Winter Notebook /Sean Waters : End of Win Streak Causes Loss of Sleep for Buena’s Hannah

Buena High boys’ basketball Coach Glen Hannah stayed up to watch the sun rise Tuesday morning because he didn’t want to experience another nightmare, especially after the Bulldogs’ performance against Rio Mesa.

The Spartans ended the Bulldogs’ Channel League winning streak at 24 games with a 78-53 victory.

What gave Hannah insomnia wasn’t the final score but the manner in which the Bulldogs lost. Buena committed 22 turnovers and made only 12 of 29 free throws. The Bulldogs also were outrebounded, 39-24.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win,” Hannah said. “We must have missed seven front ends of one-and-one free throws. They pressed us in the second half and we came out real panicky. We were trying to get rid of the ball in a hurry instead of paying attention to where the ball was going.”

Hannah said that he stayed awake after the game designing drills to teach his players how to handle a press, but he won’t lose any sleep trying to figure out his team’s season-long problem at the free-throw line.

“I don’t know what to do,” Hannah said. “Maybe we can make a rule where the referees can’t call any fouls against the other team. If that doesn’t work, maybe we can have the option of taking the ball out instead of shooting free throws.”

Hannah said he was upset that the streak ended, but added it didn’t bother his players too much.

“It’s hard to get the players behind the streak because it started two seasons ago,” Hannah said.

The verdict: The Southern Section Executive Committee will meet Saturday to discuss possible sanctions against Santa Clara for forfeiting a pair of games 2 weeks ago in the Estancia tournament.

Santa Clara failed to show up for its 2 consolation games after its initial loss of the season, to Huntington Beach Edison, in the second round. Coach Lou Cvijanovich said that the officiating was biased toward Orange County teams and pulled the Saints from the tournament.

The most severe penalty Santa Clara could receive would be suspension from the Southern Section for breaking its contract.

According to Southern Section rule 151.3: “When a school fails to engage in a contest agreed upon, without giving notice to the other school and securing an honorable release, it may be suspended from membership.”

The 12-member executive committee consists of superintendents, principals and athletic directors from throughout the Southern Section. Santa Clara sent a tape of the game and an extended narrative from Cvijanovich to defend its case.

Cvijanovich refuses to comment about the case until the Southern Section office makes a ruling. Southern Section official Dean Crowley does not believe that Santa Clara will have its membership suspended.

“I spoke with Lou and I believe he deeply regrets it and is sorry about making the decision to pull out of the tournament,” Crowley said.

Crowley added that the Orange County Officials Assn. apparently did not assign the referees for the tournament. “One official from the association did the assigning for the tournament, and we need to ascertain whether those officials were qualified for varsity games,” Crowley said.

Starting over: The Ventura girls’ basketball team had to forfeit 6 wins after senior starting guard Nichole Force was found by the school to be athletically ineligible.

Force, who transferred last year from Oxnard, was in her fifth year in school. According to Southern Section rules, an athlete is eligible to compete for 8 consecutive semesters.

Force was the team’s second-leading scorer with a 13.6 average. She had missed the past 2 games and will remain ineligible unless Ventura succeeds in its attempt to have her reinstated by the Southern Section.

Four-corners mistake: Hueneme Coach Howard Davis made a 6-point mistake by calling for a four corners offense during the Vikings’ league opener against Dos Pueblos.

Davis was trying to get his players to hold the ball with a 52-49 lead and 3 minutes left. The Vikings had scored 15 unanswered points to overcome a 12-point deficit.

But when Davis yelled “stall,” he received a technical foul sign from the referees.

“They called a technical foul because I got out of my chair to talk to my players,” Davis said. “But that’s an old rule that was changed this year. I was enraged and they gave me another technical. The timing was ridiculous. I get up a lot during a game. Why didn’t they give me the foul earlier in the game when I first got out of my chair?”

Billy Barry of Dos Pueblos made all 4 free throws and a short jump shot to give Dos Pueblos a 55-52 victory.

The referees admitted they had made a mistake and apologized afterward, but Davis remained irate.

“This is my seventh year of coaching and that was my worst night,” Davis said. “If ever there was a night to call it quits and leave coaching, it was that night.”