PREP FLASHBACK : THIS WEEK IN COUNTY PREP SPORTS HISTORY

10 YEARS AGO

A three-point play today is mostly considered something accomplished more than 19 feet 9 inches from the basket. But in 1981, they made three-pointers the old-fashioned way: a basket, a foul in the act of shooting and a free throw.

In those days you might have said, “He earned it.”

Rob Lucas’ three-point play with three seconds left gave Santa Ana a 57-54 victory over Tustin, the top team in the Century League. Tustin dropped into a tie with Santa Ana Valley for first in league, with Santa Ana third.

Santa Ana came back from a 51-41 deficit. Lucas, who started the season on the junior varsity, was the tallest player on the court at 6-5.

“They beat us with a bunch of midgets,” Tustin Coach Gary Larson said.

But Tustin was the team that came up short.

“I’ve been here six years, and every game except one has been decided by three points or less when we play Tustin,” Santa Ana Coach Jeff Watts said.

Did that make the coaches bitter rivals? Not really.

“Gary’s invited to a party at my house tonight,” Watts said.

5 YEARS AGO

Ocean View went to the court--Orange County Superior Court--to try to get Southern Section sanctions against Coach Jim Harris and his team overturned. But Judge Harmon Scoville denied the petition, and the Seahawks were banned from the 1985-1986 playoffs despite winning the Sunset League title.

Harris, who allegedly violated CIF rules by recruiting players and having ineligible players on his team, had previously lost an appeal to the Southern Section and to the state CIF.

“The root of the problem starts with (Lynwood transfers) Ricky (Butler) and Desi (Hazely),” Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown said. “It starts and ends with them. Personally, I don’t accept that this situation is over as long as they are suiting up. Ocean View is taking advantage of other programs in the league through unethical means.”

Butler, who now starts for UC Irvine, and Hazely arrived at Ocean View in the summer of 1983 under the guardianship of Laurant Brown. When Brown decided to move to La Crescenta in the summer of 1984, Harris became their guardian, and they lived in El Toro.

That was what got the rest of the league’s attention, as well as the section’s. And in January, 1985, Harris was confronted by Principal John Myers for allegedly recruiting two eighth-graders to attend Ocean View. The district investigated the program, and Myers announced in March of 1985 that Ocean View would forfeit all of its games for 1984-85 and that Harris would not be rehired for the next season.

Despite formally denying all allegations in March of 1985, Harris signed a statement in May saying he had unknowingly violated CIF rules, and Myers rehired him. The five other coaches in the league followed that action with a letter to the Southern Section executive committee urging further sanctions against Ocean View, and the committee banned Ocean View from the playoffs in 1985-86.

“We were not on a witch hunt,” Huntington Beach Coach Roy Miller said. “We were trying to restore some ethics in high school athletics.”

Harris wasn’t so sure: “People are saying they want to be completely fair, but all I know is that all of our kids are eligible, yet we can’t go (to the playoffs). How do they explain that?”

1 YEAR AGO

Debbie Fischer scored a school-record 49 points and tied her own section record by making 10 three-point baskets in an 88-33 victory over Westminster. Fischer’s 10 three-pointers added to her section records of most three-point goals in a season (92) and career (100).

Fischer originally set the record of 10 three-point goals in December but found it difficult to get open for shots after that. Edison Coach Philip Abraham moved her to point guard to get her the ball more, and it worked.

“I give her the green light, and she has no conscience,” Abraham said. “She thinks she’s open from the time she gets to the gym.”