The Preps / Lonnie White : Manual Arts Finding It Can Make Additions Out of Its Subtractions

Manual Arts continues to win despite graduating three starters from last season’s state Division I basketball championship team and losing its highly regarded coach, Reggie Morris, to Los Angeles City College.

In the recent Los Angeles City Invitational tournament, the Toilers proved to be the class of a quality field by defeating Pasadena, 67-56, in the final at Cal State Los Angeles.

The early success has surprised new coach Randolph Simpson.

“I didn’t think that we’d get off to such a good start,” said Simpson, who took over for Morris this fall after six seasons as his assistant. “We had to replace three good players who could score from anywhere.”

A big key for the Toilers’ continued success has been the play of seniors Kent Bennett and Charlo Davis.

Bennett, a 6-foot 6-inch forward, was named the outstanding player of the L.A. Tournament. He is the team’s top scorer and rebounder, averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds a game. He is being recruited by a number of schools including Texas El Paso, Iowa and USC.

“Bennett is playing with a great deal of confidence,” Simpson said. “He is very versatile because he can play inside or on the perimeter and he can get out on the (fast) break.”

Simpson considers Davis, a 6-4 guard who scored 22 points against Pasadena, the sleeper of this year’s recruiting class.

“He is a born leader, who just won’t let anyone on the team quit with his strong work ethic,” Simpson said about Davis, who is averaging 19 points a game. “Last season he was just a role player, but now he is getting a chance to display his multiple strengths. It is just a matter of time before the major colleges take notice.”

Other key players for Simpson have been juniors Marcell Capers and William Celestine. Capers, a 6-1 point guard transfer from Crenshaw, is the team leader in assists and steals. Celestine, a 6-5 center, is the Toilers’ defensive stopper.

Despite an undefeated record, Simpson says that his team has room for improvement.

“We need to work on our patience,” said Simpson, who graduated from Manual Arts in 1977 and now teaches biology. “We still have the same defensive philosophy but we have to look for the open shot more often.”

Twenty years ago, Compton dominated boys’ high school basketball. The school won back-to-back Southern Section AAA Division championships in 1968 and 1969, winning 62 straight games.

The last six seasons, Compton has qualified for the playoffs only once, and last season it hit bottom with an 0-10 Moore League record and a 4-16 overall mark.

The respect once given to the school and its great players of the past such as George Selleck, Freddie Goss, Purvis Miller and Larry Hollyfield, had turned into laughter.

But the chuckles have stopped so far this season with the return of Louie Nelson as head coach.

Nelson, who was an All-Southern Section guard on Compton’s 1968 and 69 teams, has Compton off to a 9-1 mark in his first season.

“I got off to a late start in getting the job to coach here,” said Nelson, who was an assistant coach under Jim Newman at Cal State Los Angeles for 5 years before returning to Compton in June. “The first thing I did was to give them a selling point. . . . I wanted to stress defense.”

The hard full-court pressing defense Compton uses has been effective. The Tarbabes defeated Capistrano Valley, the preseason top-ranked team in the state, 54-51, in the Fountain Valley tournament and also won the Bosco Tech tournament in Rosemead Friday night by defeating Pasadena Muir, 75-68.

Nelson says that all Compton lacked before he arrived was basic basketball knowledge.

“They just lacked the fundamentals. Some didn’t even know how to get into a defensive stance,” said Nelson, who played 6 seasons in the National Basketball Assn. with the Washington Bullets, New Orleans Jazz and New Jersey Nets. “I put emphasis on a team concept and the rest has just been hard work.”

Compton is led by senior 6-foot 2-inch forward Terrance Adams, who was named MVP of the Bosco Tech tournament and is averaging 19 points a game.

“Adams was the quarterback on the football team last season and he has the ability to do so many things,” said Nelson, who teaches algebra at Compton. “I was told that he was not coachable when I first came here, but all he had to do was just learn how to win because he has more heart and desire than anyone on the team. I think that he is one of the better players in the CIF.”

Other standouts for Nelson have been senior point guard Alonzo Lemons, who is averaging more than 7 assists a game, and 6-6 junior center Darnell Patterson, who is averaging 17 points a game.

Returning to coach his alma mater is not something Nelson dreamed about during his playing days at Compton.

“I never thought that I’d come back here like this,” Nelson said. “It was a tough decision but through peer pressure I decided to try and be a role model for the kids.

“I just want them to have fun and know that they can do other things with their time instead of being involved in gangs and with drugs.”

With Compton off to its best start in years, Nelson is not looking too far ahead.

“We just want to make the playoffs,” Nelson said. “I want the kids to realize that there is much more out there outside of basketball and street life. It’s tough but I think we are on the right track.”

Prep Notes

University of Arizona-bound Ed Stokes scored 34 points to lead St. Bernard past Rolling Hills, 65-61, to win the Beverly Hills tournament. Stokes was named tournament MVP. . . . Pasadena (7-2) has defeated 3 Moore League teams this season: Lakewood, Long Beach Jordan and Millikan. . . . Westchester beat Lakewood, 80-66, last week behind Damien Wilson’s 21 points and UCLA-bound Zan Mason’s 11 second-half points. . . . Guard Craig Handschu of Montclair Prep was named MVP of the Bel-Air Prep tournament after scoring 35 points in Montclair Prep’s 73-45 win over Oakwod and its UCLA-bound star, Mitchel Butler, in the championship game. . . . Tracy Murray scored 34 points to lead Glendora over Riverside Poly, 64-56, to win its own tournament. Murray was named tournament MVP.