Fremont Keeps Up City Section’s Domination, and That’s Final

When Fremont defeated Santa Barbara, 78-59, late Saturday night for the Southern Regional State Division I boys’ basketball championship, it was the seventh time in 10 years that a City team earned a berth in the State final.

Since the revised Southern Regional playoff format began in 1982, City teams have dominated the boys’ major division with a team in nine of the 10 finals and three all-City championship matchups.

“I just think that the City plays a different style of basketball than everyone else,” Fremont Coach Sam Sullivan said. “Its hard to adjust for one game to the City style.”

That theory, though, pales a little when considering that City teams also have to make adjustments to their opponents’ styles of play.

Santa Barbara, the Southern Section Division I-A champion, appeared talented enough to upset Fremont in this year’s final, with Coach Bob Purdy’s son Matt, who averaged 26 points and 13 rebounds, leading the way. But the Dons proved to be just an average opponent for Fremont.

With a starting front line that averaged 6-feet-7 1/2, Santa Barbara had a clear size advantage but still was dominated inside by the Pathfinders’ 6-5 center Michael Tate, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Fremont toyed with Santa Barbara for three quarters--the Dons trailed by only five points heading into the fourth--before producing a 22-8 run in the game’s final eight minutes.

Fremont’s 19-point victory was a good indication of how much better City teams are against Southern California opponents on neutral courts. In fact, heading into this season’s State playoffs, Manual Arts, which finished as runner-up in the City 4-A Division, would have been favored over any Southern Section opponent if they had met in the final. Manual Arts was beaten by Poway, the San Diego Section champion, in the first round.

For Fremont (33-1), pressure is on to keep Southern California’s streak alive in the State final when it plays Alameda St. Joseph’s, the Northern California champion, Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Teams representing the South have won nine consecutive State championships.

There were many outstanding individual performances in the six Southern Regional championship games played at the Sports Arena Saturday. These are my all-star teams for the day:

BOYS

Michael Tate, 6-5, center, Fremont--Tate manhandled a taller Santa Barbara team with 15 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals, in leading Fremont into its first State title game. He scored 14 points in the second half, including eight consecutive during a run in which Fremont put the game away.

David Beilstein, 5-11, guard, Tustin--Beilstein put on a show with 18 points and five assists in leading the Tillers to a surprisingly easy 51-36 victory over Artesia for the Division II title. He outplayed Artesia’s senior point guard De Andre Austin, who scored only two points and had two assists.

Son Ly, 5-11, guard, Costa Mesa Estancia--Ly was the spark in the Eagles’ 64-40 victory over Pomona for the Division III championship, with 21 points and five rebounds.

Robert Moore, 5-9, guard, Fremont--Moore played his best game of the playoffs by dominating Santa Barbara’s guards with his ballhandling and defense. He finished with 11 points, six assists and three steals.

Torrey Hammond, 6-5, forward Estancia--All season, Hammond played in the shadows of 6-5 teammate Matt Fuerbringer, but against Pomona, he tied a Southern Regional Division III championship record with 20 rebounds and scored 16 points.

Brian Reider, 6-7, center, Tustin--In three of his last four games, Reider controlled more highly touted centers in leading Tustin into the State finals. In the playoffs, Reider, who does not score a lot of points but rebounds and plays quality defense, held his own against 6-11 Cherokee Parks of Huntington Beach Marina and 6-10 Erik Meek of San Pasqual, both headed to Duke next fall, and Avondre Jones, a 6-11 sophomore for Artesia.

GIRLS

Janet Davis, 6-4, center, Inglewood Morningside--Davis dominated Clovis West with 20 points and 14 rebounds in the Monarchs’ 52-40 victory for the Division I title.

Nicole Erickson, 5-6, guard, Brea-Olinda--A freshman, Erickson took command in the Ladycats’ 58-51 Division II victory over Ventura with four three-point shots and 15 points.

Jeffra Gausepohl, 6-5, center, Palos Verdes--Gausepohl, a junior, scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds in leading the Sea Kings to a 63-43 victory in Division III.

Tina Thompson, 6-2, forward, Morningside--Thompson, a sophomore, tied Cheryl Miller’s Division I championship game record with 23 rebounds while scoring 12 points.

Denise Rea, 5-9, forward, Ventura--Rea scored a team-high 16 points, with two three-pointers, and grabbed six rebounds in the Cougars’ loss to Brea-Olinda.

Prep Notes

Juliana Yendork of Walnut set a national record in the triple jump over the weekend in the national high school indoor track meet at Syracuse, N.Y. Yendork, the defending outdoor State champion in the long and triple jumps, leaped 43 feet 11 1/2 inches, breaking her own indoor mark of 43-0 1/2. Yendork’s jump also surpassed the national high school outdoor record of 42-10 1/2, set in 1984 by former USC standout Wendy Brown. Yendork, who also won the long jump with a leap of 20-0 1/4, ranks eighth on the all-time national list.

Sophomore Marion Jones of Oxnard Rio Mesa, the defending State 100- and 200-meter champion, won the girls’ 200-meter championship by defeating Zendra Feagin of Cocoa, Fla., in 23.89. Feagin, who won the 55-meter title and set a national record of 23.67 in a 200-meter heat, was not strong enough to hold off Jones in the 200-meter final.

California had its first State championship basketball team crowned last Saturday when Needles (29-1) won Nevada’s Division II-A State title. South Tahoe lost in its bid. . . . Senior Bryan Dunagan, last season’s Southern Section 3-A player of the year, pitched a perfect game in La Serna’s 14-0 victory over Glenn at La Serna last week.