PREP NOTES : Molle to Return to Partisan Crowd

Former Irvine basketball standout John Molle, a freshman reserve at San Diego State, will have his own rooting section Saturday night in UC Irvine’s Bren Center when the Aztecs play UCI.

About 30 players in Irvine High’s basketball program and Coach Steve Keith plan to attend the nonconference game to cheer on Molle, who was named to The Times’ All-County basketball team last season after averaging 28.1 points.

“We’ll be there to support John even if he plays only five seconds,” Keith said. “I talked to him recently and he’s having some problems adjusting to their style of defending on the perimeter.

“He played about 15 minutes in both exhibition games, but he only played the final 10 seconds against the University of San Diego and about two minutes against Richmond. But John’s a gamer, and he’s going to have an impact on that program before long.”