Paez Takes Helm at Cleveland

Marc Paez has officially taken over as coach of the Cleveland High boys’ basketball team, which is playing this week in the 16-team Slam-N-Jam tournament at Carson High.

On Monday, outgoing Coach Bob Braswell introduced Paez to the team for the first time, a few minutes before a summer-league game at Cleveland.

“He said he’d probably watch for a while, mainly just sit in the stands and learn what the kids can do and what their names are,” said Braswell, who left to become an assistant at Cal State Long Beach. “He told them that this is a good opportunity for each of them to show what they can do.”

Paez, 29, who coached the junior varsity at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey for the past seven years, was named as Braswell’s successor last Friday by Cleveland Principal Ida Mae Windham. Paez, who was out of town, was not contacted by Windham until last weekend, when he formally accepted, Braswell said.

Adan Valencia, a 6-6 forward from Buena High in Ventura, will play basketball at Cal Lutheran. Valencia averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds a game as a senior and was a first-team All-Channel League selection. He is the first player to be recruited by Mike Dunlap, who was hired as coach of the Kingsmen in May.

Kennedy High product Jeff Wetherby was sent from the Atlanta Braves to triple-A affiliate Richmond on Wednesday to make room for infielder Ed Whited. Wetherby was four for 10 with a run scored and one run batted in for the Braves.

Sammy Avoian, an assistant football coach at Alemany High last season, has accepted a position on the football staff at Central Missouri State.

Avoian is a 1977 graduate of Granada Hills High who was an assistant at Montclair Prep for three seasons before joining the Alemany staff last season. Avoian will coach receivers at Central Missouri, a Division II school that has won three consecutive Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. titles.