HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK / JIM LINDGREN : Monarchs as Good as Advertised

Word has it that days before the Monte Vista-Valhalla boys’ basketball game last Friday, flyers were distributed around the Valhalla campus encouraging fan support for the big game between East County’s two best teams.

The flyers, however, did such a remarkable job of spreading the message it eventually made it to the Monte Vista campus in time for a counter-flyer, if you will, to be passed out there.

Both essentially said the same thing:

Come root us on, show your school spirit, etc., . . . and get there early!

Thousands apparently heeded the advice. Valhalla’s parking lot was full at least an hour before the 7:30 p.m. tip-off, and at least 2,500 somehow managed to squeeze into the 1,500-seat gymnasium.

Most came expecting to see a close game between No. 2 Monte Vista and No. 7 Valhalla, but the visiting Monarchs routed, 69-56.

Playing in pain: Not even a knee-length plaster cast could keep Valhalla cheerleader Courtney West from suiting up for Friday’s game.

West broke a bone in her left foot competing in a national cheerleading contest in Dallas on Dec. 27.

“I wasn’t going to miss this game,” said West, who added, “It only hurts a little.”

Respect or mistake: With Monte Vista leading by 28 with 4:00 left, the Monarchs fouled Valhalla’s Wayne Sippial three times in the final 3:33 while he was attempting a three-point shot.

Sippial made one of the three-pointers and converted five of seven of those ensuing free throws.

Respect or mistake II: And this one from Friday’s Poway-Vista game. Trailing by six early in the fourth quarter, Vista’s Jason Barnes was fouled making a three-point shot, and the officials ruled it an intentional foul. After Barnes made one of his two free throws, Vista got the ball out of bounds and got another free throw out of the ensuing possession to make it a one-point game.

Barnes and Vista Coach Greg Lanthier both termed the play “the turning point” as Vista eventually won, 80-71.

Barnes also had a tasty quote in one North County paper: “That was a feast, and we had to live off it.”

A Gooden-like night: Fashioned after the way New York Mets fans hang Ks in the stands for every Dwight Gooden strikeout, a Vista student section called the Panther Bomb Squad puts up Panther Paws to keep track of three-point baskets.

On Friday, Vista made 11.

To some high school coaches, this kind of fan behavior might be construed as a distraction to his players.

But not Lanthier--he spent $1,000 getting black “Panther Bomb Squad” T-shirts made and gave them to students who sit in the section.

No package deal: Identical twins Mark and Matt Roe, offensive linemen who helped the Torrey Pines football team gain more than 3,000 rushing yards last season, have each chosen to play next fall at San Diego State, but each also said they picked SDSU separately.

“There were several factors that made me decide,” said Mark Roe, who was the first to commit. “We both decided on our own. We didn’t go in thinking we would be a package deal.”

Among the “several factors” Mark was impressed by a statement made by SDSU Coach Al Luginbill.

“He told us we would be treated as individuals, not twins,” Mark said.

Luginbill, it would seem, had a couple advantages in the recruiting of Mark and Matt. He himself has twins--Tom and Kerry--and Tom also plays for Torrey Pines.

It was an invitational, after all: Taking advantage of a few days off during the semester break, The Bishop’s School girls’ basketball coach, Richard Butcher, managed to get his team involved in three games last weekend by entering the Lancers in a tournament.

Nothing unusual about that. It’s done all the time, right?

Sure it is. So off they went.

To the Killarney Invitational. In British Columbia. Canada, that is.

After their semester exams, the Lancers left Thursday and played Friday and Saturday. They planned to go sight-seeing Sunday and today and return Tuesday. Classes resume Wednesday.

“We aren’t missing any school,” Butcher said. “That was important for Bishop’s (administration).”