HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEW ’89 : Sunny Hills Occupies Freeway’s Fast Lane

Chris Burton, Fullerton High School’s basketball coach, insists he was only joking when he listed the top contenders for the Freeway League championship as Sunny Hills, Fullerton and Sunny Hills’ junior varsity team.

“At least I hope so,” Burton said.

Seriously, Sunny Hills is the overwhelming favorite to win its third straight league title with a talented cast of players that probably will dominate the league again in 1990-91.

Sunny Hills has averaged 17 victories a season the past three years, and despite having only two seniors on its roster, should hit the mark again this season.

“They’re going to be the dominant team,” La Habra Coach Frank McCarroll said. “The rest of us should have fun fighting it out for second place.”

As usual, Sunny Hills figures to start slowly, with six key players still competing on its championship football team.

“I had five players for practice this week, so we worked with the JVs,” said Steve White, Sunny Hills’ coach. “I’m used to missing players because of the football playoffs, but I’ve never had just five.”

Brett Mitchelson, the only returning starter who isn’t playing football, missed practice all week with a pulled thigh muscle. Mitchelson, a 6-foot-7 center, averaged 8.2 points and seven rebounds per game as a sophomore.

Sunny Hills will start four juniors and a sophomore. White is pointing toward next season, when he anticipates a team similar to his 1987-88 squad that finished 22-4.

“The league is probably the weakest overall in a long time,” White said. “This is a great year for me to be starting four juniors and a sophomore.”

White, who begins his 14th season with a 193-147 record, is the dean of the league’s coaches. But another veteran, Bill Morris of Troy, returns to coaching after a six-year absence.

Morris led Troy to the postseason playoffs nine times in his 12 seasons before resigning in 1983. Morris’ disciplined style of mistake-free basketball should be worth an additional three or four victories.

Fullerton guard Rene Arias, who hit 62% of his three-point field goal attempts as a junior, is the league’s top returning player.

A look at the teams:

BUENA PARK--Coach Ed Matillo had a long rookie season, winning only one game with an all-underclassman team. Richard Harvey, a 6-4 forward, was one of the few bright spots, averaging 10.2 points and 7.5 rebounds to earn all-league honors.

Matillo will have another young team (two seniors), but he should get some help from three players off a championship freshman team that was undefeated in league play. Center Charles White is the best of the newcomers.

Buena Park also should improve with the addition of 6-3 guard Ray Lainer, a transfer from Southern High in Baltimore.

“We have better athletes, better scoring potential and more size and speed,” Matillo said. “We’ll be better than last year, but we’re still poor offensively. This team can win if we can come together and improve.”

Matillo handicaps the league race as follows: 1) Sunny Hills with the best athletes; 2) Troy with the best chemistry; 3) Fullerton with the toughest players; 4) La Habra with good size.

FULLERTON--Two returning starters, a potential starter who was injured most of the season and the addition of the school’s best athlete should make Fullerton a formidable team. Rene Arias, a deadly outside shooter, starts his third season.

Joining Arias in the backcourt is returner Chris Rubal, who averaged five steals per game last year. Greg Bach, a 6-2 forward, would have started last season but was injured most of the year.

John Bailey, the school’s best athlete, will join the team after skipping basketball the past two seasons. Bailey was the football team’s leading scorer the past two seasons and Burton is anticipating a big year from Bailey despite the layoff.

Among the top newcomers are Illinois transfer John Hill and junior Craig Olson, who was cut his freshman year but averaged 16 points per game for the junior varsity last season.

“We have a lot of question marks to be answered,” Burton said. “I have a player who missed most of last year, a transfer, one who hasn’t played since his freshman year and another who was cut his freshman year.

“We open on the road at Los Alamitos and Ocean View and then go to Trabuco Hills’ tournament, so don’t expect us to start quickly,” Burton said.

LA HABRA--Former Hacienda Heights Wilson assistant Frank McCarroll led La Habra to a playoff berth in his first season, but all five starters have graduated.

James Clegg, a 6-3 guard, and Mark Zehrung, a 6-6 center, were part-time starters who made key contributions. Clegg begins his third varsity season and averaged 11.5 points per game last season. Zehrung averaged five points and six rebounds per game.

“We will be young and not very physical,” McCarroll said. “Our strength is our outside shooting, but we lack varsity experience.”

Juniors Erik McFrazier and Ryan Kaneko and sophomores Josh Marshall and Scott Seminoff are the team’s top newcomers.

SONORA--The Raiders have won only nine games in each of the past two seasons and all-league center Matt Rechtenwald has graduated.

The top returning player is forward Greg Farlow, a 6-2, 140-pound senior. Farlow averaged nine points and six rebounds per game as a junior.

Forward Scott Oxyguard, a transfer from Sunny Hills, should start. Oxyguard played for Sunny Hills’ junior varsity team but decided to transfer because his playing prospects weren’t promising, according to Sunny Hills Coach Steve White.

SUNNY HILLS--Youth was served last year when Brett Mitchelson and David Ragsdale when started as sophomores for the co-champions, who tied for first place with Fullerton. Mitchelson will be the league’s best big man.

But the player who has White most excited is sophomore guard Terry Mann. Mann is the son of former Gerry Mann, who was on Pete Newell’s NCAA championship California team in 1959.

“The kid is really something,” White said. “He’s a 4.5 honor student who took two of his senior classes last summer to get them out of the way.” Asked if Mann was planning on graduating after his junior year, White said, “He better not, or I’ll kill him.”

Mitchelson impressed college scouts with his play in the Slam-n-Jam league last spring. “Brett’s future will be determined on how much he grows on and off the court,” White said.

White thinks his team’s biggest challenger will be Fullerton, with good reason.

“They’re awfully tough in their gym,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve won over there in the past five years.”

TROY--Point guard Mike Abbott and forward Richard Wesley are returning for their senior seasons, but Troy figures to have problems measuring up to taller teams.

Center Don Ploghaus is the tallest starter at only 6-3, and Coach Bill Morris admits the Warriors’ play inside is sometimes questionable. Still, the veteran coach is optimistic.

“We should be very competitive and hopefully challenge Sunny Hills and Fullerton for the league title,” he said. “We have some good quickness and some perimeter players.”

Among the top newcomers are Eldon Davis, a key player on Troy’s football team, and Josh Bray, a transfer from La Habra.

FREEWAY LEAGUE 1988-89 Overall, League Records in Parenthesis

SCHOOL ‘89-’90 COMMENT Fullerton (17-7, 9-1) Rene Arias among the county’s top shooters Sunny Hills (17-8, 9-1) Lancers will dominate with size, speed and skill La Habra (13-12, 6-4) Inexperience and lack of quickness could hurt Sonora (9-14, 4-6) Greg Farlow among the league’s top players Troy (7-15, 2-8) Coach Bill Morris’ return is a big plus Buena Park (1-18, 0-10) Only two seniors on the squad the past two years