Orange County All-Star Basketball Game : Call of a Car, Fast-Break Style Attracts Kenney to College

It’s easy to understand why Brian Kenney, Servite High School guard, is trying to get accepted at UC San Diego, where he hopes to play basketball in the fall.

The college has a majestic setting in La Jolla, with pine trees dotting a picturesque campus near the Pacific Ocean.

Kenney says he likes the school’s strong academic tradition and its fast-break style of basketball.

But there are two other reasons why Kenney is particularly interested in UC San Diego: a brother and a car.

Brian, 18, and his older brother, Jim, now a student at UCSD, had shared a 1978 BMW that Brian had spent countless hours restoring. When Jim went away to college last fall, the car went with him.

“It was pretty shabby when my dad bought it, but we did a lot of work getting it cleaned up, put some new rims on the wheels and it looked great,” Kenney said. “I love that car.”

In fact, when the car was damaged in an accident this year, Kenney’s parents waited two weeks to tell him.

The car has been repaired, and the brothers are now driving together to work each day to their summer job at a food packaging firm in Anaheim.

Kenney is also preparing for the Orange County All-Star basketball game at 7:30 Saturday night in UC Irvine’s Bren Center, where he’ll play on the North team.

Kenney, a 6-foot 1-inch guard, averaged 21.8 points, 5 assists and 4 steals during the past season. He was recruited by several Division II schools in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., but has his mind set on attending UC San Diego.

“I think I can go in as a freshman and play there,” Kenney said. “I don’t want to go somewhere and redshirt.”

Kenney has another option. He is being recruited by Cypress College and has played in several summer games for the Chargers since graduating June 10.

“I felt comfortable at Cypress,” he said. “I like Coach (Don) Johnson. I feel comfortable with the other players, the coach and his style of play. It’s a good situation.”

Kenney says he feels at ease playing for the North under John Mayberry, who led Kennedy to the Southern Section’s 3-A division championship last spring with a fast-breaking style. The North plans to run the ball, which suits Kenney fine.

At Servite, he was an excellent penetrating guard with leaping ability and a penchant for driving the baseline.

Kenney can touch the rim while jumping from under the basket. He dunks a basketball with ease and won Servite’s dunking contest last season.

“I like playing both (point guard and off-guard) positions,” he said. “As a point guard, I can run the break and drive the lane. At the off-guard, I can shoot the outside jumper. I think I have good range from 12-18 feet.

“I didn’t take the three-point shot much at Servite because it wasn’t in our offense. That’s something I plan on working a lot on this summer.”

Kenney’s adeptness at driving to the basket can be traced to pickup games against his older brother on the family driveway.

“He was a lot taller than me and I had to learn to drive around him,” Kenney said. “He used to beat me a lot, but that changed when I got older.”

The family rivalry has continued with Kenney competing against his younger brother, Matt, who will be a freshman at Servite in the fall. Kenney said he also learned some of his moves from Richard Smith, an assistant at Servite who works specifically with the Friars’ guards.

Kenney was a member of The Times’ all-county basketball team and earned All-Southern Section honors. He had his jersey number added to Servite’s wall of fame in the school gymnasium with the numbers of former stars such as Angel pitcher Mike Witt, Texas Ranger third baseman Steve Buechele and Raider quarterback Steve Beuerlein.

John Walker, a coach at Servite last season, said the unveiling of Kenney’s jersey number on the wall was something Kenney predicted five years ago.

“Brian told me that he once played in our gym as an eighth-grader and told everyone that someday his jersey was going to be up on the wall,” Walker said. “The day we unveiled his jersey, Brian walked into the gym and had a big smile on his face.

“He’s one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever known and certainly one of the classiest kids you’ll ever meet.”

All-Star Notes

The South lost, 138-120, last week in a scrimmage against a UC Irvine alumni team that featured Johnny Rogers, Bob Thornton, Tod Murphy and Wayne Engelstad. Afterward, Thornton said: “Adam Keefe is going to be a great player.” . . . Jim Haney, newly appointed commissioner of the Big West (formerly the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.) will be the guest speaker at the tipoff dinner Tuesday night at the Irvine Hilton at 6:30. Tickets, at $25, can be reserved by calling Vern Vegso at 642-3075. The winners of the Adohr Farms scholar-athlete awards will be announced at the dinner. . . . Both the boys’ and girls’ games will be broadcast on KPZE (AM-1190) beginning at 5 p.m. Rob Halvaks and Tim Tift, former UC Irvine coach, will call the play-by-play. . . . The four teams have scheduled one-hour public workouts on Friday at the Bren Center. The South boys will work out at 3 p.m., followed by the South girls at 4 p.m. The North girls will work out at 5 p.m., followed by the North boys at 6 p.m. . . . Tracy Scofield of Costa Mesa High and Mike Zamora of Santa Ana won the Southern regional for the three-point shooting contest and will be among the contestants in the finals, which will be at halftime of each game Saturday night. Scofield made 6 of 14 shots to win, and will be joined by Francesca Rumps and Alicia Perez of Santa Ana Valley in the girls’ final. Zamora made 9 of 14 shots to win, and will be joined by Israel Hogue and Jason Rodarmel of Capistrano Valley Christian in the boys’ final.