PREP WRAPUP : Hawthorne Coach Dared to Brag--and Team’s Play Has Backed Him Up

High school coaches, as a rule, are a conservative fraternity. Rarely do they boast or make outlandish predictions concerning their own teams to the media.

Even if they think that way, coaches realize a newspaper clipping can be turned into a source of motivation by opponents. It’s best to think big and talk small, most coaches would say.

Not Richard Wells.

The Hawthorne High basketball coach threw caution to the wind before the start of Bay League play when he predicted that the Cougars, who took sixth place last season, would win the championship of the eight-team league.

At the time, it seemed Wells was climbing out on a limb.

Today, he’s perched squarely at the top.

Hawthorne moved into a tie for first place with Beverly Hills by beating the host Normans, 58-53, Friday night. With two league games remaining, both teams have 10-2 records. But the Cougars own a psychological edge by having beaten Beverly Hills in both of their meetings.

“We can finish as co-champions,” said Beverly Hills Coach Jack Dyck, “but we’ll always know that Hawthorne was better.”

It was subject to debate whether Hawthorne was the better team before the season.

The Cougars returned just two players from last year’s team that finished 7-16 overall, 3-11 in league play, and missed the playoffs for the first time in six years. Not exactly the ideal foundation for a team setting its sights on the championship of one the area’s most competitive leagues.

But Wells had a good feeling about this group. All his players needed was confidence.

“That’s why I said those things,” he said, referring to his prediction. “I wanted my kids to believe in themselves. I think 80% percent of the game is confidence. I was just trying to use that to our advantage.”

Wells didn’t want his players to be intimidated by any opponent. When the Cougars played Bishop O’Dowd in the first round of the Las Vegas Valley High School Tournament in December, he failed to mention the Oakland school’s big reputation--Bishop O’Dowd played in three state Division I championship games between 1983 and ’88.

“I didn’t tell them anything about Bishop O’Dowd,” Wells said. “We’re not about the opponent. We’re about us, as a group. That’s been our theme.”

Oblivious to the stature of their opponent, the Cougars went out and beat Bishop O’Dowd, 61-39.

That may have been the first sign that Hawthorne was headed for a sweet season. The Cougars went out the next night and played powerful Morningside down to the wire before losing, 70-67.

When league play started a week later, Hawthorne was ready. The Cougars, thriving on a balanced lineup and tenacious defense, rolled to eight straight victories before they were upset in back-to-back games last week against Torrance and Santa Monica to fall into second place.

“We got misfocused,” Wells explained.

To get his players back on track, Wells scheduled a team breakfast and an outing to see the movie “Glory” last weekend.

Hawthorne responded by thumping Rolling Hills, 78-58, Wednesday and moving back into first place with Friday’s victory.

Said Wells: “It was bounce-back week.”

As usual, Hawthorne received a balanced effort against Beverly Hills.

Forward Anthony King led all scorers with 20 points and did a good job on the boards, sharpshooting guard Tremayne Gauthier scored 13, forward Reggie Bell had 12 and came up with two critical blocked shots in the last minute, and reserve guard Shanta Cotwright added seven points, including three free throws in the final 29 seconds.

The full-court press was again Hawthorne’s key to success.

After Beverly Hills moved out to a 15-6 lead, the Cougars increased their pressure and outscored the Normans, 23-6, to gain a 29-21 advantage early in the second quarter. By halftime, Hawthorne led 38-28.

“We didn’t handle their pressure in the first half,” said Beverly Hills’ Dyck. “We lost our poise. It’s a situation where we had to make up 10 points. That’s too much.”

The Normans, sparked by 6-5 forward Bryan Domyan (19 points, 13 rebounds) and 6-4 guard Jonah Naulls (18 points), got as close as one point in the second half, but Hawthorne pulled away down the stretch.

Afterward, Dyck said he, like Wells, thought Hawthorne would win the league title.

“That’s who I picked,” he said. “I thought they had the quickness no one else had.”

Now everyone knows.

Hawthorne (17-7 overall) sews up league play this week with games Wednesday night at Leuzinger and Friday night at home against Inglewood, while Beverly Hills plays host to Palos Verdes on Wednesday and visits Torrance on Friday.

Wells said he is leery of playing Leuzinger, the Cougars’ rival.

“That’s the game that scares me,” he said. “Emotions are high. We really have to have our heads on to beat them.”

Only the top three finishers in a league are guaranteed spots in the CIF Southern Section playoffs, but many other teams stand to gain at-large berths because the section plans to fill 32-team brackets in most divisions.

Anyone who believes El Segundo is still “fighting” for a playoff spot, as I read in another newspaper Saturday, is out of touch with reality. The Eagles are “fighting” for third place in the Camino Real League, but they’ve played so many games with teams above their own division (2-A) that they are a cinch to gain an at-large spot under the new power-rating system that awards points for playing teams in higher divisions.

The same is true for Serra (2-A) in the Camino Real, and for Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes (both 3-AA) in the Bay League.

Finishing third is more critical for Leuzinger (5-AA) and Torrance (4-AA) in the Bay League.

Because those teams play in higher divisions, there is less chance to gain power-rating points. Also, the total number of boys’ teams in those divisions is larger--the 5-AA has 50, the 4-AA has 42--than in most smaller divisions.

In other words, the odds are worse of earning an at-large spot.

Leuzinger heads into the final week tied for third place with Palos Verdes at 6-6, with Torrance a game back at 5-7.

One team that has nothing to worry about concerning the Southern Section playoffs is Morningside.

The Monarchs, ranked No. 1 in the 3-AA Division, clinched at least a tie for their second straight Ocean League title by dominating host Culver City, 90-67, Friday night. Forward Tyrone Paul led Morningside (20-3 overall, 11-0 in the league) with 27 points, including five dunks. He capped his night with a 180-degree, two-handed reverse slam.

Co-Coach Ron Randle said his team had extra incentive against Culver City, which slipped into a second-place tie with Mira Costa at 8-3.

“Rumor had it that they were talking,” Randle said. “I heard they were ready and their kids felt confident they could beat Morningside. There was a lot of rhetoric coming from their side of the fence.

“At the same time, our kids were getting ready for the game. Culver City played with emotion. You play harder with emotion, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to play smarter.”

Culver City, if you haven’t already guessed, made its share of mistakes.

Narbonne seems to be regaining its early-season form.

The Gauchos, who started 11-3 before hitting a five-game losing streak in league play, won their third straight Friday by upsetting first-place Carson, 61-45, in a Pacific League game at Narbonne.

Guard D’Mitri Rideout led a balanced effort for Narbonne with 21 points, and forwards Curtis Boyer and Major Goulsby each added 12. The Gauchos took command by shutting out Carson, 16-0, in the third quarter.

Narbonne improved to 14-8 overall and 3-5 in the league, while Carson fell to 16-8 and 6-2.