COMMUNITY COLLEGES : El Camino’s Finish Did Not Match Start

What looked to be a promising season for the El Camino College basketball team ended in disappointment Saturday night when the Warriors lost to Santa Monica College, 82-73, in a Southern California Regional playoff game.

El Camino entered South Coast Conference play with an impressive 16-7 record and it defeated Mt. San Antonio College, 80-75, in the league opener Jan. 12 to improve to 17-7.

But it was downhill from there. El Camino lost three in a row (Long Beach, Cerritos and Pasadena) before earning its only other SCC victory on Feb. 2 against Mt. SAC. The Warriors (18-14 overall, 2-6 in SCC play) finished fourth in the five-member league.

Saturday’s loss and exit from the playoffs was El Camino’s earliest since 1987, when it lost to Saddleback College in the first round.

The loss was also the final game for Coach Ron McClurkin, who has served as interim coach for the past three seasons while Paul Landreaux took a leave of absence. Landreaux, who led the Warriors to three state titles in the 1980s, left to become an assistant at UCLA and later became head coach at St. Mary’s. He resigned from St. Mary’s earlier this season and said he would return to El Camino next season.

McClurkin, who was Landreaux’s longtime assistant, has done a good job. He led El Camino to the state semifinals twice. In 1988-89 the Warriors won the SCC title and finished 24-9 after losing, 72-65, to Chabot in the state semifinals. In 1989-90 El Camino went 3-5 in the SCC, but finished 24-11. The Warriors lost, 81-70, to eventual state champion Rancho Santiago in the semifinals of the state tournament at UC Irvine.

McClurkin said he was not sure what went wrong this season. After Saturday’s loss at Santa Monica, he said: “Hey it’s happened before. It’s not the first time El Camino gets eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. It happened in 1987 under Landreaux and the next year we came back and won the state title. It’s not the end of the world.”

McClurkin, a part-time teacher at El Camino, isn’t sure what he will do next year. “Hopefully I’ll be coaching somewhere,” he said.

It’s doubtful, however, that he will go back to being Landreaux’s assistant.

Keishaun Darthard was the only El Camino basketball player to make the All-South Coast Conference first team. The 6-foot-4 sophomore guard led the Warriors in scoring through most of the season and finished with a 17.9 average.

McClurkin said Boise State University, Montana State, the University of Nevada, Marquette and Division II Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are recruiting Darthard.

Forward Michael Houck and center Anthony Kyle made the SCC second team and freshman point guard Major Whitlock was named honorable mention. Houck averaged 11.6 points and led the league in three-point shooting. The 6-4 swingman from Redondo High is being recruited by Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge and Oklahoma State.

Kyle (6-8, 194 pounds) was El Camino’s top rebounder at 7.5. Whitlock, a redshirt transfer from the University of Montana, led the team with 5.1 assists.

The SCC co-players of the year are sophomores Rob Goodman and Terry Nelson of league champion Long Beach City College. Goodman is a 6-2 guard who averaged 10 points and 5.4 assists. Nelson is a 6-6 forward who led the Vikings in scoring (16.3) and rebounding (10.6). As a freshman Nelson led Harbor College in scoring (18.3) and rebounding (9.1). He transferred to Long Beach during the summer.

Two members of the El Camino women’s basketball team made the All-SCC first team and one made the second team. Sophomores Cyndi Lyons and Monica Wood were named to the first team after leading the Warriors in scoring and rebounding. Lyons, a 5-9 guard, averaged 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds. Wood, a 6-foot center from Bishop Montgomery High, averaged 10.3 points and 10.1 rebounds. Freshman forward Evonne Renfroe (8.3 points, 4.5 rebounds) was named to the second team.

El Camino didn’t make it to the playoffs despite placing third in the eight-member SCC with a 10-4 record.

“It was real disappointing,” second-year Coach Kristy Loesener said. “We were in second place prior to our last two games. We were in charge of our own destiny.”

The Warriors dropped their last two SCC games to Mt. San Antonio College and Cerritos, the league’s first-place team. El Camino finished 14-14.

Three Harbor College soccer players received conference honors recently. Freshman Tim Bohan (Rolling Hills), the team’s best defender, was named to the SCC first team and Lance Haworth and Mike Savel were named to the second team. Haworth, a freshman from Palos Verdes, was the team’s best offensive player and Savel (Rolling Hills) was voted the most inspirational player.

The Seahawks finished 5-9-5 and were 2-6-4 in SCC play under first-year Coach Alan King. King was the boys’ soccer coach at Palos Verdes High for 17 years before taking over at Harbor. He led Palos Verdes to two CIF 4-A Division soccer titles and seven league championships. In addition, the Sea Kings went to the CIF semifinals nine times while King was coach. He left Palos Verdes with a 320-118-54 record.

Ten athletes will be inducted into the El Camino Hall of Fame May 9. This year’s inductees are: Nick Carollo, a state champion wrestler in 1964-65; Yvette Evans, a state track champion from 1977 to 1979; Larry Hankhammer, a baseball star in 1958-59; Chick McIlroy, a water polo and swimming All-American in 1955; Larry Petrill, a football player in 1961 who went on to coach the sport at Mira Costa High; Tony Sills, a golfer who has been successful in the Professional Golfers Assn. tour; Lou Ann Terheggen, a volleyball All-American; Bob Weiss, a baseball and basketball star in 1955; Jerry Witty, the school’s first quarterback (1948) and former equipment manager Jim Hanchett.