PREP BASKETBALL ‘91-’92: GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Rancho Alamitos

1990-91 RECORDS: OVERALL: 10-13 LEAGUE: 7-7

COACH: Eric Hamamoto RECORD AT SCHOOL: 31-16

RETURNING STARTERS YR. HGT. P Garrett Fukuda Sr. 5-6 G Leon Vickers Jr. 6-1 F

TOP RETURNERS YR. HGT. P Anteneth Berhanu Sr. 6-2 F Nervanah Phonexay Sr. 5-7 G

TOP NEWCOMERS YR. HGT. P Helmut Bustamante Jr. 6-2 F David Guzman Jr. 6-0 G Rith Heng Sr. 6-1 G Ed Taylor Jr. 6-2 F

OUTLOOK

Even though he has only four returning players and a team that can’t match up in size with the likes of Los Amigos and Kennedy, Hamamoto gives the Vaqueros an outside shot of making a run at the title. “For some reason, our league has a lot of height this year, but we have zero,” said Hamamoto, a third-year coach. Still, he likes what he has seen so far. “I’m pretty happy with my players right now,” he said. “We’ll be exciting. I think we’ll surprise some people. We had a really good summer and beat some good teams, but sometimes that doesn’t mean much.” Hamamoto said that with no clear-cut shooting star, the Vaqueros will concentrate offensively on getting production from everyone. “We pretty much try to balance it out,” Hamamoto said. “We try to spread the court and take advantage of our quickness.” Fukuda and Vickers provide much-needed experience and Hamamoto expects lots of help from newcomers Taylor, Heng and Guzman, all up from the junior varsity and from Bustamante, who makes the jump from the sophomore team. Rancho Alamitos took fourth place in league last season after tying with Kennedy for the championship the previous season.