High School Notebook : Gray Returns to Form for Cleveland in Swift and Timely Fashion

It did not take long to notice the following trend. Cleveland senior guard Michael Gray scored 10 points in a win over Kennedy last week and 20 against El Camino Real on Thursday. And on the Bob Braswell yardstick of extrapolation by incremental leaps and bounds, that means . . .

“I guess it means he’s due for 30 against Taft,” cracked Braswell, the Cleveland coach, about today’s Valley League game.

Eight days ago, Gray had yet to score a point this season. The 6-0, 185-pound senior, who will attend Long Beach State, was academically ineligible and played in his first game against Kennedy.

It did not take Gray long to get back in the groove, however. In fact, it only took Gray two games to get back to where he left off--he averaged 15 points a game last season.

Gray even spent time playing the low post for Cleveland, grabbing 11 rebounds against El Camino Real.

“He looks at it as a challenge to go inside and play with taller players,” Braswell said. “He’s the one asking me if he can go down there and play.”

Gray uses his weight as an advantage. He is only six-feet tall, but his girth is that of someone much bigger.

“He might have picked up a little weight while he wasn’t playing,” Braswell said. “But he’s thick and muscular. It’s not flab like some people think.”

Braswell said Gray’s training regimen is what keeps him in, well, shape.

“He lifts lots of weights,” Braswell said, “and then he eats. Lifts and eats, lifts and eats.”

Add Cleveland: Starting forward Warren Harrell will be out indefinitely because of chicken pox. Harrell, a 6-6 junior and the tallest player in the Cleveland lineup, was averaging 10 rebounds a game. Lucious Harris, a 6-4 junior, probably will start in Harrell’s place, Braswell said.

Cleveland is ranked No. 2 in the City Section by The Times and No. 4 in the state. The Cavaliers are seeded No. 3 in the City Section 4-A Division and open the playoffs at home against Banning at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Add Valley: The Valley is the only league in the City or Southern sections that has not completed its league schedule. That gives others a big edge, Valley League coaches say.

“What that means is that every coach in the City will be up here scouting our last league game,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “And they have a week to get ready for the playoffs and we have two days.”

Any advantages?

“Only that you might stay in game shape,” Woodard said. “But when you’re playing Cleveland, I don’t know if it’s all that desirable.”

Taft tongue twisters: Senior forward Yomo Smith was declared academically ineligible last week. Although the loss of the 6-4 reserve hurts Taft’s depth, it might simplify things a bit for Woodard.

In addition to Yomo, Smith’s real name, forward Tony Moten answers to “Mo,” while Tony Middleton’s nickname is “MoMo.”

“I guess that’s the end of Yomo, Mo and MoMo,” Woodard quipped.

But things are no easier. In addition to the two Tonys, Taft has a pair of Mikes--Weaver and Dreher--on the team. The Toreadors also have two guards with the surname Thomas, Dedan and Keith, who are unrelated.

Add names: The Cleveland girls’ team has two names that might sound familiar.

The Cavaliers’ starting guards are junior Dawn Greer and senior Tracy Fann. Greer’s brother, Damon, is a starting guard for the boys’ team and Tracy’s brother, Albert, was a standout at Cleveland in football and basketball before moving to Cal State Northridge, where he saw extensive playing time as a freshman running back.

Broken record: Jon Drezner waited until Calabasas played its final Frontier League game to deliver a record-breaking scoring performance.

Drezner scored 45 points against Santa Paula to set the school, single-game record. Steve Ward held the previous mark of 41 points, set against Newbury Park last season.

“The kids were talking about Drezner’s points in the third quarter,” Coach Bill Bellatty said. “They gave up shots so he could get the record.”

Drezner made 10 of 13 two-point attempts, 5 of 8 three-point attempts and 10 of 11 free throws. Drezner has 1,018 points to join Ward as the only player in school history to surpass 1,000.

Last season against Santa Paula, Drezner pulled down a school-record 34 rebounds.

Butler did it: Talk about saving your best for last.

Oakwood’s Mitchell Butler, the 6-5 junior who has been dominating Liberty League play by scoring 31 points and grabbing 16 rebounds a game, outdid himself Friday against Holy Martyrs in the final league game. The 63-41 win gave Oakwood the league title with a 12-0 record.

Butler scored 34 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, handed out 6 assists and shut down Holy Martyrs’ leading scorer, Armen Abrahamian, holding him to 10.

“To me, it was his best all-around game,” Oakwood Coach Roz Goldenberg said. “Every time he turned around he had two players defending him and he still scored 34 points. I put him on their best player and he shut him down.”

Butler has been the fuel in Oakwood’s drive to a 20-2 overall mark, the best in school history. And according to Goldenberg, Butler had better keep revving his engine for the playoffs.

“For us to be successful, he’s going to have to have some really big games,” Goldenberg said.

Rio Mesa fold: The slim chances Rio Mesa held to advance to the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs nearly materialized Friday when Ventura lost to San Marcos, 59-46.

Rio Mesa and Ventura tied for third in the Channel League with 9-5 records, forcing a tiebreaker game Saturday night.

The Spartans responded with, well, let Rio Mesa Coach Steve Wolf tell it: “If we had come out and played strong it was one thing. But we just embarrassed ourselves.”

Rio Mesa shot 25% (14 of 56) from the field and made only 4 of its first 27 shots in a 63-42 loss. The last time the teams met, Rio Mesa won, 71-59.

Eric Thomas, the Spartans’ 6-6 center, missed all eight of his field-goal attempts in the first half. He was 3 of 16 in the game.

Cross-country: Peter Oviatt of Agoura placed 22nd in the U. S. Junior World cross-country trials in Dallas on Saturday. Oviatt, a senior who placed eighth in the 1987 Southern Section 2-A championships, ran 28 minutes, 42 seconds over the 8,000-meter course.

The top four finishers qualified for the World Cross-Country Championships in Auckland, New Zealand on March 26.

Injured Mountie: Jason Gerber, a starting forward at Montclair Prep, will not play in the Mounties’ Southern Section 1-A wild-card playoff game against Oak Park tonight.

Gerber, a 6-0 sophomore, reinjured his left ankle Sunday after twisting it severely two weeks ago. Ennis Howard, a 6-3 junior, will replace Gerber.

Staff writers John Ortega, Tim Brown, Chris J. Parker and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.