McRae’s Miss Proved to Be Big Hit

Cleveland High Coach Marc Paez says with a very straight face that the play “set the tone for the game.”

Tone? If this were music, the tone would be an off-the-scale Z-flat, a definite “clang.” If it were color, the tone would be something between metallic gray and smog-bound brown.

In terms of the ebb and flow of basketball, however, Paez says that the word means establishing presence with authority.

In this case, the coach insists that Bobby McRae definitely wrote a tome on tone.

The scene: A showdown with highly regarded Antelope Valley in a semifinal game of the Hart tournament. Antelope Valley had been installed as the pre-tournament favorite by many.

The set-up: Cleveland center Trenton Cornelius swats the opening tip to McRae, who gathers the ball and makes a power move to the hoop.

McRae, who last week was selected the most valuable player of the Hart tournament, attempts to dunk the ball a scant two or three seconds into the game.

The result: The ball hits the iron harder than a steroid-chomping weightlifter and ricochets into the lights.

McRae might have learned a lesson about the gravity of gravity, but he showed Antelope Valley that Cleveland meant business. The Cavaliers dashed past Antelope Valley, 26-9, in the first quarter en route to a 92-46 win.

How lopsided was it? Antelope Valley Coach Skip Adams said that his team had been “embarrassed” by the Cavaliers.

“He missed the dunk,” Paez said of McRae, “but he established that we were going to play our game.”

McRae didn’t miss much of anything else in the tournament, leading Cleveland to the title by scoring a team-high 15 points in a 71-61 victory over stubborn Hart in the final.

However, McRae said that after averaging a steady-but-unspectacular 14 points over four tournament games, he found his selection as MVP a little surprising. He expected the honor to go to one of Cleveland’s many flashy, ubiquitous guards.

“I think I did it as much with my defense and rebounding,” said McRae, who averaged 11 rebounds in the tournament. “My scoring was pretty average, but I rebounded good.”

Good, for McRae, is when he’s bad. Or more accurately, when he’s mad.

Last year, former Coach Bob Braswell likened McRae’s on-the-floor countenance to that of former NBA enforcer Maurice Lucas, whose legendary scowl could melt an opponent’s shoelaces.

“That’s because I always look mad,” McRae said with a grin. “He said that my game face reminded him of (Lucas), that I never smiled.”

Things have been a little more cheerful this season for McRae, a two-year starter and three-year letterman.

As a sophomore, McRae spent most of the season on the bench in what he termed a “watch-and-learn season.”

The primary object of his court-side vision, as often as not, was Cal-bound power forward Rich Branham.

Last season, McRae learned just as much starting alongside front-liners Lucious Harris (Cal State Long Beach) and Warren Harrell (New Mexico State). Hardly bad role models.

Not surprisingly, he improved by osmosis, if nothing else. In his first two years on the team, McRae’s main contribution offensively was an occasional 15-foot jump shot from near the free-throw line.

As a senior, he has scored most of his points inside, ripping down offensive rebounds and knocking in the put-back.

“I’m hitting the boards harder, trailing on the break, helping out however I can,” said McRae, 6-foot-5, 185 pounds. “I want to be more in the offense this year.”

Paez found that McRae’s presence is worth more than a few points. McRae was absent for much of the summer-league schedule after suffering a broken right wrist--just as Paez was taking over for Braswell.

“When he came back,” Paez said, “there was an immediate upswing in the confidence of the other players.”

McRae’s emergence has sparked an about-face in the team’s overall performance too. Cleveland struggled to a 1-3 start but has bounced back to win nine of 10.

“He does so many things that aren’t in the score book,” Paez said. “His defense, rebounding, his intensity and leadership . . . He leads both by example and by exhorting his teammates.”

And the coach isn’t talking about the proverbial, rah-rah stuff. Sometimes, exhortation can take the form of a missed dunk.

“As far as I’m concerned, he said everything we wanted to say on that one play,” Paez said. “Who cares if he missed?”