AVOCADO LEAGUE PREVIEW : El Camino Still Has Its Guards Up

Last year, El Camino showed everybody in southern California that the Avocado League can play ball. It won the San Diego Section, then defeated Compton and lost to Artesia, the Southern California Regional Champion, by just four points. Can the Wildcats do it again?

Maybe. Although Coach Ray Johnson lost three starters and nearly 70%, he has reloaded quickly. Forward Shaun Scurry and guards Jeff Reeves and Heath McCoy played key roles in last year’s playoff drive--especially Scurry and McCoy, who picked up the scoring slack when El Camino top two scorers’ shooting faltered. The Wildcats went 7-2 in their nonleague season and appear ready to defend their 2-A section title.

San Pasqual, currently 4-4 in a difficult nonleague schedule, should give El Camino a run for the title, if only because of Erik Meek, who has signed with Duke and is averaging 31 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks through eight games. And if San Pasqual’s guards--junior David Durst, senior Chris Hancock and Erik Davidson--come along, you never know. Ramona has been the biggest surprise in the preseason, to some at least, going 5-3. The Bulldogs appear to have all the ingredients of a top 10 team. An outside threat in Alfonso De La Nuez, a post player in Travis Knight and depth. If Knight continues to improve and plays better against the top players, Ramona has a shot at the title. THE RACE

Top contenders: El Camino (23-7 in 1989-90), San Pasqual (20-6), Ramona (15-8).

Surprise potential: Carlsbad (9-12).

Hoping for improvement: Oceanside (12-12), Escondido (6-14), San Marcos 1-21.

Game of the year: El Camino at San Pasqual, Feb. 6. Unless Ramona decides to disrupt things, this should decide the league title for the second consecutive year. THE PLAYERS

The man: Who else? For the third-consecutive year, San Pasqual’s Eric Meek figures to dominate the league. Fortunately for the other seven coaches, Meek, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound forward-center, is finally a senior.

Twice the league player of the year and a Times first-team All-County selection, Meek probably will not face anyone who can stop him. But then there aren’t many high school big men in America who have been able to slow Meek down. Last year he averaged 28.5 points a game, which for Meek usually consisted of about three quarters.

Who will fill the shoes of El Camino’s Travis Gilley and Glenn Ankton? El Camino lost about half of its point production when its two starting guards graduated, but Jeff Reeves and Heath McCoy have stepped forward. Coach Ray Johnson is touting McCoy, a 5-11 senior point guard, and Reeves, a 6-2 senior, as maybe the best guard tandem in the county. “I haven’t seen too many better than them,” he said.

McCoy, who was El Camino’s sixth man last year, is averaging 16 points and eight assists in the Wildcats’ first nine games. Reeves, who averaged 11 points at his starting small forward spot last year, is scoring 24 points a game and has adequately filled the outside shooting void left by Gilley.

The most influential newcomer should be Ramona’s Clint Cook, a transfer from San Dieguito. A 6-4 off guard, Cook has averaged more than 16 points a game this season and has a season-high of 30. Ramona Coach Al Schaffer said Cook has taken some of the pressure off his senior point guard Alfonso De La Nuez. In fact, Cook and De La Nuez could challenge McCoy and Reeves for the best guard tandem in the league.

A trio of sophomores, Ramona’s Rusty Hoss and El Camino’s Bryant Westbrook and Nick Matlock, could play significant roles in the league race. Hoss, a 6-5 center-forward, will back up Travis Knight and sometimes play alongside him. Saturday night in the Ramona Roundball finals against Agoura, Hoss scored 15 points in the first half.

Westbrook, a 6-1 leaper, and Matlock, a 6-2 forward, may start at the wings for El Camino.

Others to watch: Schaffer said De La Nuez, a 6-2 point guard from Madrid, Spain, may be the most unheralded player in the county. De La Nuez averaged 20.7 points and sank 65 three-pointers last year. This season he is scoring nearly 25 points a game, including four efforts over 30. Schaffer did not expect De La Nuez, an exchange student, to be on the team this year. But De La Nuez’s mother consented to let her son come back for his senior season. The decision has made Schaffer a happy man.

Carlsbad guard Calvin Coleman, whose claim-to-fame is being the half-brother of New Jersey Nets forward Derrick Coleman, averaged 17.6 points as a junior. He will probably have to improve on that this year if Carlsbad is going to contend for the playoffs.

San Pasqual’s Richard Stark, a 6-6 senior forward, has averaged 17 points a game, and he will need to continue that production so opposing defenses don’t collapse on Meek. THE INTANGIBLES

The year of the big man: Meek, Knight, El Camino’s Scurry and Escondido’s Damian Cephas give the Avocado four of the top big men in the county.

Knight, a 6-9 junior, is the brother of Brigham Young freshman Shane Knight. As a sophomore, Knight more than doubled the school record for blocked shots with 83. This year, he has put on 10 pounds, grown two inches and added almost 10 points to his scoring average, which currently is at about 20 points.

Scurry, a 6-5, 220-pounder, has signed with Central Missouri State, a perennial Division II title contender. His scoring average has increased from 14 to 18 this year, but his health is a question mark. He injured his knee in the Mt. Carmel tournament against USDHS and missed the Wildcats’ next game. El Camino’s Johnson said Scurry’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious. But if it continues to plague him, El Camino could be in trouble.

Cephas, a 6-7 junior who averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds a game, is the only Escondido starter with varsity experience. He is averaging more than six blocks a game, but has been having problems scoring lately after getting off to a good start. “A lot of times you have a great sophomore year and you think all you have to do is throw your shoes out there the next year,” Escondido Coach Mike Williams said.