HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Vista Gives Basketball a Hard Sell

The Vista High boys’ basketball team is 10-5, 4-0 in the Palomar League and has won five in a row. Jason Barnes is one of the most exciting players in the county and is averaging 20.4 points per game.

The product is good.

Vista’s Associated Student Body (Motto: If you don’t like it, change it; if you do, make it better) is trying to make it better.

How? Promotions.

“As long as I’ve been here, we’ve always tried to do things to make (the games) more of an event,” Coach Greg Lanthier said.

“We try to be different. We feel like we have the best fans, and we want to do something to show our appreciation.”

There is a $500 shooting contest at halftime of every home game, and a number of ways to gain free admission to games.

January’s promotions (free admission) include:

--Painted Face Night, Wednesday vs. Fallbrook.

--Ladies Night, Friday vs. Poway. “I’m looking forward to that one,” Lanthier said.

--Park and Recreation Night, Jan. 29 vs. Torrey Pines.

--Military Night, Jan. 31 vs. Orange Glen.

In addition, and appropriately, any student from Lincoln and Roosevelt middle schools will be admitted free on Feb. 12, Lincoln’s birthday.

One that fell through: With this being the 100-year anniversary of basketball, Montgomery High had hoped to promote the championship game of its tournament earlier this month by paying tribute to basketball founder Dr. James Naismith and playing an old-fashioned game with peach baskets, etc.

“We were all set to go,” Montgomery Coach George Anderson said. “We had all the signs up, baskets ready and everything. But it never materialized.

“Someone lost the rules.”

Try hand signs: “Communication” has been problem throughout the Montgomery program this season, Anderson joked: “I’ve got guys that just don’t talk. I mean, they don’t even get mad at one another.”

Aztec/Alaska Pipeline: Anderson considered himself fortunate enough this winter when junior wing Joe Hillyer transferred into Montgomery from Alaska. But after bringing up Hillyer’s brother, sophomore Sam, from the junior varsity on Jan. 2, Anderson felt doubly blessed.

“(Sam) is here giving me some offense, and he’s here to stay,” Anderson said. “He penetrates real well and runs the floor great.

“They have both been a very pleasant surprise.”

Green, Cardinal and Bruin blue: In spite of his awe of new Stanford football coach Bill Walsh, Grossmont’s Ken Loncar is still wavering between the Cardinal and UCLA as his choice of college next fall.

Loncar, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound offensive tackle, had orally committed to Stanford, but that was before then-coach Denny Green accepted the head coaching job with the Minnesota Vikings. Green’s sudden departure did not sit well with Loncar, who earlier had canceled a recruiting trip to Westwood but went there last weekend.

“(Walsh) is immortal in my mind,” Loncar said. “Whenever I think of Bill Walsh, I picture the greatest quarterback of all time (Joe Montana), consulting with him on the sideline. Walsh is the modern-day Vince Lombardi. The opportunity to play for him is mind-boggling. I know a lot of people would love to be in the position I’m in.”

Still, Loncar added, UCLA is not out of the picture, and Bruin Coach Terry Donahue has Loncar’s respect as well.

“I was really impressed with UCLA,” Loncar said. “Either decision won’t be a wrong one.”

Color man II: Loncar got a phone call from Walsh on the night the former 49er coach/NBC color commentator accepted the job at Stanford.

Said Loncar: “He called, and said, ‘Ken, we’ve got you listed as 5-9 and 155 pounds. What position will you be coming in at?’

“I knew he was joking--at least I hoped he was joking--so I played along. I said, ‘I’ll be coming in as a slot back.’ He said, ‘Good. We need more slot backs.’

“It was a nice conversation. Not a religious experience, but it was up there.”

Strange statistic of next week: As the kickoff kicker for the Buffalo Bills, Valhalla High graduate Brad Daluiso could be the man putting Super Bowl XXVI into action on Sunday.

Regardless of when it comes, his first kickoff will be one more than he had at Valhalla.

Daluiso, a soccer player in high school, did not start playing football until walking on at Grossmont College.

Phone, coach bugged: “He won’t be back ‘til 11,” were John Farrell’s first words when he discovered it was a reporter on the phone the other night.

Apparently, it wasn’t the first call Farrell had received that night from someone looking for John Allred, who plays basketball for Farrell’s top-ranked Torrey Pines team but is being recruited as a football player by both USC and UCLA.

Good hands, bad hands: Helix basketball standout Lloyd Lake must have set some kind of record in Friday’s 73-47 loss to Monte Vista. During one six-second stretch, Lake had two steals and two turnovers.