NOTEBOOK : Burton Is East L.A.’s Shooting Star

The East Los Angeles College mens’ basketball team may not have a stellar record at 7-8, but it has a bona fide star in guard Isaac Burton.

In 14 games, the 6-foot-4 sophomore has averaged 26 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, five blocks and four assists.

“Isaac has carried our team this season,” Coach Jorge Callines said. “(He) is a definite NBA prospect.”

Several universities think so, too--Oregon State, Loyola Marymount and USC.

This year Burton has scored 40 or more points twice and 30 or more six times.

Hard Times--Mike Miller knew it wasn’t going to be easy--and it hasn’t been. The new head basketball coach at Los Angeles Community College has been charged with the task of molding a group of 14 new players into one cohesive unit.

Thus far, the fruits of Miller’s labor has been a 3-8 record.

“Right now we are struggling real hard,” Miller said. “The team is still trying to find a chemistry among the players.”

This season, LACC has played the likes of Mt. San Jacinto, Santa Monica--both top 20 teams--and Ventura College, the No. 1 ranked junior college in the state. LACC lost all three games.

But there are bright spots. Ed Forney and Steven King average more than 17 points a game.

Robertson’s Raiders--In 1972, Doc Robertson was involved in a collision on the Crenshaw football field that left him paralyzed at the waist. Twenty years later, he is tackling life as the co-coach of the Magnet League’s Mid-City Raiders. “I like what I’m doing and I love to see these kids succeed,” said Robertson.

Succeeding is exactly what the Mid-City Raiders have been doing over the past five years, but the team didn’t make it to the league finals this year.

The Raiders had appeared in every Magnet League Championship game since 1987, winning back-to-back titles in ’89 and ’90.

However, this year Mid-City’s championship seasons came to an end. The Raiders (12-3) lost the seminfinals of the league championships, 60-58, on Wednesday to Business Magnet (12-4), which went on to beat Bravo Medical Magnet, 59-41, on Thursday to win the league title.

Tournaments--Crenshaw won its first basketball tournament of the season Dec. 12, but it did the hard way.

Reggie McFerren scored seven points in overtime to lead Crenshaw to a 76-70 victory over Capistrano Valley in the championship game of the Coca-Cola-Converse Classic at Capistrano Valley High.

Tournament MVP Kristaan Johnson hit a three-pointer with one second to play in regulation for Crenshaw to send the game into overtime. The Cougars rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final four minutes of regulation.

Also on Dec. 12, Loyola defeated Ventura, 83-76, in the Beverly Hills tournament. Tournament MVP Toby Bailey had a game-high 29 points.