One Eye Injury Only Half of It for Grant Senior

The way things have been going for Grant High forward Mark Small, he’s lucky City Section basketball is on a two-week break.

On the past two Fridays, Small has gone to the hospital for matching, but separate, basketball injuries.

On Dec. 27, the 6-foot-2 senior collided with a Kennedy player while going for a loose ball at midcourt during the final minutes of a Birmingham tournament game and ended up with a bloodied left eyelid that required five stitches.

“The first time, there was a lot of blood. I was told it was dripping down my face,” Small said. “But I still wanted to play and Coach said no.”

Grant Coach Howard Levine did not allow Small to return to that game, and the Lancers lost. Exactly one week later--almost to the hour--Small found himself in a similar situation.

Early in the first quarter against Palisades, Small went for a rebound and got popped in his right eye with an elbow.

“I was going up, and he was coming down,” Small said.

An assistant coach quickly doctored Small’s eyelid and he returned to action in the second quarter. After Grant’s victory over Palisades, Small’s eye was still bleeding, so he was off to the hospital again for another five stitches.

When Small walked into the hospital, the nurse who had tended to him a week earlier spied him right away.

“She remembered me,” he said. “She just laughed. She thought it was pretty weird.”

The injuries to Small’s eyelids couldn’t be more symmetrical. The cuts are just millimeters below his eyebrows, near the sides of his face.

“He looks more like a boxer than a basketball player,” Levine said.

TURNAROUND

Verdugo Hills (7-5, 1-0 in Northeastern League play) already has won five more basketball games this season than in either of the past two seasons, but first-year Coach Scott Kemple hasn’t let the victories go to his head.

As a Verdugo Hills assistant the previous two seasons, Kemple watched the Dons go 2-13 last season and 2-19 the season before.

Because of that tradition, Kemple is honest when he says, “I didn’t expect to get seven wins this year.”

“We’ve had some pretty easy wins I must admit,” Kemple said.

“If we get down to four league games (remaining) and we’re still in contention for the league title, than I would say that we’re for real.

“But it is a remarkable improvement from what Verdugo Hills has done in the past.”

DO I KNOW YOU?

Greg Herrick has had his share of run-ins with basketball officials.

Just three weeks ago, the Hart coach was dealt a one-game suspension by Hart Principal Laurence Strauss for shouting at an official after a game.

So on Saturday, Herrick’s eyebrows probably arched like a three-point shot when he arrived for his son Robert’s youth league game only to learn that Matt Steffe, one of Herrick’s players at Hart, had been assigned to officiate the game.

Herrick, by the way, also happens to be the coach of his son’s team.

Yet he wound up having beefs with Steffe the ref.

But Herrick gave Steffe high marks as an official. Why?

Said Herrick: “We won.”

GONE TO MAUI

Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern is spending part of his holiday vacation--City Section schools are on an eight-week break--in Hawaii.

Halpern said he and his wife have escaped to the islands several times over the past few years.

But solitude hasn’t always been forthcoming. Once, Halpern and his wife ventured to a remote part of one of the islands only to hear a voice from afar: “Coach Halpern, what are you doing here?”

It was one of Halpern’s students.

“I didn’t come here to see you, that’s for sure,” Halpern replied.

HOME ON THE ROAD

With its 5-4 start, Channel Islands might be Ventura County’s surprise team. The Raiders, after all, lost All-Ventura County guards Stephane Brown and Marlowe Durmiendo to graduation and were expected to need time to learn first-year Coach Gary Abraham’s style.

In addition, Channel Islands has played its first nine games on the road in tournaments at Nordhoff, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

The Raiders enjoyed their first home game Monday, a 62-54 win over Camarillo in a Marmonte League opener. But Channel Islands won’t stay home for long--its next four games are on the road. Of the Raiders’ 23 regular-season games, 16 are on the road.

WALKING TALL

Buena girls’ basketball Coach Joe Vaughan has shown through the years that height is not essential to a winning team. His teams have won two state championships and two Southern Section titles while dominating the Channel League.

But the Bulldogs are finding new ways to win this season with a starting lineup that includes three players at least six-foot tall.

“We used to think that 5-10 was tall,” said Vaughan, whose team is 7-1, 1-0 in league play.

“We are still pressing and still running the fast break, but we are making a stronger effort to go inside on offense.”

The Bulldogs have April Buck, a 6-3 junior, at center, with a pair of 6-footers, sophomore Michelle Giordano and junior Julie Hardy, at forward.

Andrea Hilsmann, a 5-11 senior, gives Buena a tall point guard. The only starter lacking in size is 5-4 junior guard Amanda Falls, but she makes up for it with her defensive ability.

The Bulldogs can use all of the size and quickness they can muster in the next month.

Buena faces perennial power Morningside on Jan. 18 and plays host to Peninsula, the top-ranked team in the country Feb. 8.

David Coulson, Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.