PREPS / CAP CAREY : St. Bernard, a Boys’ Basketball Power in the Past, Is Looking to the Future

Coach Jim McClune reminisced about the good old days of St. Bernard High basketball when Arizona center Ed Stokes, in town for the Wildcats’ games with UCLA and USC, visited a Viking practice this week.

“(Stokes) reminded me of how much easier it is to coach when you have a 7-foot center,” McClune said of the former St. Bernard standout.

To the surprise of many, Stokes included, St. Bernard has gotten off to a slow start. The Vikings, once regarded as one of Southern California’s premier basketball teams, are 5-10 and 1-2 in Mission League play after losing to Bishop Montgomery, 52-41, on Friday night.

Last season, St. Bernard was 19-11, won the Mission League title and reached the semifinals of the Southern Section Division III-A playoffs before losing to eventual champion La Canada, 78-64.

“(The record) is a surprise, but I’m sure they’ll get it together and have a good year,” Stokes said. “They’ll probably build on this year and next year have a better team.”

McClune said St. Bernard has a bright future.

“We have probably as good a freshmen team as we’ve ever had,” McClune said. “(Losing) has been harder on me than it is on the kids. The guys I coach are always the same age, 16, 17, 18, but I’m getting older every year. We are a little short of the horses that we have always had in the past.”

St. Bernard’s loss Friday night was before a standing-room-only crowd at Bishop Montgomery.

Bishop Montgomery (11-1, 3-0) struggled at times against the Vikings’ zone defense. St. Bernard concentrated on stopping 6-foot-6 forward Andre English, challenging the Knights to shoot from outside.

English, who had been averaging 20.2 points a game and 33.5 points in his first two league games, was held to seven points and none in the second half.

“I think we have good perimeter players,” Bishop Montgomery Coach Doug Mitchell said. “They played the zone and we didn’t expose it with good play on the perimeter.”

It was a game of spurts as St. Bernard took a 6-0 lead before Bishop Montgomery responded with 10 unanswered points.

“Our defense takes advantage of our quickness and it provides help against a strong post game like they have with English,” McClune said. “But it gives up perimeter shots which they were not hitting in the first half.”

With the score tied, 14-14, midway through the second quarter, Bishop Montgomery went on a 11-5 run to close the half with a 25-19 lead. The Knights opened the second half with a 12-3 spurt to increase their lead to 37-22. A 13-2 run by St. Bernard brought the Vikings back to within 39-35 with five minutes 30 seconds remaining.

But Bishop Montgomery guard Kareem Mutrie took over in the final five minutes, scoring eight points as the Knights pulled away.

“We didn’t play very well,” Mitchell said. “But it’s nice to win against our big archrival with a crowd like this.”

Bishop Montgomery guard Jayson Sanders made three three-point shots in the second half and finished with 14 points.

The Knights, ranked No. 1 in the South Bay by The Times, have two key league games this week. They play at Loyola on Monday night, and then play Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Wednesday night at Bishop Montgomery.

Notre Dame (12-3, 3-0) is led by 6-foot-5 guard Monte Marcaccini, who has signed a letter of intent to play for Bobby Knight at Indiana.

“I try not to pay attention (to rankings), but it is nice to get some recognition,” Mitchell said. “We’ll have a good test. We match up fairly well with (Notre Dame).”

Although he scored 31 points in a 56-53 nonleague loss at Peninsula Friday night, Torrance guard Michael Dean was impressed with the Panthers, and especially Coach John Mihaljevich.

“I give all the credit to Mihaljevich,” Dean said. “What he did was put a box-in-one zone on me and then take it on and off. He rattled me a lot.”

Torrance (7-8) trailed Peninsula by as many as 17 points in the first half before rallying to within 51-50 with three minutes remaining.

At that point Mihaljevich decided to have Brian Hogentogler guard Dean, and his defensive work helped seal the Panther victory. Peninsula improved to 10-5.

“He was the best defender that I have played against,” Dean said of Hogentogler. “He would not let me go around the picks. I think he was more effective than (Morningside’s Stais Boseman) because his team supported him more. It was really Mihaljevich, his coaching.”

Hogentogler scored 17 points to lead Peninsula, and Matt Acres added 14 for the Panthers.

“Once (Peninsula) gets the ball inside, it’s over,” Dean said. “They have four guys who can score at will, and then Mihaljevich has guys that come in as subs and do the same thing.”

Although most area teams are completing nonleague schedules, a few leagues have begun.

Morningside’s Stais Boseman scored 24 points to lead the Monarchs to an 86-77 victory over host Culver City in an Ocean League opener Friday night. Morningside is 13-4.

Mira Costa (14-2) was led by guard Josh Branca, who scored 21 points in a 60-48 victory at Beverly Hills in another Ocean League opener.

Serra (9-7) opened Camino Real League play with a 71-40 victory over Cantwell. Michael Boyd led the Cavaliers with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Mary Star won its Santa Fe League opener with a 67-64 victory over Cathedral. It was the Stars’ first victory against Cathedral in 15 seasons.

Chadwick improved to 2-0 in the Prep League with a 59-40 victory over Webb.