Star Leaves Doghouse, St. Bernard Wins

St. Bernard High School Coach Jim McClune grew tired of his hard-line punitive stance early in the fourth quarter of his team’s first round 5-A playoff game Thursday night.

St. Bernard, struggling against a tough and tall Marina team from Huntington Beach, had cut into Marina’s lead several times but couldn’t quite get over the hump. And point guard Keith Brown, one of McClune’s top players, was still benched after missing two of four practices this week.

“I’m a pretty good disciplinarian, but I’m not stupid,” McClune said, after Brown helped St. Bernard to a come-from-behind 62-59 victory at Marina. “In the playoffs, it’s a tough time to have to pull that discipline stuff. But on this team, you have to practice to play.”

Brown took only one shot in the first half. But after McClune sent him back in the fourth quarter, Brown showed that lack of practice hadn’t hurt him.

With 3:40 left, Brown nailed a three-pointer to give St. Bernard a 50-49 advantage and its first lead since early in the third quarter. Then he hit a clutch jumper and three key free throws, and his eight points in the final period were enough to seal St. Bernard’s victory.

St. Bernard (19-7) will play Long Beach Millikan (21-4) in a second-round game Thursday at Bishop Montgomery. Marina, the Sunset League runner-up, finished the season at 18-7.

St. Bernard’s hot-shooting senior forward Eric Nelson, who led all scorers with 23 points, showed he’s one of the most athletic players in the Angelus League. In the fall, the 6-5 Nelson will take a football scholarship to UCLA, where he’ll probably play free safety.

But the hard-tackling Nelson showcased a soft shooting touch Thursday night and connected on 10 of 14 shots from the floor, most on short jumpers around the paint over Marina’s taller front line.

“I just tried to control things on the floor and help keep the rest of the team calm,” said Nelson, who led St. Bernard’s scrappy fourth-quarter press that caused several key Marina turnovers.

“We normally have three types of press,” McClune said, “and the first two didn’t work. So we went to the most aggressive press we have--a 1-2-2.”

It worked dramatically on the final play of the third quarter. Vincent Williams picked off a Marina in-bounds pass and fed Nelson inside who scored on a right-handed tomahawk slam dunk and trimmed Marina’s lead to one.

St. Bernard’s defense also did a good job containing Marina’s tall inside players. Steve Guild, a 6-6 senior forward, came in averaging 19.8 points per game, but Nelson held him to 13. And 6-9 freshman center Cherokee Parks scored only 9 points and 6-7 forward Dan Floyd had only 7.

St. Bernard center Ed Stokes, who was in foul trouble for much of the second half, was limited to six points. But Vincent Williams contributed eight points, and Juno Armstrong and Aron Williams had six apiece.