Loara Basketball Promotions Start With the Promoter: Whitlock

Senior guard Tes Whitlock is reason enough to watch Loara High School’s basketball team--he’s averaging 37 points a game--but Whitlock wants to offer people even more reasons to fill the stands.

So Whitlock has taken it upon himself to become the team’s unofficial director of marketing and promotions.

A challenging job? Probably, especially considering Loara’s not-so-hot past. The Saxons haven’t won a league title since 1966, and in Whitlock’s three years of varsity play, Loara has yet to make it to the playoffs while compiling a league record of 7-23.

It’s not exactly the makings of a blockbuster. But hey, if four sewer-dwelling teen-age turtles can hit the big time, why not one semi-cellar-dwelling basketball program?

So Whitlock schemes. His motto? “Just Oooooh It.”

“I like to do things that make people go ‘Ooooooh,’ ” he said, referring more to his dazzling play than his promotional ploys.

At Loara’s first home game, Whitlock arranged for the gym lights to go out while spotlights fell on each Loara player as they were introduced.

At another game, Whitlock talked the school choir into taking the court for the national anthem.

Currently, he’s working on having fireworks go off during player introductions. Yes, inside the gym.

There’s no doubt this would draw a large crowd (the entire Anaheim Fire Department, for instance?), but Whitlock should also consider the risks. He doesn’t want to start the game with a pyrotechnical foul.

Promotions aside, everyone who has seen Whitlock play knows nothing challenges him as Loara’s No. 1 attraction.

Whitlock knows it, too, and he’s not embarrassed to say it. Across the back of his letterman’s jacket is the word “Showtime,” which is a lot easier to say than his first two names, Yves Monttes.

“I like doing anything that’ll make people come back to the game,” he said. “Anything that’ll make people say, ‘Oh! Did you see that?’ ”

His most faithful fans might be a group of 6- and 7-year-old boys who come to home games. Members of a local National Junior Basketball team, they sit in the front row, watching Whitlock’s every move.

But there’s one particular move they wait--and chant--for: “Dunk! Dunk! Dunk!”

“That’s all they want, for me to dunk,” said Whitlock, who runs by and high-fives the kids during games. “They wouldn’t care if I made a full-court shot. They’d clap, but they want to see me dunk.”

Others are quite satisfied by Whitlock’s willingness to shoot any time, anywhere. And so is he.

“I love the jumper,” he said, smiling. “My motto is, ‘When I step off the bus, I’m open.’ Win, lose or draw, I’m going for it. I’m playing free-lance basketball. I’m not being cocky--there’s just no one who can stop me.”

Consider Whitlock’s 49-point performance against Pacifica. Thirty of his points came in one quarter.

“That 30 points in eight minutes was the greatest eight minutes I swear I’ve ever seen in basketball--pros, college or high school,” said Ed Prange, Loara’s first-year coach.

“He was just stepping across the half-court line and shooting. When we watched the film later, Tes said, ‘Coach, I had no idea I was that far out. Why did you let me keep shooting?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ ”

Of course, it doesn’t always work so spectacularly. Last Monday in the Tournament of Champions, Mater Dei forced Whitlock (33 points) to pass more than shoot and, as has been the case this year, his teammates couldn’t respond to the challenge. Loara lost, 74-61.

It was a similar case two days later in a 101-81 loss to Inglewood. Although Whitlock finished with 41 points--he hit five of six three-pointers in the fourth quarter--he shot 13 for 33 and blamed himself for the defeat.

If you saw either loss, you might have wondered why Whitlock (who is shooting 41% from the field, 40% from three-point range) takes so many shots that seem rushed and slightly off-balance. You might want to subtly suggest, “Hey, kid, ever heard of ‘shot selection?’ ”

“Sometimes, a shot looks like a bad shot to a lot of people, but if I see the rim . . . I’ll shoot it,” he said. “It’s sort of a no-win situation, though. To some coaches, my shot selection might be, ‘Wow.’ But to my coaches, it’s the way to go.”

Especially when there’s no one else to go to.

Not only is Whitlock Loara’s one-man show in scoring, his tremendous passing abilities are often wasted when his teammates can’t hang onto the ball.

During the Loara-Mater Dei game, some wise guy at the press table described the Saxons’ team, outfitted in floppy red shorts, as “Tes Whitlock and the first-period P.E. class.”

Neither Prange nor Whitlock disputes that description. They only emphasize that other Loara players need to step up and help out--now.

Whitlock, who lived through league records of 1-9 as a freshman, 2-8 as a sophomore and 4-6 as a junior, says he wants a trip to the playoffs more than anything, but not playing on a powerhouse team doesn’t trouble him as it once did.

“It used to really bother me,” he said. “I mean, as a freshman and a sophomore, it was like, ‘Geez, this is really stinky.’ ”

Whitlock, who often calls players-only meetings, defends his teammates, pointing out many are just up from the junior varsity. “It’s asking a lot from these guys to mature in a situation like the Tournament of Champions,” he said.

But Whitlock hopes for the best.

“Everyone would love to score 40 points a night but, shoot, I want to win games,” he said.