High Schools Need to Show Mercy on Weak

In the aftermath of last Wednesday’s controversial girls’ basketball game between Inglewood Morningside and South Torrance, questions remain unanswered.

Many fingers were pointed at Morningside Coach Frank Scott, who allowed Lisa Leslie, his All-American center, to score 101 points in a half.

There was sympathy for South Torrance Coach Gil Ramirez, who removed his team from the game at halftime, trailing, 102-24, and for his team, which had begun the game with seven players but finished with four because two fouled out and one was injured.

Many supported South Torrance’s decision not to take the floor to begin the second half, preventing Leslie from breaking Cheryl Miller’s eight-year-old national record of 105 points.

When South Torrance school officials abided by Southern Section rules and suspended Ramirez from coaching the last game of the season, many people still said that Ramirez had done the right thing.

It was difficult to find backers for Morningside, even though the Monarchs could probably win nearly every Ocean League game by a similar margin. But Morningside was, in a way, a victim of the unwritten code of high school athletics that says a superior team just cannot play its best against a weaker opponent.

The Southern Section even changed its position last Friday morning when it reinstated Ramirez and allowed him to coach the Spartans’ last game, saying that he had just cause to forfeit.

With Ramirez on the bench, the inspired South Torrance team went on to lose to North Torrance by only 10 points, 60-50. Morningside, the defending state champion in Division I, went back to its normal ways, defeating Compton Centennial, 78-44.

So, what was gained from last week’s activities? Did the Morningside team learn a lesson in sportsmanship? Did the South Torrance team? No one can truly answer those questions.

But if the Southern Section would like to see the situation not repeated, it should simply establish a mercy rule, as it has done in eight-man football, under which a team ahead by a certain margin is awarded the victory.

In the Morningside-South Torrance game for example, with a 50-point mercy rule, the game would have been over early in the second quarter. No tears, no finger-pointing and no records broken.

Having a mercy rule would be more logical than expecting a team not to play its best. In individual sports, such as track and field, it is not expected that a runner will slow down in every race against inferior opponents. Nor is that the case in tennis, swimming or wrestling.

The City basketball playoffs will begin Friday with Manual Arts as the top-seeded team in the boys’ 4-A Division. The Toilers, who lost to Crenshaw in the City final last season and again in the State Division I semifinals, won two close Western League games last week, beating Westchester and Fairfax.

“We have paid our dues this season,” Manual Arts Coach Randolph Simpson said. “We have played a tough schedule and we won our conference, but I don’t necessary like us being the top seed.”

The Toilers, who won the state Division I title in 1988, are 21-3 this season and the Times’ top-rated team in the City. However, in finishing conference play undefeated, they needed late heroics from senior forward William Celestine in both their 74-73 victory over Westchester and their 64-63 double-overtime victory over Fairfax.

Simpson calls the 6-foot-5 Celestine, who is one of only three seniors on the team, the most underrated player in the City. Celestine is averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds a game. He is joined by the senior backcourt tandem of 6-2 guard Marcell Capers, who is averaging 14 points and 11 assists a game, and Cedric Jones, a 5-7 three-point specialist.

When asked to predict a final four for the City semifinals at the Sports Arena Feb. 23, Simpson said he expects Manual Arts to meet Dorsey, which routed Crenshaw last Friday, 91-67, and Crenshaw to play Fairfax.

Quarterback Charles Levy of Lynwood, who was regarded as one of the top players in Southern California last season, said Monday that he will attend Arizona next season.

The 6-2 Levy said that he chose Arizona over Colorado and Washington because the Wildcats had recruited him as a quarterback.

Prep Notes

Debbie Fischer of Huntington Beach Edison upped her own Southern Section records for three-point field goals for a career (100) and season (92) and tied her game record by making 10 of the long shots in the Chargers’ 88-83 victory over Westminster last week. She had 49 points in the game. . . . According to Volleyball Monthly, UCLA is expected to sign three high school All-American girls Wednesday, the first official day of the letter-of-intent signing period, in Amy Boyer of Poway, Irene Renteria of Las Vegas Clark and Allison Randick of Moraga Campolindo.

BASKETBALL POLLS

Through Feb. 12

BOYS

City No., School, League: Record 1. Manual Arts, Western-4A: 21-3 2. Fremont, Central-3A: 25-2 3. Fairfax, Western-4A: 19-5 4. Cleveland, North Valley-4A: 19-5 5. Dorsey, Southern-4A: 18-6 6. Crenshaw, Southern-4A: 19-4 7. Westchester, Western-4A: 15-10 8. Granada Hills, North Valley-3A: 18-8 9. Carson, Pacific-4A: 18-8 10. Locke, Central-3A: 17-9

Southern Section

Final No., School, League: Record 1. Mater Dei, Angelus-5A: 25-1 2. Artesia, Suburban-4A: 21-2 3. Long Beach Poly, Moore-5AA: 21-2 4. Lynwood, San Gabriel Valley-5AA: 26-1 5. Loyola, Del Rey-5A: 18-3 6. Morningside, Ocean-5AA: 23-3 7. San Bernardino, San Andreas-5AA: 24-2 8. Santa Clara, Frontier-2AA: 20-0 9. Compton, Moore, 4AA: 18-6 10. St. Monica, Camino Real-5AA: 20-5 11. Capistrano Valley, South Coast-5A: 17-8 12. Dominguez, San Gabriel Valley-4AA: 20-5 13. Marina, Sunset-5A: 17-8 14. Cajon, San Andreas-5A: 21-3 15. Millikan, Moore-5AA: 19-7

GIRLS

City No., School, League: Record 1. Washington, Southern-4A: 23-3 2. Van Nuys, Mid-Valley-4A: 20-3 3. Dorsey, Southern-4A: 18-5 4. Marshall, Northwest-3A: 19-3 5. Roosevelt, Eastern-4A: 16-2 6. North Hollywood, Mid Valley-4A: 12-7 7. Fremont, Central-4A: 13-10 8. Huntington Park, Eastern-3A: 14-4 9. University, Metro-3A: 14-3 10. Carson, Pacific-4A: 21-7

Southern Section

Final No., School, League: Record 1. Brea-Olinda, Orange-3A: 26-0 2. Morningside, Ocean-5AA: 23-3 3. Lynwood, San Gabriel Valley-5AA: 21-1 4. Buena, Channel-5A: 23-0 5. Palmdale, Golden-5AA: 21-3 6. Ontario, Hacienda-5A: 26-0 7. Hart, Foothill-5A: 21-4 8. Santa Barbara, Channel-5A: 22-5 9. Palos Verdes, Bay-4A: 24-4 10. Lompoc, Northern-3AA: 20-3 11. Chino, Baseline-5AA: 22-2 12. Palm Desert, Desert Valleys-4A: 23-2 13. Woodbridge, Pacific Coast-4AA: 21-4 14. Lakewood, Moore-5AA: 19-4 15. Muir, Pacific-4A: 22-5