MacLean’s Peak Play Seems Routine to Simi Valley Basketball Coach

By all accounts, Don MacLean, the two-time All-Southern Section 4-A pick for the Simi Valley High School basketball team, played at peak performance last week. In familiar and strange surroundings, playing fresh and without rest, he was almost unstoppable, no matter the conditions.

By Coach Bob Hawking’s reckoning, though, MacLean’s four-game run was merely par for the course. That may be the most impressive thing that could be said about MacLean, considering that he:

--Scored 103 points in three games of the Beach Ball tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., only one short of the record set in 1984 by Jeff Lebo of Carlisle, Pa., now a starting guard at North Carolina.

--Averaged 34.3 points and 16 rebounds a game in leading the Pioneers, who lost two of three games, to a tournament-record average of 87.3 points a game.

--Scored 43 points and made 20 of 23 shots as Simi Valley (10-3) opened Marmonte League play with a 103-71 victory Saturday over Thousand Oaks. He made all 10 of his shots in the first quarter and 12 of 13 in the first half. He also had 17 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.

“I don’t think there’s any way Don has reached his potential yet, and he knows that,” Hawking said after the Thousand Oaks game. “He continues to make progress because he works as hard as anybody.

“Being a great player can be a problem with some kids because they can become satisfied where they’re at. That’s not the case with Don.”

MacLean, a 6-foot 10-inch center who has developed into one of the best-shooting big men in the country, has not signed a letter of intent. He will lead Simi Valley against Newbury Park in a Marmonte League game Wednesday at home.

But other than that . . . : El Toro lost in the championship game of the Walter Wong tournament in Honolulu, but that turned out to be the least of the Chargers’ problems.

“It’s been a complete nightmare,” Coach Tim Travers said. “I’m not kidding. We’ve had horrible weather. There were floods, winds, mud slides. We had five-hour flight delays, planes breaking down, lost baggage and rain that didn’t stop until this (Saturday) morning. And now they’ve told us they might have overbooked the flight, so I’m trying to get us on another flight right now.”

No word on how he made out.

Ocean View of Huntington Beach had its own semi-tour de farce at the Raleigh Times Holiday Festival in North Carolina, finishing seventh in the eight-team field.

“The whole trip has been interesting,” Coach Jim Harris said. “We’ve really had no problems. The weather’s been great. We visited North Carolina and Duke. We met coaches and players from all over the country.

“We were entertained by a guy who was on ‘Hee Haw.’ They called him the pretzel picker. He plays guitar with an arm behind him. Then we had a pig picking, where they roast pigs and pick the meat off to eat it. All in all, it’s been a great experience for the kids.”

An experience, indeed. Duke, North Carolina, the pretzel picker and roast pigs all rolled into one.

Quarterback Lupe Rodriguez from Mission High in Texas, a school located 15 miles north of Mexico, set a national single-season passing record with 4,179 yards, pushing Perry Klein of Palisades back to No. 3 on the list with his 3,899.

Rodriguez also moved into No. 6 in career passing with 6,917 yards, No. 3 in most passes attempted in a season with 445, No. 9 in most passes completed in a career with 469, No. 4 in career completion percentage at 59.8%, No. 8 in career touchdowns with 83, tied for No. 10 in single-season completion percentage at 58.9%, tied for No. 1 in single-season touchdowns with 50, and tied for No. 3 for touchdowns in a game with 7.

Klein is No. 1 in California history for yards in a season, completions in a season (323) and attempts in a season (483). He is also No. 2 on the national list for yards-per-game average (324.9) and No. 3 in completion percentage for a season (66.9).

His top receiver, Harold Champion, ended the season in seventh place in the all-time national rankings for average receiving yards a game (118.8).

The top high school surfing teams, who are members of the California Interscholastic Surfing Federation, will compete in the second annual state tournament Saturday and Sunday at Oceanside Harbor. Starting time for both days is 6:30 a.m.

In the 4-A division, entries include defending champion San Clemente, Huntington Beach, San Dieguito, Edison of Huntington Beach, Dana Hills, Ocean View, Carlsbad and Laguna Beach.

In 3-A, entries are Vista and cross-town rival Rancho Buena Vista, Fallbrook, Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo, Long Beach Wilson, University High of Irvine, Garden Grove, La Habra, Valencia of Placentia and Los Alamitos.

Both divisions will have team and individual winners for boys and girls.