Braswell Criticized for Rout : Chatsworth’s Shair Saw a Need for Earlier Restraint

When Chatsworth High Coach Gary Shair picked up the telephone Monday, Cleveland was on his mind--and not solely because Chatsworth plays at Cleveland at 4 p.m. today.

Shair, in fact, was not at a loss for words to describe Cleveland’s colossal, 126-29 drubbing of Canoga Park on Friday.

So, Gary, how’s the team?

“Could be better and could be worse,” he said. “We could be Canoga.”

Diplomacy be damned, Shair said. Cleveland, which is ranked No. 2 in the state, held a 65-7 lead at halftime and clearly went too far, he said.

“The majority of the coaches I know would never do that,” Shair said. “I know I have no desire to do that to another coach, to another team.”

Shair said that Cleveland Coach Bob Braswell should have ordered the Cavaliers to back off sooner, before the game became a runaway. The wrong lessons were taught, Shair said, and Braswell’s Cavalier attitude is unforgivable.

“I’m a teacher first--an educator--and a coach second,” Shair said. “Humiliating a kid like that has no place in all of this. He’s teaching kids to rub it in, to kick ‘em while they’re down.”

Braswell agreed that the game was nothing to boast about--for Cleveland or Canoga Park--but defended his team’s right to play full bore for 4 quarters.

“I looked to my assistants (after lifting the press) in the third quarter and asked ‘What do I do now?’ ” Braswell said. “Sure, it was embarrassing. But I don’t teach these kids to miss shots. I honestly think this was a no-win situation for us.”

Braswell said he believes that the City Section is partly to blame for placing the 3-A Division West Valley League in the same conference with the 4-A Division North Valley League.

“I think it’s unfair to Canoga. They’re outmatched. But I don’t feel like I should have to defend the way we play basketball,” he said.

Braswell used his entire roster and said that no more than 1 starter was on the floor at any time in the second half. He also admitted that the criticism from other coaches had put him on the defensive.

“They weren’t even there,” Braswell said in reference to his critics. “They don’t know what happened or what I did. The subs were in, the press was off, but we’re not going to alter our style for anybody.”

Canoga Park Coach Joey Nakasone said Monday that the team is relatively unaffected by the one-sided loss, in which Cleveland set school records for points in a game and quarter (40 in the third).

“These kids have a good attitude,” Nakasone said. “They realize it’s just a game. Some kids would tend to take something like this very hard, but our players don’t live and die with a basketball game.”

Other coaches from the North Valley League said Braswell might have considered using options other than an outright stall to slow the rout and that they would never allow their teams to win so decisively.

“You can work on certain aspects of your game that you wouldn’t normally work on,” said Kennedy Coach Yutaka Shimizu, whose team will face the Cavaliers twice in league play. “You don’t want to stall, but you could work on your half-court offense or something. Anything.”

The prospects of additional Cleveland routs weigh heavily on the minds of some.

Said Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson, whose team also will face Cleveland twice: “I don’t think I even want to play them.”