Prep Basketball : THE RESURGENCE : Pacifica Boys’ Basketball Team Hopes Losing Is All in the Past

Every time he sits at his desk at Pacifica High School, basketball Coach Rhett Heckel stares into the face of incentive.

It looks something like this: a wrinkled piece of notebook paper, marked with the results of Pacifica’s games during the 1987-88 season. Below that, in bold ink, are the team’s final overall and Garden Grove League records: 7-14, 5-9.

For many coaches, memories like these would be put in the wastebasket, not on the wall. But Heckel, in his third year as Mariner head coach after four years of coaching the junior varsity, is passionate about remembering the past, no matter how dreary.

It has been 13 years since Pacifica finished a boys’ basketball season with a winning record. And it has been 18 years since a Mariner team gained entrance to the Southern Section playoffs.

As Heckel notes matter-of-factly, “No, there hasn’t been a whole lotta success here.”

Until lately. Pacifica is 14-7 and 9-4. For Heckel and his players, improving upon Pacifica’s rather lackluster basketball history is incentive enough. But the real inspiration is trying for a spot in the Southern Section playoffs, and once there, winning a game--something no Pacifica team has done.

Tonight at 6, the Mariners finish their Garden Grove League schedule against league-leader La Quinta, featuring Scott Campbell, Orange County’s scoring leader who is averaging 30 points per game.

The Mariners need to win tonight to be guaranteed a spot in the Southern Section 3-A playoffs. If it loses, Pacifica, with an overall record above .500, would be considered for an at-large entry, determined by a Southern Section committee.

There are several factors that have led to the Mariners’ success this season. First, the players:

--Dustin Bonham, a senior guard, is the team’s scoring leader, averaging 18.9 points a game. Bonham, who was hampered by a severly sprained ankle last season, also averages six rebounds a game.

--Bill Mauer, a senior point guard, provides the spark for the Mariners’ fast-break offense. When the team’s not running, Mauer’s not smiling. “We didn’t utilize Billy’s talents last year; we didn’t have the athletes who could handle his passes,” Heckel said. “We try to run at every opportunity. (Mauer) gets really upset when things slow down.”

--Jason Brodowski, a senior forward, is a talented all-around player, supporting Bonham with eight points and seven rebounds a game.

--Randy Schulze, a junior forward, is the team’s best shooter (62%). A quiet, introspective type, Schulze plays piano and writes music when he’s off the court. On the court, he has been the team’s best player during the league season, improving each game and averaging 16 points.

“Randy’s going to be great, he’s an outstanding athlete,” Heckel said. “His only weakness is that he’s not as aggressive or intense as he should be sometimes.”

--Mike Maher, a junior center, is the complete opposite of Schulze in the aggression department. At 6-feet-5 and 230, Maher is big, strong and, according to Heckel, the most aggressive player he has ever coached.

As a team, the Mariners have been successful because of strong rebounding--which fuels their fast break--plus good defense and conditioning.

During the preseason, the players ran as much as eight miles twice a week, did sprints of 220 and 440 yards and maintained a heavy-duty weight-lifting program in Pacifica’s new basketball weight room.

But aside from the improved skills and conditioning, a key difference in Pacifica this season has been the development of pride and enthusiasm, both in the players and in the student body.

“The students have been fantastic,” Heckel said. “The gym’s been packed. Some crowds have gotten to the point where we can’t get more cars in the parking lot. Some kids paint their faces black and blue. It’s great.”

The new enthusiasm is a welcome sight for Heckel, as well as a few former Pacifica basketball coaches.

Said Pacifica teacher Dave Reid, who in 1976 led the Mariners to their most recent winning season (13-11): “I’m very pleased to see it happen. I hear student conversations about the team all the time, and there’s lots of positive announcements over the PA system. The future looks very bright.”

But even with a promising future, Heckel wants to make sure no one forgets the past. Establishing a Mariner basketball tradition has been an important priority with him.

“It used to be when you walked around this school, you knew absolutely nothing about Pacifica basketball--other than it had been horrendous,” Heckel said.

And so, after weeks of research through school archives and newspaper microfiches, Heckel created the Mariner Pride basketball record board, complete with career, season and single-game records since the school opened in 1968.

“I always felt, even if a program’s not successful, you need to know where the program’s been. You need incentives.”

Heckel has started an annual alumni game, revved up the once-sagging booster club, and raised enough funds through free-throw-athons to buy much-needed new uniforms, athletic bags and practice and game sweats.

“I told them if we make the playoffs this year, next year’s team will travel to Hawaii or some place like that,” Heckel said.

The extra incentives seem to be working. Mariner players don’t hesitate when asked about their top priority.

“To make it to CIF and win our first game,” Schulze said. “Right now, there’s not anything more important than that.”