The High Schools : City Coaches Take Parting Shots at Releaguing

Howard Levine of Grant and Steve Miller of North Hollywood were outspoken critics of the City Section’s releaguing plan when it was announced last summer.

Both basketball coaches objected because traditional East Valley League rivals Grant and North Hollywood were realigned in different leagues.

In previous years, Grant and North Hollywood met twice, setting up a playoff-like atmosphere during the regular season, according to Levine.

But this year, the Lancers and Huskies met only once--in a Valley Pac-8 Conference opener won by North Hollywood--and both coaches said that fact could have contributed to their first-round losses in the City Section 3-A playoffs last Friday.

“It’s all conjecture now,” Levine said. “But I wonder if it would have made a difference if we had played them twice. After all, neither one of our teams were challenged during the league season. And that puts you at a disadvantage when the playoffs start. You need to experience those tight games.”

Miller, whose Huskies (15-5) had won 11 consecutive games before losing to Jefferson, 73-69, in the first round, agreed.

“Those were big, playoff-intensity-type games,” he said of the meetings with Grant. “And we only played in one of them this year. We really didn’t get challenged after that.”

Grant (17-4) was 6-0 in East Valley League play and had an average victory margin of more than 21 points a game; North Hollywood’s margin of victory was almost 24 points during a 6-0 Mid-Valley League campaign.

Record check: Although he has coached at three high schools in the past five years, Reseda’s Jeff Halpern has compiled a varsity coaching record of 52-17.

Halpern coached Van Nuys to a 21-3 mark and the City Section 3-A semifinals in 1984-85, guided Birmingham to a 22-3 record and the City 3-A final in 1986-87 and his Reseda squad was 9-11 this season, losing to Wilson, 56-54, in the first round of the City 3-A playoffs last Friday.

David vs. Goliath, almost: Poly figured to be headed into a buzz saw when the Parrots traveled to Los Angeles High for last Friday’s first-round playoff game.

After all, Los Angeles had a front line that included 6-foot-9 Adam Henderson, 6-6 Khari Jaxon and 6-5 Richard Champion, while Poly’s tallest starter was 6-2 Juan Estrada.

Nevertheless, the Parrots gave Los Angeles a scare before falling, 85-75.

“We knew we had to shoot well to have any chance at all,” Poly assistant Tim Bruen said. “And that’s what we did. . . . There was no way we were going to go inside on them.”

Poly--ignited by forwards John Bruner and Scott Cooper--hit 26 of 42 shots from the field, including nine of 12 three-point shots.

Bruner finished with a game-high 28 points and Cooper had 27.

Burnham update: Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, returned Tuesday from a recruiting trip to Nevada Las Vegas.

Burnham, Track and Field News’ female high school athlete of the year in 1988, visited Tennessee in November, Texas in January and USC, UCLA and UNLV this month.

Spring fever: The Notre Dame baseball team will stage a 100-inning fund-raiser Saturday at the Sherman Oaks campus. The varsity will play the junior varsity beginning at 9 a.m. A barbecue is scheduled for 1 p.m.