With Plenty of Talent, Morningside Discovers It Has Problems, Too

Can a basketball team ever have too much talent?

That’s the question Morningside High Coach Carl Franklin must be asking himself this summer.

The Monarchs return several players, including three starters, from last season’s team that was 27-5 and reached the Southern Section Division III-A championship game. In addition, they have added guard Donminic Ellison, who transferred from Hawthorne after averaging 16.7 points and seven assists as a junior.

Now Franklin is finding it difficult to keep everyone happy.

One of the casualties could be forward Keenan Jourdan, a 6-foot-7 senior who is thinking about transferring to another school, Franklin said. Jourdan started last season and is one of the Monarchs’ top front-court players.

“It’s a blow, to be honest,” Franklin said. “It’s not definite, in that he hasn’t taken his records. But it is, at this point, looking more and more like he’s going to be leaving.”

Franklin said Jourdan has not played with Morningside since the first game of the L.A. Watts Summer Games on June 22. The Monarchs are 14-4 this summer, with games scheduled through Aug. 8.

Franklin believes part of the problem is that Jourdan has not been able to demonstrate his ball-handling abilities on a team with an abundance of gifted guards. Morningside starts a three-guard lineup of Stais Boseman (the 1991 Times South Bay Player of the Year) and Ellison on the wings, and Sean Harris (a straight-A student) at the point, with another talented back-court player, Dwight Curry, coming off the bench.

“I think he’s always wanted to show that he can handle the ball and do some coast-to-coast things,” Franklin said of Jourdan. “I told him I didn’t think it was necessary. I would never use him like a Magic Johnson. I think that is still difficult for him to see and appreciate.”

In the meantime, 6-6 Corey Saffold has moved into Jourdan’s starting spot alongside 6-8 Pauliasi Taulava, a returning starter.

There’s no need to feel too sorry for Franklin, however.

The 6-3 Boseman reportedly has improved his outside shooting, which was an inconsistent part of his game last season, and was one of the most impressive players at the recent Superstar Camp at UC Santa Barbara, although he is only a junior.

Torrance third baseman Antone Williamson could have taken the money and followed a path into professional baseball. So far, though, he has decided college is the best route to take.

Drafted in the third round by the San Diego Padres, Williamson said he turned down a signing package worth $130,000 and will most likely play for Arizona State unless the Padres sweeten their offer.

“We couldn’t really reach a figure,” Williamson said. “So far, it’s Arizona State.”

Williamson said the Padres’ offer of $130,000 included money for college, but was below what players drafted in later rounds were signing for.

If Williamson goes to Arizona State, he will be the second member of his family to play for the Sun Devils. His cousin, Kevin Higgins, played for ASU after starring for Torrance and Harbor College.

Williamson, a three-time All-CIF and all-area selection, ended his high school career with 153 hits, the most in South Bay history and third-highest total in Southern Section history.

El Segundo’s American Legion baseball team completed a 14-day trip through Montana and Wyoming with a 12-3 record after sweeping a doubleheader against Great Falls, Mont., on Monday night.

It marked the fifth consecutive year El Segundo made the trip through Big Sky country, where the American Legion season carries greater importance than in Southern California because of the absence of high school baseball.

“They don’t play any baseball until the summer because of the cold weather,” El Segundo Coach John Stevenson said. “The American Legion season is the key thing up there. They play with the same intensity as we play during the high school season.”

Many of the games are played before large crowds in minor league parks, said Stevenson, who did not make the trip this year because he is recovering from coronary bypass surgery.

“There are highlights of the games on TV,” Stevenson said. “It’s neat. It definitely brings our intensity up a couple of notches. The summer season around here is kind of laid-back. It’s fun to get in a situation where the teams are really trying to win.”

Shortstop Brett Newell and pitchers Brian Wise and Matt Gangawere were among the top players on the trip for El Segundo, which begins play Saturday in the American Legion district playoffs at Blair Field in Long Beach.

El Segundo, champion of the Bay Pacific League, opens the eight-team tournament at 1 p.m. against Long Beach Wilson. Other teams entered are defending district champion Lakewood, West Torrance, Redondo, Hawthorne, Millikan and Norwalk.

The winner of the tournament, which lasts through July 25, qualifies for the state tournament starting Aug. 3 at Yountville.

Gardena standout athlete Demetrius Boykins was arrested in March in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Today, he is making his presence known at El Camino College.

El Camino football Coach John Featherstone said Boykins, working out with the Warriors as a wide receiver, has been one of the team’s most impressive incoming freshmen.

“Demetrius has been our most pleasant surprise,” Featherstone said. “He’s been making some incredible catches. Before he’s through, he’s going to be a really exciting player.”

Boykins, an All-City football player and basketball standout at Gardena, had his senior year interrupted when he was charged with stealing a purse at gunpoint from a woman, who identified him from a police photo lineup. It was later determined that Boykins was playing in a playoff basketball game at the time the alleged crime took place, and charges were dropped.

Featherstone said Boykins has been a model player.

“He hasn’t missed a day of practice without calling us first,” Featherstone said. “He has a good heart. He’s living with his girlfriend and raising his little girl. I really like the guy.”

Featherstone rates this year’s group of incoming freshmen one of the best in his seven years at El Camino.

“It was a great year for high school football players in the area,” he said. “Every (community college) in the area has reaped the benefits.”

Featherstone said the most impressive freshmen on offense have been Boykins and Banning lineman Art Donnell. Defensively, he is happy with the early play of inside linebacker Danny Katoa of Morningside and outside linebackers Marcus Long of Carson, Marc Afoa of North Torrance and David Haemker of Torrance, among others.

In all, El Camino has 27 freshmen who will play in the West Torrance Lions All-Star football game Aug. 1 at El Camino. And, Featherstone said, that number could easily surpass 30 by the fall.

El Camino’s two freshman quarterbacks are Brian Jurado from North Torrance and Jerry Singleton from Escondido High in the San Diego area. They will most likely play behind Rod Anderson, a sophomore from Spokane, Wash., who backed up Rod Harvey last season.

Featherstone is excited about the 6-1, 205-pound Singleton, a physical, strong-armed passer whom he compares to Dan Speltz and Frank Dolce, two former All-American quarterbacks at El Camino.

Notes

Torrance High senior Jessica Reifer has been selected to the U.S. Youth Soccer Assn. under 19 girls’ Olympic Development team for the West region. Reifer, a midfielder who helped Torrance win the CIF-Southern Section 3-A Division title last season, was also named to the National under 19 player pool and will participate in training camp at Colorado Springs, Colo., from Aug. 1-8. . . . Cal State Long Beach guard Bobby Sears, a former Inglewood High basketball standout, recently was named most valuable player of the Lethbridge Herald Challenge Cup. Long Beach played a six-game series against the Canadian National team in various Canadian cities.

Mater Dei defeated Westchester, 62-50, Sunday in the championship game of the Mater Dei summer basketball tournament. Mater Dei’s Reggie Geary was selected MVP. . . . Westchester guard James Gray, who led the Comets to the team title of the L.A. Watts Summer Games last month, was named one of the top seniors at the West Coast Basketball Camp at Cal Poly Pomona. The Comets’ Jason Sanders, a junior guard, was named one of the camp’s top underclassmen. . . . Sports camps in soccer, basketball and baseball will be held at Palos Verdes High at various times through August. Information: Tom Maier at (213) 547-0667.