St. Francis Woke Up at Right Time

St. Francis High Coach John Jordan knew it would happen. It had to. One of these days, the Golden Knights, giant lineup and all, would start making layups.

“All the teams I’ve had eventually wake up sometime during the season,” Jordan said.

They couldn’t have picked a better time than Wednesday night.

St. Francis pulled one of the area’s biggest upsets of the season by beating St. John Bosco, 64-62, on the road in its Del Rey League opener.

How big? Count the ways.

According to Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports, St. John Bosco would have been ranked fifth or sixth in the state Division II next week. The Braves, 11-1 going into the game, already had won the Concord De La Salle and Brea-Olinda tournaments.

St. John Bosco was the consensus favorite in the Del Rey League and features two of the Southland’s top players in James Cotton and Jelani Gardner.

None of that seemed to bother the Golden Knights (6-7).

“We had a lot of returners from last year and it’s about time they stepped up and played like it,” Jordan said. “We played real big. We are real big, but we finally played like it.”

Before the big upset, St. Francis, which boasts five players 6-foot-6 or taller, was shooting 36% from the field, especially low considering that most of the Golden Knights’ shots come from inside. But St. Francis shot 46% against St. John Bosco.

“When we (shoot well), it makes a big difference,” Jordan said. “When you’re missing seven out of 10 shots, it really wears on you.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Problems and disappointments started piling up before the season for the Sherman Oaks CES basketball team.

First, two returning starters transferred. In November, school administrators ordered the repainting and refinishing of the gym floor, prompting the postponement of two East Valley League games in December. Worse still, workmen were on vacation from Dec. 18 to Jan. 4, prolonging the team’s wait for an indoor practice site. Meanwhile, the Knights have yet to practice in their gym this season.

And practicing outdoors has done little to improve Sherman Oaks’ game. Sure, the Knights (1-7) have won a game, but it was against a junior varsity team.

“We’re having a pretty tough time,” Coach Ed Weathersby said.

Senior center John Cannon, who is averaging 22.6 points and 11.8 rebounds, figured that he had solved the practice problem when he arranged for an alternate site.

“John got us a church gym in Tarzana for three days to get ready for the Birmingham tournament, but only about six guys showed up,” Weathersby said.

Seven of 13 players are bused and could not get transportation to practice. Some couldn’t even make it to the tournament.

The Knights are hoping to return to practice in their gym on Thursday, six days before the Jan. 20 resumption of Valley Pac-8 Conference play.

TRANSFER TALES

Thousand Oaks might have been expected to fade from girls’ basketball prominence with the graduation last spring of Michelle Palmisano, but the Lancers might be even stronger this season as they pursue their third consecutive Southern Section title.

Not only is Thousand Oaks (14-0) unbeaten with three tournament championships, the Lancers have found another scoring threat to complement Marion Jones and Melissa Wood. Jennifer Bockus, a 5-foot-8 junior forward, scored a team-high 16 points in the Lancers’ 60-44 victory over Palmdale in the championship game of the Thousand Oaks tournament last Saturday. She sank three three-point shots in succession in the second quarter and four overall.

Bockus, who moved to Southern California last summer from Worcester, Mass., is the third key player to transfer to Thousand Oaks in five years, joining Sasha Scardino (since graduated) and Jones. But it has taken her a couple of months to become acclimated.

“It’s been hard adjusting,” Bockus said. “It’s been more of a mental thing than a physical thing.”

But as Palmdale found out, Bockus has found her confidence and her three-point shot.

“We’re not one of those teams that has one or two players,” Bockus said.

BREAKING TRADITION

Sylmar (2-4) is on the verge of celebrating its most successful basketball season in three years.

“We’ve already equaled last year’s win total,” first-year Coach Jose Fernandez said. “I just want to win one more game and I’ll be happy.”

The Spartans, who finished 2-13 last season and 1-21 the year before, are improving, Fernandez said. Lack of consistency, however, has kept the team from posting more than one victory.

“We’ve got a team that can beat the best and lose to the worst,” he said. “They could beat Monroe or Canoga Park right now with the team they have, but (instead) they lose to weaker teams like Belmont. They are used to losing--it’s just a matter of tradition here.”

CAMPBELL HELL

Campbell Hall Coach Jon Palarz thought a tournament against tougher competition would help his troops mature. A change of scenery couldn’t hurt, either.

Wrong.

Campbell Hall left the Carl’s Jr. tournament at Century High in Santa Ana last week with a bad taste in its collective mouth. Worse than a sour milkshake, in fact.

In a tournament sponsored by a national fast-food chain, Campbell Hall might have been poisoned by some homer cooking.

Foul-plagued Campbell Hall fell to tournament host Century, 60-52, in the consolation final last Saturday. Team standouts Alex Lopez and C.J. Thompkins fouled out in the fourth quarter, leaving Campbell Hall with five players. The Vikings’ second-half lead then evaporated.

“It was hard to watch,” Palarz said.

According to Palarz, Century attempted 24 free throws, Campbell Hall two. Campbell Hall was called for 23 fouls, Century seven.

CALENDAR QUIRK

Only in the City.

Because of the eight-week intersession break in the L.A. Unified School District, senior forward Steve Woodruff of Chatsworth will play in eight Northwest Valley Conference games before he attends his first class at the school.

“Hasn’t anybody thought about this?” groused one City coach. “I can’t believe he’s being allowed to do it.”

Woodruff was granted an opportunity transfer from Canoga Park to Chatsworth on Dec. 18, the last day of the fall semester, after he reportedly cursed and made physical contact with Canoga Park Coach Jeff Davis during a postgame meeting.

The spring semester opens Feb. 16, by which time eight of 10 conference games will have been played. Woodruff had already played in three December tournament games for Chatsworth.

THE BELL TOLLS

On Jan. 21, a VCR will help decide the fate of the Bell football team, which was involved in an ugly melee with Chatsworth.

A City Section committee will review game film from Bell’s quarterfinal 3-A Division playoff game against Chatsworth on Nov. 25. The game was called with six minutes remaining and Chatsworth leading, 31-6, after a Bell player kicked Chatsworth’s Robert Webb in the groin. There were several other flare-ups between the teams.

Bell already has taken some disciplinary steps. The offending player in the kicking incident, a junior who also plays baseball, was suspended for two days and has been ruled ineligible for athletics for the rest of 1992-93. He will also be ineligible for Bell’s first playoff game in the fall.

According to Commissioner Hal Harkness, the Rules Committee is still awaiting a response from Chatsworth administrators, who were asked whether the school was satisfied with Bell’s in-house disciplinary action.

Harkness said that the committee conceivably could put Bell on probation, which means that any similar problem next season might result in the suspension of the football program.

David Coulson and staff writers Steve Elling and Jeff Fletcher contributed to this notebook.