CITY EASTERN LEAGUE : Picking Favorite is Shot in Dark

One thing the Eastern League can agree upon is that they don’t agree on much.

Ask one coach who is the favorite to win the league and they point the finger at the next guy. Mira Mesa thinks Morse has a good shot. Morse thinks Serra looks good. Serra thinks Mira Mesa has turned an important corner.

While all the coaches said the race probably will go down to the wire, no one was bold enough to crown themselves champ.

“It’s just too tight,” Serra Coach Tom Williams said. “It’s a real close league this year. I don’t think anyone will go undefeated. It could turn out much the same as last year.”

Last year, Serra lost to Point Loma and Mira Mesa, but shared the league title with Morse. Mira Mesa was third with three losses.

“Anyone can do it, although Henry’s probably a long shot,” Mira Mesa Coach Tim Cunningham said. “Point Loma’s playing better . . . it should be pretty good competition.”

THE RACE

Top contenders: Serra (5-4).

Surprise potential: Mira Mesa (12-3), Morse (9-4).

Hoping for improvement: Point Loma (8-5), Patrick Henry (4-6).

Game of the year: Serra at Mira Mesa, Feb. 21. Considering the last week of last year’s season, when the race was still three-way, don’t expect an outright champion early on.

THE PLAYERS

The man: Last year’s Eastern League player of the year, Serra senior Tony Etheridge.

Cunningham has watched Etheridge, (6-2, forward, 14.6 average) enough that he rues the days Mira Mesa must play Serra . . . and him.

“He’s big and strong,” he said. “He can jump, he’s really strong to the basket. Serra can hurt you with him because he can shoot the three, inside and outside.”

Who will fill Darnell Cherry’s shoes? No team from the City East made it far in the playoffs and coaches said their players were snubbed from postseason honors as a result.

Although Cherry wasn’t the heaviest of hitters countywide, he did help Morse snare a share of the title.

“He didn’t get the so-called notoriety because we only went to the second round,” Morse Coach Ron Davis said.

Taurein Bunche, a 5-10 sophomore guard for Morse, has the potential to be a top player, Davis says. Bunche has great outside shooting, but lacks the experience that will make him a better all-around player.

Others to watch: Several leagues throughout the county are crying “balance” but each Eastern League team has its ace.

Serra has Etheridge. Mira Mesa has Ryan Cunningham, Tim’s nephew. Cunningham, a 6-5 senior forward, must be “on” every night or the Marauders are in trouble.

Morse’s Edwin Charles (6-8, forward) is a big threat, especially when teamed with Edmond Jackson (6-8, center) in one of the league’s beefiest lineups.

Junior Jon Lonsdale (5-10, guard) is Henry’s only returning starter and a gem. Point Loma’s Micheal Driver, who scored 20 points in a victory against Madison last week, has proven himself as adept with a basketball as he was with a football.

THE INTANGIBLES

Coaching fraternity: Point Loma’s David Aros, who has been the Pointer coach for five years, is the novice of the bunch.

The other four league coaches have been around forever. Henry’s Fritz Ziegenfuss has coached there 24 years. Davis has been at Morse for 15 years, or since Serra’s Williams left to take over the Conquistador basketball program. Cunningham has been at Mira Mesa 16 years.

“Except for Point Loma, we’ve all been here a while,” Williams said. “It’s fun.”

But knowing each others coaching styles isn’t necessarily advantageous.

“Like Serra, you know they’re going to use a 2-2-1 press,” Cunningham said. “But that press is tough on us.”

North County burnout: Sick of hearing how North County is the greatest in everything from broom hockey to basketball? Mira Mesa’s Tim Cunningham doesn’t deny that there is strength in the north, but there are reasons that go beyond pure dominance.

“I think North County would have you believe that they’re the greatest,” he said. “Anytime you take a program in the city that starts in the ninth grade and compare it to a program where the kids start in third grade, which they all do, you’ll find at the beginning, the strength is up there. But by the time February rolls around, other schools are starting to catch up.”