Cleveland’s Collins Scores Best on Tough Tests

As the opposing team prepared to inbound the ball from the baseline, Kenny Collins of Cleveland High stared into the eyes of Taft guard Adam James, who probably wondered just what it was that Collins had in mind.

James was close enough to read it. Collins moved closer, so that the noses of the two were six inches apart. The Cleveland point guard, arms in the air and back to the ball in an exaggerated crouch, never flinched.

James, stationary and somewhat confused, raised an eyebrow. Finally, Collins could hold it in no more.

He smiled, then laughed. It was probably the only time all week that Collins blinked first.

“I knew him from when I played there,” said Collins, who transferred from Taft to Cleveland after his sophomore year. “I was just saying hello.”

Followed soon thereafter by goodby.

Collins, a 6-foot senior, enjoyed the best week of his career in the two biggest games he has played as a first-year starter. In victories over Granada Hills and Taft, teams ranked in The Times’ regional top six, Collins scored 53 points as Cleveland took a big step toward its third consecutive North Valley League title.

And did it come at the right time. In fact, Collins scored more points in the first quarter against Taft (11) than he did in two games against Chatsworth (six) and Kennedy (four) in the previous week. Neither of those teams has a winning record.

“I was a little nervous,” Collins said. “I had two real bad games, so I was wondering what was going on. And where my shot went.”

Last week, more often than not, it went in the basket. In two games, Collins made 19 of 31 shots from the field (61.3%), 13 of 17 free throws (76.5%) and scored 53 of Cleveland’s 175 points (30.3%).

Perhaps Collins needed an extra challenge. On Friday night, he was razzed repeatedly by Taft fans every time he touched the ball. It didn’t do much to turn Collins’ head--he finished with a season-high 29 points.

After the game, a Taft student sidled up to a disconsolate Jim Woodard to ask the Toreador coach if he was aware of the psych job a handful of Taft fans had tried on Collins, their former schoolmate.

“I said, ‘Thanks for riling him up,’ ” Woodard said. “That and, ‘You sure bothered him.’ ”

Game pressure didn’t faze Collins, either. In Wednesday’s 89-86 overtime victory over Granada Hills, which entered the game ranked No. 3 in the region, Collins made clutch shot after clutch shot. Enough, in fact, to make his coach clutch his heart.

After Granada Hills tied the score, 77-77, with 16 seconds left in regulation, Collins cruised down the floor and made a risky 18-foot, fall-away jump shot with 10 seconds left--leaving too much time on the clock, as it turned out.

Cleveland Coach Kevin Crider, acutely aware of the time factor, put his hands on his head as the ball was released, let out a yelp, then changed his outlook entirely when the ball hit net. It was textbook, “ Oh-my-Goooo . . . oooood-shot! “ basketball.

Crider calls such shots “borderline,” probably because Collins sometimes tosses one up from another country.

“If I miss, it’s a bad shot,” Collins said with a laugh. “If I make it, it’s OK. But he calls it borderline, even if it goes in.”

Such are the pitfalls of a ballhandler. Then there are the payoffs. “Kenny is without a doubt the best point guard in the Valley,” Crider said. “Sure, he has his moments when he drives a coach up the wall, but I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”

Granada Hills scored on a pair of free throws to send the game into overtime, which is when Collins really left his calling card. With 39 seconds left and the Cavaliers trailing by two points, Collins made a 10-foot jump shot to tie the score, 85-85, then sneaked in behind Granada Hills swingman Jerry Allen near midcourt, stole the ball and rolled in for a layup.

A free throw moved the Highlanders to within 87-86 and Collins was fouled with five seconds remaining. Granada Hills asked for a timeout--the tactic is called “icing the shooter”--but Collins chilled the Highlanders by making both ends of a one-and-one opportunity for a decisive three-point lead. He scored six of his team’s 10 points in overtime.

It was a different role for Collins, who entered the week averaging 15.3 points a game and usually looks to pass as his first option. But even when he looks, he doesn’t always look .

“Most of the time, they’re prepared because they know I’m going to give it up,” said Collins, whose full-tilt passes on fast breaks always generate positive crowd response. “Most of the time they’re ready--or it goes flying right by their head.”

A pair of career-best performances did not affect Collins’ head, it seems. After he helped polish off Taft, Collins celebrated a superlative week by heading home early--he was scheduled to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test on Saturday morning.

“I went to sleep,” he said. “I needed to rest up.”

Finally, he blinked again.