Westminster’s Eric Kutas Knows About Scoring From the Perimeter : It’s Simply a Matter of Establishing Rhythm

Eric Kutas is no dummy. Even when he was in grammar school at Blessed Sacrament in Westminster, he realized that the guy who scores points gets noticed.

“I liked being the center of attention,” Kutas said. “That’s the main reason I was a shooter.”

Kutas, a 5-foot 11-inch senior guard on Westminster High School’s basketball team, is still getting attention. He has developed into one of the best three-point shooters in Orange County.

Through Monday, Kutas was shooting 44% (28 for 63) from three-point range, and 46% (45 for 98) overall from the field.

“He has the right most of the time to look for the three-point shot,” said Coach Dick Katz. “Even off the fast break, we let him shoot it.”

Kutas has always shot from outside. Even before a three-point line appeared on the floors of high school gyms, Kutas was taking shots from 20 to 25 feet.

“I was always throwing up bombs,” he said. “Even now, I usually shoot from at least a foot behind the line.”

Kutas sat out much of last season after he transferred from Los Amigos High School, and he never got into a shooting rhythm.

This season, he spends his school lunch breaks shooting in the gym, and after 2 1/2 hours of practice with the team, he goes to La Quinta High School and shoots there for at least another hour.

“It’s all rhythm,” he said. “It’s either there or it isn’t.”

Kutas usually can tell before a game if the touch is there. On his worst shooting night of the season, against Santa Ana in early December, Kutas felt flat before the game. During the game, he was 0 for 9 on three-point attempts, and when he watched videotapes of the game, he could see the problem.

“I was just pushing the ball from my chest, instead of shooting from above my head,” he said.

But when he’s on, he can make a big difference. On his best night, Kutas made 7 of 9 three-point attempts in Westminster’s 104-84 victory over Valencia in the championship game of the Valencia tournament.

In the Orange tournament against Marina, Kutas hit 6 of 9 three-point attempts, including one with a minute to play when the Lions were trailing by two points. The shot, along with good defense in the final seconds, gave Westminster a 63-62 victory.

“It psychs up the team,” Kutas said. “It’s kind of like a dunk, but it’s better because it’s three points instead of two.”

But it isn’t just his point contribution that makes Kutas’ shooting ability such an asset to his team. The threat of Kutas on the perimeter can draw attention away from the Lions’ biggest weapon, 6-10 center Chris Tower. And when opponents are concentrating on Tower, who is averaging 27 points a game, Kutas is left open on the outside.

“The combination helps both our games,” said Kutas, who has played with Tower since junior high school. “Chris is unstoppable, and they have to collapse in on him. It makes it easy on me.”

Kutas usually faces a zone defense, but even against man-to-man, he finds it easy to shoot around bigger players.

He is careful to point out that he can do other things besides shoot, including playing point guard and defense.

“Eric would still play a lot if he didn’t have such a high three-point percentage, but maybe not as much,” Katz said. “But he can definitely open up a game.”

Kutas hopes that there’s always a place for a shooter, but so far he hasn’t been contacted by any colleges and doesn’t know what his basketball future will be.

So, for now, he’ll concentrate on this season and hitting the three-pointer. But is he satisfied? Of course not. Just like his teammate Tower, who wishes he would be allowed to take the three-point shot sometimes, Kutas has other goals.

“I’d rather be a big man like Chris,” Kutas said. “My personal goal is to get five rebounds in a game.”