El Segundo Center Shawn Foster Plays Taller, Faster Than Foes Expect

Shawn Foster’s parents, Dan and Olivia, sat in the stands at Salesian High School on Feb. 3, waiting for the second half of the game with El Segundo to begin. They had traveled more than an hour in the rain to watch their son, El Segundo’s star center.

“Watch this. This is a good play,” Dan Foster said just as the Eagles broke their huddle and took the ball out of bounds.

Coach Rick Sabosky called “Ice,” an in-bounds play that sets up a jump shot for Eagles guard Scott Panfil.

The ball was passed in. Panfil skirted around a pick by two teammates and launched the ball toward the basket from about 25 feet. Though Panfil is a good shooter, this jumper strayed high and to the right. But it wasn’t a shot, it was an alley-oop pass.

Suddenly, Shawn Foster jumped from the right of the key, grabbed the ball above the basket and slam-dunked it. The gym was stunned into silence.

The impressive alley-oop was nothing new to Foster’s parents or other El Segundo fans, but to the uninitiated, Foster is surprisingly quick for his size and plays much taller than his 6-4 height.

Foster has led his team to a 13-10 overall record, 9-3 in the Santa Fe League. The Eagles lost to Cathedral on Wednesday night, ruining their chances for a league title, but they are headed to the CIF Southern Section 2-AA playoffs.

Foster wears glasses off the court but sees very well without them when he plays. He is averaging 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists per game.

Though he is listed as a center, Foster plays everywhere from point man on the full-court press to post man on offense. He often receives an outlet pass and leads the fast break, handling the ball like a guard. He also jumps out of nowhere to block shots. He swatted one shot against Cathedral three rows deep into the stands.

“You wouldn’t think he’d get that high, being only 6-4,” said Jerry Melendrez, a senior on the Salesian team. “But then, you wouldn’t think he’d be that quick for such a big guy.”

“No one has shut him down this year,” said Sabosky. Foster scored 36 points against Loyola, a top-10 5-AA Division team, and 27 against Inglewood and its star player, Harold Miner.

“He’s going to get 20 points no matter what you do,” said Cathedral Coach Michael Miller. Foster says his best performance may have been in his freshman year when El Segundo played Brea-Olinda, led by Kevin Walker, now a junior center at UCLA. Foster watched Walker score 22 points in the first half, was assigned to guard him in the second half and held him to only two more points, blocking two shots.

Foster has troubled opponents for four years in five sports. His size and speed allow him to do just about anything he wants to athletically. Foster said he could dunk as a seventh-grader, though his father says that didn’t happen until eighth grade.

Besides basketball, Foster has lettered in water polo, football and track. He also pitched for the junior varsity baseball team as a sophomore but threw his arm out and later gave up the sport.

Though he had fun playing other sports, Foster’s passion is basketball. In fact, some say he can become too passionate about it. At times, he has been labeled immature, volatile, and an “attitude problem.”

“We’ve gone through some rough times,” said Sabosky. “(Foster) has had some problems in how he handled himself. It’s almost like he would take it personally if he got fouled; he would want to start a fight or something.”

Foster said some of his problems arose from his personal friendship with Sabosky. Because Sabosky and Foster’s father had played together in industrial leagues together, Foster would take advantage of the relationship.

He also had problems with some of his teammates.

“We had some big mouths on the team, and I sort of followed them, other guys I didn’t get along with,” Foster said. “We had some guys who would say, ‘You scored enough last game; it’s my turn to score.’ ”

But now, Foster, Sabosky and his parents all agree, his rebel stage is over. Foster is co-captain of the Eagles. He doesn’t want to fight; he just wants to play.

His remaining weaknesses, he says, are rebounding and free-throw shooting. His strong point is the kind of desire he showed last week against Salesian.

“Shawn can dominate a game when he wants to,” said Dan Foster.

In the first quarter he did just that, scoring 13 of El Segundo’s 29 points. He broke away for two dunks, stole two passes and dished off three assists, two to fellow post man Ken Talanoa.

“Cooling off” after that, Foster finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

For the first game this season, he didn’t lead the Eagles in scoring. Sharpshooter Panfil did with 32 points, which suited Foster fine.

For a prolific scorer, he has also done “an excellent job in giving the ball up” this season, Sabosky noted.

After the playoffs, Foster will join an off-season league and choose a college. He said his grades are not up to Division I level yet, but he is willing to play at a community college for two years, perhaps El Camino, and then transfer to a four-year school.

“I’d love to play for UNLV,” said Foster.

UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian hasn’t called yet, but Foster might grow some (his father is 6-6), he has two years to work on his grades and he promises that the only kind of rebel he’ll be is a Runnin’ Rebel.