Community College Notebook / Steve Kresal : This Season, Lamoureux Is Making His Headlines on the Court

When Andre Lamoureux played basketball in high school, he had a little different attitude about the game.

At 6-feet-9 and 260 pounds, he was taller and bigger than most he played against. His advantage allowed things such things as points and rebounds to come easily to him. He averaged 21 points and 14 rebounds a game as a senior at Los Alamitos High School.

But that advantage left a bit of a hole in his game--defense.

“My thing last season was that I had to score more than the player I was guarding,” Lamoureux said. “I figured that was good enough.”

Lamoureux was termed a project player out of high school by scouts and coaches in the area, but last March, Lamoureux appeared good enough for UCLA coach Walt Hazzard to recruit him. The two came to a verbal agreement and Lamoureux planned to play at UCLA this season.

Things got complicated a month later.

Hazzard was fired and replaced by Jim Harrick, who had a meeting with Lamoureux. Neither side would say exactly what was discussed, only that UCLA would honor the scholarship if Lamoureux wanted it.

But the tone of the visit with Harrick became obvious a few weeks later when Lamoureux announced he would not be playing at UCLA. When no other four-year college recruited him, he decided to attend Cypress College.

The local papers reported the story chapter by chapter and Lamoureux’s mother tried to shield him from the news. But he saw the stories anyway.

“It’s tough to read your name in the paper and see it’s not positive,” Lamoureux said. “But that is part of playing the game, having people write bad things about you sometimes.

“I was removed from the situation and there was nothing I could do about it. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I watched UCLA and USC play the other night and I thought I could be there, but I know I wouldn’t have been playing.”

This season, Lamoureux has made a few changes. He has lost 35 pounds and is running the court better. He is also going by his proper name--Andre, instead of Dre. It sounds more formal, he explained.

Lamoureux, a starter most of the season, leads Cypress (13-14 overall and 5-5 in Orange Empire Conference play) with 13.3 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. Lamoureux is shooting 59% (138 for 235) from the field and 73% (83 of 114) on free-throw attempts.

Cypress Coach Don Johnson says Lamoureux isn’t the most dedicated team member when it comes to improving his strength or working on defense and rebounding--and Lamoureux agrees.

He gets into the gym an hour or more before practice. But he seems to work more on his 20-footer, something power forwards don’t use much in college.

“I’m finally getting it in my mind that defense wins game,” Lamoureux said. “There are some things that I have to work on to improve and I know it. I have improved on defense a little, it just might not look like it.”

Community College Notes

The championship game of the Cypress baseball tournament between Cypress and El Camino scheduled Monday at Cypress was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for 2 p.m Wednesday at Cypress. . . . Jackie Cook, an all-state volleyball player from Golden West, has made an oral commitment to play at California next fall. Cook led Golden West to the state title last fall. . . Dereck Crane of Orange Coast scored 52 points in two games last week to move into fourth place on the college’s all-time scoring list. Crane scored 432 points as a freshman and has 502 this season. Crane will have at least two more games to try and pass Bruce Champion, who scored 967 points from 1966 to ’68. John Vallely (1966-68) heads the list with 1,538 points . . . Vince Hizon, a freshman guard for Cypress, has made 25 consecutive free throws, one short of the school record set this season by Ian Donnelly. Hizon has made 86% (102 of 118) of his free-throw attempts and is shooting 90% (46 of 51) in conference play . . . San Diego Mesa defeated Fullerton, 5-0, Sunday in the championship of the Rancho Santiago Softball Tournament.