unraveling a full-court press.

In the waning moments of the Torrance tournament final, Hocking was the trigger man on three length-of-the-court outlet passes that beat St. Monica’s press. Point guard Phil Bendik punctuated all three of Hocking’s aerials with layups.

“Denny’s got a great arm,” McGee said. “I think some of his baseball skills--Hocking is the catcher for West’s baseball team--were overlapping on those passes.”

Bendik is another potent weapon in West’s arsenal. A reserve last year, the senior guard has stepped into the starting lineup and is averaging 17.8 points and four assists per game. And his 29-point performance and clutch, last-second layup sunk Bay League rival Rolling Hills in West’s 80-79 season-opening victory.

Flanking Stowe on the front line are swing man Jason Arquisch and center James Severance. The versatile Arquisch is averaging 8.8 points and four rebounds per game, and 6-foot-5 Severance averages 5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while splitting time at the post with Tim Griffith and Ken Faulkner.

But the main man in West’s system is Stowe. Against much taller St. Bernard in the Pacific Shores Tournament, Stowe poured in 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. He’s also scored 26 points against Culver City and 25 against El Modena, in addition to tallying 23 points several times this year.

“He seems to score his 20 points a game without you really realizing it,” McGee said. “He’s a very quiet type of a leader on the court.”

McGee said Stowe really learned to be a scoring threat during an eight-game tour of Australia and New Zealand that West took during July and August. During that trip, Stowe averaged 30 points a game under a 40-minute international clock.

“Tim knows how to move without the ball very well,” McGee said. “He’s one of the most intelligent players I’ve ever coached.”

Stowe hopes that his ability to adapt and make quick decisions will help make him a good pilot. But he’s put off finishing up the remaining solo hours he needs for his pilot’s license until after basketball season.

After that, Stowe has a long-standing date to keep with Yankee Stadium. Each summer for the past four years, his family has barnstormed around the country in a 25-year-old single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza, trying to fly to every major league baseball stadium before Stowe graduates. And the “House That Ruth Built” is the last park remaining on Stowe’s list.

“It’s kind of a strange ritual, I guess,” Stowe said. “But that’s what we like to do as a family.”

When Yankee Stadium is scratched from his list, one of Stowe’s flight goals will be accomplished. And that’s what Stowe likes the most about flying--the feeling of accomplishment.

“Flight is a big, big challenge,” Stowe said. “But it’s just a lot of fun to be up in the air.”