THE HIGH SCHOOLS : How North Hollywood Won Basketball Playoff With Only Three Goals

If North Hollywood High is able to execute its game plan against Fremont in the City Section 3-A Division final Friday at the Sports Arena as competently as it did against Grant in the semifinals, who knows? . . . the Huskies just might be cutting down the Sports Arena nets.

In its 85-69 win over Grant last week, North Hollywood achieved three goals laid out by Coach Steve Miller.

Objective No. 1: To score at least 70 points. In previous losses to Grant, North Hollywood had scored 46 and 43 points.

“Even if it meant giving up cheap baskets, we were determined to get that score up, to have that up tempo,” Miller said.

North Hollywood’s press created Grant turnovers that resulted in easy Husky baskets.

Objective No. 2: To stop Grant guard Keith Weinstein, who scored 25 points in Grant’s 48-46 win Jan. 17.

When not pressing, the Huskies used a 1-3-1 zone defense to take away Weinstein’s forte--the three-point shot. Weinstein finished with 12 points.

“We were not going to let him beat us,” Miller said. “When he gets hot, they get hot. So we wanted to frustrate him.”

Objective No. 3: North Hollywood’s do-everything center, Dana Jones, had been handcuffed in the previous losses by a 2-3 zone that collapsed like a lawn chair on Jones each time he touched the ball. So Miller moved Jones to the top of the key.

Jones showed aspects of his game that have gone unnoticed most of this season--crisp, smart passing and perimeter shooting. He scored 25 points, hitting shots from all around the key and opened up the inside for junior forward Eric Jackson, who scored 15 points and played “the game I’ve been waiting for all season,” according to Miller.

“For the first time in his career at North Hollywood,” Miller said, “I think Dana played a better offensive game than defensive.”

Add North Hollywood: Miller has known all along that Jones boasts offensive skills other than an ability to score on soaring tip-ins and flying dunks.

The team held a three-point shooting contest earlier this season. As expected, sharp-shooting forward Harry Marks led the team with 13 shots in a one-minute time limit.

Jones placed second with 11.

Status report: When first-year Coach Tom Meusborn of Chatsworth utters the following sentence, it’s no mere coaching cliche: “The next week will give us a real good indication of what our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Chatsworth opens the Westside tournament Friday at home against Rio Mesa, whose ranks include Dmitri Young, a junior infielder who was selected the state freshman and sophomore player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports.

On Saturday, Chatsworth will play host to perennial City Section power Venice in a Westside tournament game at 11 a.m. On Tuesday, Chatsworth will play at Del Rey League favorite Loyola at 3 p.m.

Tall order: The Capistrano Valley girls’ basketball team resorted to double-teaming in an effort to control 6-foot-3 Hart center Sara Wilson in a Southern Section 5-A quarterfinal game last week.

Wilson was limited to 10 points, but the Indians still won. In Hart’s semifinal game Saturday, Rubidoux, whose front line includes 6-7, 240-pound center Aisha Dennis and 6-5 forward Darlene Wilson, also tried to double-team.

But Wilson poured in 31 points and sank 15 of 18 free throws, including four in the final two minutes, to help defending 5-A champion Hart preserve a 56-51 victory.

“I’m so excited,” Wilson said. “I had heard of (Dennis and Darlene Wilson). I was looking forward to playing them. It’s not often that I get to play against someone my own height. This game definitely topped the season.”

It would really top Wilson’s season if Hart (24-4) beats Buena on Friday night at UC Irvine’s Bren Center in the 5-A final. The Bulldogs (26-0) defeated Hart, 48-30, in the Simi Valley tournament in December.

Kirby Lee and staff writers Steve Elling and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.