Team Picks Up Pieces, So to Speak

Go ahead, pinch him, because Mike Murphy thinks he’s dreaming.

“I go to practice and I just can’t believe I have these guys playing for me,” said Murphy, the boys’ basketball coach at Southern California Christian High School, in Orange.

“We used to be in the Olympic League, but we only beat one league team in 2 years--our record was 1-23. So, this year they moved us into the Arrowhead League. So far this season in nonleague games, we have beat 2 of 3 Olympic League teams. That’s more than we did in 2 years. And, it’s the same team from last year, all the same guys. We are 8-0 in league and 14-4 overall.”

There are only 240 students at Southern California Christian, a Southern Section Division 1-A school, and just seven players on the team--all returners--who have played in the basketball program for 3 years.

The shortest player stands 6 feet, and the average height of the starters is 6-4. Three starters are 6-5, but height alone doesn’t account for the turnaround. The players were just as tall last season.

“We talked about this year after our final game last season,” Murphy said. “We lost our last 7 games straight, and our record was 3-16 overall.

“The team just decided they weren’t going to lose this year, and they dedicated themselves to winning. This season started that next day, literally.”

The team began a weightlifting program and, Murphy said, the summer was spent practicing and playing in summer leagues.

In the fall, Murphy had the team run cross-country.

“They hated it, but it’s made them better,” Murphy said. “In the off-season, our routine was to practice basketball for 1 hour, run 4-5 miles and finish by lifting weights.”

Southern California Christian is averaging 77 points a game and is giving up fewer than 50. Last season, Murphy said, it was the opposite.

Shawn Wiltshire, a 6-6 junior center, is averaging 21 points and 12 rebounds a game. Kenny Cross, a 6-3 senior guard, is second in scoring with 20.2 points and 7 rebounds.

Santa Barbara’s Janelle Thompson is out for the rest of the basketball season because of a knee injury, and her team is feeling the loss. It has fallen to 15-6 overall, but is 9-2 in the Channel League.

The 5-11 forward aggravated a knee injury she suffered in an accident during the summer. Doctors believe that she has torn a ligament and probably will undergo surgery.

In Southland boys’ basketball, there seems to be virtually no matchup for Glendora’s Tracy Murray, a 6-8 center who is averaging 43.8 points a game.

Murray has amassed more than half of Glendora’s 1,705 points this season, and Glendora (22-1 overall, 11-0 in the Baseline League) has scored an average of 81 points to opponents’ 58.

So Glendora’s 79-75 home victory over Ontario Chaffey last Wednesday was a little too close for the Tartans’ comfort. It was the first time in 2 years that a league opponent has come within 9 points of them. In a game played earlier this season, Glendora beat Chaffey, 91-67.

Chaffey’s Reggie Cain, a 6-6 senior, scored 28 points to Murray’s 47, but the contest proved Chaffey’s resurgence as a serious competitor, a role it hasn’t enjoyed since the 1976-77 season, when it won the Citrus Belt League title with the help of Anthony Munoz, now playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, and Mark McQuaid and John Mattke.

Chaffey (16-4, 10-2) is in second place in the Baseline League, 1 game ahead of Upland.

“Our front line reminds me of the three M’s--that’s what we called those guys on the ‘76-77 team,” said Don Nelson, who coached that team for Chaffey and is now a co-athletic director at the school.

“We’ve got a big line this season, with Bill Brown, James Terry (both 6-4) and Reggie. We just have more talent right now then we have had in a long time and we’re more balanced.”

Olympic track star Florence Griffith Joyner will be honored and will help honor some high school athletes today at an Amateur Athletic Foundation luncheon celebrating National Women and Girls in Sports Day at the Sheraton Grande Hotel.

Griffith Joyner will present awards to six of the California Interscholastic Federation’s top girl athletes--Aggie Garcia of Reseda High in softball and basketball, Arcelia Gomez of Los Angeles Wilson in track and field, Bev Oden of Irvine High in volleyball, Keri Phebus of Newport Beach Corona del Mar in tennis, Kira Jorgensen of Vista Rancho Buena Vista High in cross-country, and Michelle Lopez of Chula Vista Hilltop High in soccer.

TIMES’ BASKETBALL POLLS

Through Feb. 1

BOYS

City

No., School, League: Record

1. Manual Arts, Metro-4A: 18-0

2. Westchester, Metro-4A: 13-4

3. Cleveland, North Valley-4A: 17-2

4. Crenshaw, Southern-4A: 14-2

5. Taft, North Valley-4A: 15-3

6. Los Angeles, Western-3A: 12-7

7. Fremont, Central-3A: 18-3

8. University, Western-3A: 12-6

9. Carson, Pacific-4A: 11-7

10. Washington, Southern-4A: 11-8

Southern Section

No., School, League: Record

1. Saddleback, Sea View-5AA: 20-1

2. Mater Dei, Angelus-5AA: 21-2

3. Pasadena, Pacific-5A: 19-2

4. Lakewood, Moore-5AA: 18-5

5. Loyola, Del Rey-5AA: 18-2

6. Irvine, South Coast-5A: 19-3

7. Capistrano Valley, South Coast-5A: 16-4

8. St. Bernard, Camino Real-5AA: 19-3

9. San Bernardino, San Andreas-4AA: 23-0

10. Glendora, Baseline-4AA: 21-1

11. Santa Clara, Frontier-2A: 17-3

12. Rolling Hills, Bay-3A: 18-4

13. Millikan, Moore-5AA: 17-5

14. St. Paul, Angelus-4A: 15-6

15. L.B. Poly, Moore-5AA: 14-8

GIRLS

City

No., School, League: Record

1. Crenshaw, Southern-4A: 18-1

2. Carson, Pacific-4A: 14-3

3. Reseda, Mid Valley-4A: 12-3

4. North Hollywood, Mid Valley-4A: 13-4

5. Washington, Southern-4A: 14-4

6. Dorsey, Southern-4A: 15-5

7. Palisades, Metro-4A: 13-4

8. El Camino Real, North Valley-4A: 11-5

9. Fremont, Central-4A: 12-6

10. Kennedy, North Valley-4A: 7-6

Southern Section

No., School, League: Record

1. Morningside, Ocean-5AA: 19-1

2. Chino, Baseline-5A: 20-0

3. Brea-Olinda, Orange-3A: 19-2

4. Buena, Channel-5A: 17-2

5. Hart, Foothill-5A: 17-2

6. Fontana, Citrus Belt-5AA: 20-1

7. Palos Verdes, Bay-4A: 19-3

8. Santa Clara, Frontier-2A: 19-1

9. Muir, Pacific-4A: 17-3

10. Bell Gardens, Whitmont-5AA: 19-2

11. Los Altos, Sierra-4A: 20-1

12. Katella, Empire-4A: 19-3

13. Ontario, Hacienda-5A: 19-1

14. Ocean View, Sunset-5A: 21-3

15. Fountain Valley, Sunset-5AA: 15-8