Summer Hoop Spectacular on the Move : Top CIF and City Teams Will Give Preview of Next Season’s Powers

There is a new location for the seventh annual Summer Hoop Spectacular high school basketball tournament, which has moved from Bosco Tech High in Rosemead to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park.

But everything else about the tournament has remained the same.

The tournament, which runs from Tuesday through July 16 at the East Los Angeles mens and womens gyms, will still bring together most of the top boys teams from the CIF Southern and L.A. City sections and should provide a good indication of the prep powers in the Southland for next season.

Tournament director Jorge Calienes, mens basketball coach at East Los Angeles, said he experienced a few problems in moving the site away from Bosco Tech, where he had been the school’s basketball coach and athletic director.

“It (the tournament) went through an identity crisis because the teams that were invited were calling back to Bosco Tech to say yes or no and they (Bosco officials) weren’t directing them over here,” he said.

Calienes also said that his objective for staging the tournament may have changed a little since he has become coach at East Los Angeles.

“In some respects it’s like starting over because when I was in high school my goals for the tournament were somewhat different,” he said. “Now I might be a little more interested in looking at the teams (and players) from a recruiting standpoint, but that’s not the main reason why I’m doing this.

“I really enjoy watching the competition that we have here, and I enjoy setting up a large tournament and having quality teams participate.”

The coach said the tournament may not be as much of a showcase for individual high school talent as the Nike All-American Camp Sunday through July 15 in Princeton, N.J., or the Superstars Camp Sunday through July 13 at UC Santa Barbara.

However, he said that those events focus on top individuals, whereas his tournament plays up the top teams.

“The Nike and Superstars camps have almost all superstars and nothing else,” he said. “My tournament has good players, good teams and we also get a lot of the up-and-comers.”

With 48 teams, it is also the second-biggest summer tournament in the state next to the 128-team L.A. Games that are held in June.

In addition, Calienes said the tournament provides a good blend of top teams from the L.A. and Southern sections.

“My tournament’s about the only one that brings in the top teams from the City and CIF (Southern Section),” Calienes said.

He said that Southern Section powers Mater Dei of Santa Ana and Ocean View of Huntington Beach, which both passed up the L.A. Games, will be competing in his tournament.

Among City powers, Crenshaw and Cleveland are the most noticeable teams missing, although Calienes said that Cleveland may enter the tournament this week.

With or without Cleveland, the top seed in the tournament will be perennial Southern Section power Mater Dei.

The Monarchs, who won the tournament last year and won four straight Southern Section 5-A Division titles from 1985 to 1988, have three outstanding players returning from a team that finished 24-3 and reached the 5-AA quarterfinals last season and a top transfer.

The returning players are forward Charlie Andres (6-foot-5), center Derek Stone (6-foot-9) and guard Andy Karich (6-foot-4). The newcomer is highly regarded point guard Reggie Garey (6-foot-1), a transfer from Ocean View who will be a sophomore next season.

The tournament has also attracted two powers from outside of Southern California: Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland and East Anchorage of Alaska. O’Dowd has been a perennial power in Northern California, and East Anchorage is defending Alaska state champion. San Diego Section power El Camino of Oceanside will also compete.

Bishop O’Dowd has drawn the second seed in the tournament. Other top seeds include defending City 3-A champion Fremont at No. 3, City 4-A runner-up Manual Arts at No. 4, Lynwood at No. 5, Ocean View at No. 6, defending Southern Section 4-A champion Dominguez at No. 7 and Muir at No. 8.

Top players from those teams include college prospects such as guards Marcel Capers (6-foot-0) of Manual Arts, Ernest Killum (6-foot-3) of Lynwood, Greg Evans (6-foot-2) of Ocean View and Jeff Rogers (6-foot-1) of Dominguez.

“There are other things going on at the same time (such as the Nike and Superstars camps) but we’ll still have a lot of (college) recruiters here,” Calienes said. “We’ll still have representatives from all of the WAC (Western Athletic Conference), Pac 10 (Pacific 10 Conference) and PCAA (Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.) and a lot of other places.”

Another team expected to contend for the title is Fairfax, which is seeded No. 11, led by point guard John Woolery (5-foot-11). However, the seedings were made before the Lions won the L.A. Games tournament in June.

The San Gabriel Valley’s top hope in the tournament figures to be Muir, which struggled to a 10-12 record and missed the playoffs last season but reached the final 16 of the L.A. Games tournament before being eliminated by Manual Arts.

The Mustangs, whose top players last season were primarily sophomores and juniors, are led by forwards LaDay Smith, Jermaine Davis and Erid Scott and guard Phillip Turner.

Two other valley teams to watch are Muir’s cross-town rival Pasadena, seeded No. 10, and Pomona, seeded No. 16. Pasadena is led by 6-foot-3 guard Don Mitchell, who averaged 13.6 points last season, and Pomona by 6-foot-5 forward Johnny McWilliams, who averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Other valley teams competing are West Covina, Diamond Bar, Ganesha, Blair, Bishop Amat and Alhambra.

Muir and Pasadena have drawn first-round byes. Muir will play the winner of Tuesday’s Gardena-Garfield game at 5 p.m. July 13, in the second round. Pasadena will meet the winner of Wednesday’s Alhambra-El Camino Real game in the second round at 1:15 p.m. July 13.

Other first-round pairings Tuesday include Diamond Bar-Ventura at 10:45 a.m., Ganesha-St. Paul at 3:45 p.m., Blair-Kennedy at 6:15 and Bishop Amat-Locke at 8:45. On Wednesday, Pomona opens against the Chinese-American Athletic Assn. all-stars at 3:45 p.m.

The semifinals of the double-elimination tournament are at 2:30 and 3:45 p.m. July 16. The championship game is at 8:45 p.m. the same day.