Cleveland Takes a Relentless Tack

Cleveland High opens Northwest Valley Conference play tonight with a 10-2 record and the favorites’ role in the North Valley League. The Cavaliers cruised to the Las Vegas Holiday tournament championship last week, winning 5 games by an average margin of 16.8 points and defeating teams from Kentucky, the Bay Area and Washington along the way.

Cleveland has won 7 in a row and is ranked second in Division I--the state’s top division--by Cal-Hi Sports. The Cavaliers have lost to only Westchester and St. Joseph of Alameda, teams ranked in the state’s top 10.

Can players who have experienced national competition be expected to perform with the same intensity against lesser teams?

They had better.

“It’s time to show I can coach,” Cleveland mentor Bob Braswell said. “Time to show I can motivate.”

If any player sleepwalks, he walks, said Braswell, who has proved that he does not play favorites. Last month, Braswell kicked starting forward Bobby McRae out of the gym at halftime of a game against Crossroads. Braswell also sent starting guard Adonis Jordan home during a preseason practice.

If personal pride fails to provide enough incentive for the starters, Braswell insists that he will not let the team’s talented reserves pine away on the pine.

“We’ve made a number of lineup changes already,” Braswell said. “We’ve shown that the bench can produce. The tournament win was a big boost to the bench. It showed that anyone can step in and do the job. All our players know that.”

The Cavaliers showed no signs of a letdown Wednesday when they defeated Gardena, 111-58. Cleveland’s first conference opponent is Canoga Park (2-7), and Braswell said that he plans to issue orders to take no prisoners.

“I’m telling the team it’s the most important game of the season,” he said. “We’ll play the way we always play--we’ll press and trap and run. That’s what we do, and we aren’t changing it for anybody.”