He’s Not at the Top of His Game : Basketball: Keishaun Darthard is El Camino’s top scorer, but his coach says he has yet to play to the best of his abilities.

Keishaun Darthard is El Camino College’s top gun.

After playing behind sophomores Larry Lockley and David Keeter last season, Darthard is finally getting a chance to show his stuff.

The 19-year-old sophomore is El Camino’s leading scorer with an 18.5 average. He led the Warriors in scoring through most of the preseason and has been impressive in El Camino’s first three South Coast Conference games.

Darthard scored 17 in the Warriors’ SCC opener against Mt. San Antonio College and had a game-high 18 points in Wednesday’s 66-64 loss to Cerritos College. In El Camino’s 14-point loss last week to Long Beach City College, the 6-foot-4 Darthard had a game-high 26 points.

Long Beach Coach Gary Anderson was impressed with Darthard’s performance.

“Every time I looked up he was scoring,” Anderson said. “He can shoot from the outside and he can take it to the (basket). He’s very explosive offensively.”

Darthard can elude bigger opponents on drives to the basket, is a good outside shooter and ballhandler.

But El Camino Coach Ron McClurkin would like to see Darthard improve his defense and become a better rebounder. He believes Darthard is preoccupied with scoring.

“He’s a tremendous athlete with a nice shooting touch and when he plays hard there’s no one around that’s been able to stop him,” McClurkin said. “But he only plays up to 70% of his potential. Sometimes he just kind of comes out relaxed. If he played up to his potential he would be unstoppable, but he doesn’t all the time.”

Darthard averages only 2.5 rebounds and often lacks intensity on defense. McClurkin says Darthard is frequently not mentally prepared to play.

“He’s a good player, even when he’s at half speed, but he’s got to make his game more well-rounded,” McClurkin said. “When you have a guy with 25 points and one rebound, that doesn’t do me any good. He needs to play hard every minute that he’s on the court.”

Darthard admits he doesn’t always go all-out and says he must work on his game.

“I think I’m playing better defense than last year, but I need to bring it up another notch,” he said. “And I gotta work on rebounds.”

His explanation for an occasional lack of spark is simple: it’s all in his head.

“Sometimes you just don’t have it,” Darthard said. “When it’s not your night it’s not your night. Coach says I’m too cool, but that’s just how I am.”

El Camino forward Malik Clinscales can tell when Darthard is not into a game.

“You know the night Keishaun isn’t into it because you see it in the way he runs up and down the court and in the way he shoots,” Clinscales said.

But Clinscales says Darthard never gives up.

“He’s so good that he can do anything he wants out there,” Clinscales said. “If he sees everybody play defense he’ll eventually go back and play defense. He just puts more of his weight on offense than defense. That’s all.”

Anderson says Darthard is probably one of the best all-around athletes in the conference.

“He’s very athletic and he can jump,” Anderson said. “He also has a great first step, good quickness and he can shoot. That’s a real tough combination.”

Darthard played baseball, basketball and football growing up in South Central L.A. Sports helped him keep out of gangs.

“I knew a lot of the gangbangers in elementary school and a lot of those guys are in jail now,” Darthard said. “They left me alone because they knew I wasn’t interested. They knew I played basketball.”

As a senior at Washington High Darthard averaged 20 points as his team reached the first round of the City playoffs. As a junior he averaged 11 points as Washington’s sixth man.

Cal State Bakersfield, a top-notch Division II team from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., recruited Darthard, but a low grade-point average and Scholastic Aptitude Test score forced him to attend at a community college in order to compete. He says his grades have improved since enrolling at El Camino.

McClurkin is confident Darthard will earn a Division I scholarship next season. He says USC and several schools in the Big Sky Conference have shown interest.

Darthard says he doesn’t care where he plays next season, he just wants the opportunity.