JC NOTES : Ailing El Camino, Last in League, Hopes to Get Well and Make Playoffs

Don’t count El Camino College’s basketball team out of the playoffs. It may seem like the thing to do since the Warriors stand at the bottom of their league for the first time since anyone can remember.

That, however, may change after Saturday’s final South Coast Conference match-ups: Mt. San Antonio against Cerritos and Pasadena against Long Beach City College. Mt. SAC, Pasadena and Long Beach are all 3-4.

“I still think El Camino is the best team in the league,” said Bill Fraser, Long Beach’s coach of 17 years.

But the numbers say the Warriors, who have always won or shared the SCC title since joining the league five years ago, are in last place in the five-member conference. El Camino ended with a 3-5 league mark after Wednesday’s 71-66 road victory over Long Beach.

It’s an unfamiliar situation for El Camino, the junior college basketball team of the ‘80s. The Warriors won three state titles in that decade under former Coach Paul Landreaux, who left after nine years to become an assistant at UCLA last season. Now he’s the head coach at St. Mary’s University in Moraga.

Ron McClurkin, Landreaux’s assistant all nine years, took over the program on a year-to-year basis. Last season he led the Warriors to the semifinals of the state playoffs, where they fell, 72-65, to Chabot.

It was a great initial year for the interim head coach. El Camino went 6-2 in the SCC and 24-9 overall. The Warriors’ conference losses were to the toughest teams. They fell 98-91 on the road to Long Beach and lost by one point to eventual state champion Cerritos.

McClurkin expected this season to be better. It turned out to be the most disappointing since he’s been involved with the program, although his team’s overall record (18-9) is sure to earn a playoff berth.

“We’ve never finished any lower than third in league since I’ve been at El Camino,” McClurkin said. “In 1982 we placed third, which is probably the lowest we’ve finished.”

Things were going well for the Warriors this season until their league opener Jan. 6. They went in with a 15-5 record and then suffered a stunning loss at home to Mt. SAC, the league’s worst team at the time. El Camino dropped out of the state’s top 20 after losing to Mt. SAC a second time Jan. 27.

As if things weren’t bad enough, the Warriors lost their next two games at home in double overtime. They fell 110-102 to Pasadena and 103-99 to Cerritos, a team that had never won a conference game in the North Gym.

McClurkin however, remains optimistic. Wednesday’s victory at Long Beach should serve as a confidence booster, since El Camino hadn’t won there since 1985.

“We need to get on a roll for the state playoffs,” McClurkin said. “We’ve just got to get a roll going, and we have the guys to do it. There’s no more time for mistakes.”

El Camino will play at Occidental on Saturday to prepare for the SCC tournament Feb. 14-17.

Harbor College announced that football Coach Don Weems has been made a permanent full-time physical education teacher at the school. Weems was hired in February, 1989, as a long-term substitute teacher and head football coach.

He inherited a program that went 3-16-1 in two seasons under Chris Ferragamo, a non-faculty coach. Last season Weems lead the ailing Seahawks to a 3-7 mark.

“He has done an excellent job in his first year, bringing about improvements in many phases of the program,” said Harbor Athletic Director Jim O’Brien in a news release. “He is a real professional and is realistic about the challenges he faces. I am optimistic about the future of the program.”

Weems brought a wealth of experience to the Wilmington campus. He came from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he was defensive coordinator and later assistant coach to Harvey Hyde.

Before that he served as defensive coordinator and athletic director at Santa Monica College. Weems started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for his alma mater, Cal State Long Beach, in 1968. After that he was an assistant at Kennedy High in La Palma for three years.