Westminster’s Big Man Is a Tower of Length : At 6-Feet 10-Inches and Only 200 Pounds, Lion Center Relies on Finesse, Not Power

His arms are sprouting from the ends of his shirt sleeves. His lengthening legs make last year’s trousers this year’s high-water pants. His toes are squeezing against the tips of his size-15 shoes.

But this affliction called growth doesn’t bother Chris Tower.

At 6-feet 10-inches, Westminster High School’s basketball center is pleased that his body has chosen to follow the direction of his surname, growing seven inches in the last four years. Despite his problem finding clothes that fit, he wouldn’t mind growing a few more inches and breaking that magic 7-foot mark.

He just wishes all those inches would translate into extra pounds.

Some Great Danes weigh more than Tower. His 82 inches stretch over just 200 pounds, not much more than many guards and a lot less than many guys he meets under the basket.

Edison center Chris Lippincott, against whom Tower will match up twice during Sunset League play, is three inches shorter than Tower but weighs 45 pounds more.

But Tower figures the bulk will come with time. After all, you can’t expect everything to happen at once. Just almost everything.

Last year, Tower, then 16, emerged on the Orange County basketball scene, a gangly 6-8 junior with all of 2 1/2 years of basketball under his tightly notched belt.

But Tower, coming off a stress fracture in his right foot that kept him sidelined most of his sophomore year, surprised a lot of people. He averaged 16 points and 6.5 rebounds a game, was selected to the all-Sunset League first team and was named Westminster’s most valuable player.

This season, Tower not only is surprising other teams, he’s scaring them. He’s averaging 27 points a game, the third highest in the county behind Mike Goff of Magnolia and Eric Martin of Whittier Christian, and also is getting about 13 rebounds per game.

In a two-point loss to Servite, Tower scored 41 points, 31 in the first half. On Wednesday, in the consolation championship game of the Orange tournament against El Modena, Tower led a 20-point blowout with 32 points, scoring 26 in the first half. He finished the four-game tournament with 97 points, tied for fourth on the tournament’s all-time scoring list.

Tower is a big reason for Westminster’s impressive start. The Lions have won 10 of 13 games but were forced to forfeit three early wins for using an ineligible player, which drops the team to 7-6. Last week, they upset top-ranked Santa Ana, 72-66, and beat Sunset League favorite Marina by one point in the Orange tournament.

Tower scored 20 points against Santa Ana, 19 against Marina.

“Offensively, he’s the toughest big man we’ve faced all year,” said El Modena Coach Tim Tivenan, whose team has lost to the Lions twice on the court this season but regained one loss through a forfeit. “He’s a great shooter and has good moves inside. He doesn’t play a real power game. He’s more of a finesse center.”

Westminster Coach Dick Katz thinks things are only going to get better for Tower. Katz, who coached Cleveland Cavalier Johnny Rogers at La Quinta High, said Tower is still developing as a player.

“Every year Chris has jumped plateaus in both the development of his body and his development as a player,” Katz said. “Chris can do all the things Johnny did.”

Katz describes Tower as a “very fluid” center who moves the ball well around the court and would like to shoot from the outside more than Katz will allow.

“He’s an excellent shooter, but we need him more on the inside,” Katz said. “Sure he needs to get stronger, but there’s no question about his toughness. His potential is unlimited.”

Coach Gary Colson at the University of New Mexico recognized that potential, and on Nov. 11 Tower signed a national letter of intent to attend New Mexico.

“I wanted to get it over with,” said Tower, who had six recruiting trips scheduled but canceled the last three after his visit to New Mexico. “All the recruiting got to be a hassle.”

This season, Tower has his sights set on the Sunset League championship. But when Westminster’s season ends, Tower’s work will continue. He plans to start seriously lifting weights in order to put on as many pounds as possible before his freshman year.

“This summer will be crucial,” Tower said. “I just don’t have a lot of time right now. I practice all day, then come home and do my homework and go to sleep.”

He’ll need the weight in college. Tower has been banged around by bulkier opponents. But sometimes skinniness has its advantages.

“Hey, I’ve got pretty sharp elbows,” Tower said.

At New Mexico, Tower will join Luc Longley, a 7-foot center from Perth, Australia, who is a freshman this year.

“They’ve got other big men, so I’m probably not going to play center,” he said.

But he’ll still be a tower. And maybe he’ll get to shoot more from the outside.