City Teams Try to Weather Long Respite

They’re baaaaaaack.

After a monthlong sabbatical for many teams, area City Section basketball resumes today with boys’ and girls’ games in the Northwest Valley, Valley Pac-8 and Northern conferences.

Teams that did not participate in holiday tournaments have not played since mid-December. Several teams resumed practicing Thursday, the first day busing resumed at Los Angeles Unified School District campuses.

Of course, the layoff hasn’t helped team continuity or cohesiveness. Before practices resumed, many players were left to practice and work out on their own. And much of what they learned has been forgotten.

“We keep going over the same thing, again and again,” Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson said. “It’s frustrating. If I was a first-year coach, I’d quit.”

The year-round academic calendar leaves a two-month break between the fall (ended Dec. 18) and spring (begins Feb. 16) semesters.

“This year-round school is a joke,” San Fernando Coach Dick Crowell said. “I bet the kids are hibernating. With the weather the way it’s been, I bet they’ve been staying up all night and sleeping all day.”

Same goes for their classmates. Despite the absence of students, games will be played. Six of the eight teams in the Northwest Valley Conference will play eight of their 10 conference games before school is back in session.

RIDE THE BIG WAVE

Way back when, when Fred Flintstone roamed the earth, the San Fernando Valley was a huge lake. Even now, San Fernando Coach Dick Crowell can look across the horizon and see “ripples.”

Trouble is, the lake is on his gymnasium floor.

“Is it too wet? It was raining in the gym,” Crowell said of the recent deluge. “We had guys out there with mats, garbage cans, buckets and sawdust trying to absorb all the water that was pouring through the roof.”

Crowell scheduled five practices last week, but because of the leakage, only two were held. The gym floor has been damaged by the rainwater.

“It’s like a ripple on the floor,” Crowell said. “It buckled and warped into concave-type spots in six or seven different areas.”

Crowell said the buckling hardwood could present a problem. The boards run across the width of the floor, rather than from baseline to baseline.

“You could conceivably catch your toe and fall,” he said.

Nonetheless, the floor was inspected by a City Section representative and school administrators Tuesday afternoon and ruled safe for play. San Fernando plays host to Kennedy at 4 p.m. today in a Northwest Valley Conference opener.

“We practiced on it for a couple of hours (Tuesday) and everything seemed OK,” Crowell said. “So far, anyway.”

WHO, ME?

Crespi kicker Bach Stabile, who on Monday committed to play at Hawaii, was a little surprised with the response of the Hawaii coaching staff when it was told of his academic accomplishments.

Stabile said he scored 960 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which is well above the NCAA minimum standard of 700 mandated for freshman eligibility, but nothing to do cartwheels over. Stabile acknowledges that his grade-point average of 2.3 also is nothing to shout about.

“When they heard (I scored 960), they were really, really happy,” said Stabile, an All-Southern Section Division I selection. “I guess they’ve had trouble with guys who couldn’t score 700.

“They saw my transcripts and kept saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to do just fine here (academically).’ I kept thinking that they must have had me mixed up with somebody else.”

Stabile might have a point. Hawaii runs a razzle-dazzle, run-and-shoot offense with four receivers in a double-wing set.

“They tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t quite understand,” Stabile said, laughing. “Like it really matters. I’m a kicker.”

MISSING PART

Montclair Prep basketball coaches had expected Kimo Atkins to be one of their dominant guards. Now, he’s not even on the team.

Atkins, a college prospect at defensive back, quit the basketball team, said co-Coach Bob Webb, to concentrate on preparing for the Scholastic Aptitude Test and take his recruiting trips.

“He would have brought senior experience and some quickness,” Webb said.

The Mounties have done fine without him, primarily because of three young guards. Freshman Jerome Joseph is leading the team with 16.5 points and 3.5 assists a game. Freshman Akil Anderson is averaging 8.9 points, and junior Blake Sonne is averaging 3.6 assists.

VISION QUEST

Granada Hills swingman Tyrone Jackman has a problem. During a basketball practice in late November, he was accidentally grazed across the eye by a teammate’s finger and nearly suffered a detached retina.

Ever since, he’s been a little gun-shy. Coach Bob Johnson enlisted the aid of the school psychologist to help Jackman deal with the problem.

What’s more, Jackman tried wearing goggles during practice, but decided they were too uncomfortable. Despite the psychological counseling and physical safeguards, Jackman remains tentative, Johnson said.

“Every time he shoots the ball, he flinches,” Johnson said. “He’s afraid it’ll happen again.”

TRANSFER OF POWER

Why is Granada Hills 2-9? Count the ways. More accurately, count the defectors.

Over the past few months, three former Highlanders transferred: Brian True, who was expected to be the team’s best player, moved to Utah; Rowan Pearson transferred to Campbell Hall, and Marcel Wilson requested and received an opportunity transfer to Chatsworth.

“It’s the first year we’ve really been hurt by (transfers),” Johnson said. “Those are four guys who probably would have started for us.”

The fourth, Robb Weinzimer, was expected to start at guard, but decided to concentrate on baseball.

SAY CHEESE

All it took was a pregnant woman for the St. Genevieve basketball team to get its basketball games videotaped.

Because the school doesn’t own a video camera, Coach Dan Donovan had been doing without the coaching tool most coaches have. But, with his wife, Bridget, pregnant with the couple’s first child, Donovan decided he would buy a camera for himself and use it to tape games and his new baby, which is due in March.

Tip for Donovan: Don’t mix up the tapes. It would be awfully embarrassing if he showed for a team chalk talk with a cassette of his son or daughter eating Jell-O.

WHERE’S RODNEY?

Village Christian basketball Coach Brian Gibson thinks his team doesn’t get respect.

The Crusaders are 11-4, 2-0 in the Alpha League, yet they remain unranked in the Southern Section Division IV.

“We’ve wondered what’s going on here,” Gibson said. “This is one of the best Village teams we’ve had in years.”

After a 1-2 start, Village Christian has won 10 of 12. The Crusaders have won their last three by an average margin of 31.3 points. Defense has been the team’s specialty. Village Christian is allowing 52.6 points per game and has held opponents to fewer than 50 six times.

Senior Dave Fennell, the leading scorer in school history, is averaging 21.7 points.

BIG MEN

They’re huge. Sort of. L.A. Baptist center Matt Kilanowski and forward Matt Perkins are 6-foot and 6-1, respectively. They’re the Knights’ big men.

Twin towers?

“More like the twin condominiums,” Coach Maury Neville said.

Kilanowski and Perkins must play bigger than they are because in last week’s 52-47 victory over Maranatha, they held the Minutemen’s big pair--6-5 Nat Hagman and 6-7 Matt Reed--to a combined 18 points.

Kilanowski and Perkins also helped the Knights keep Maranatha from getting an offensive rebound in the first half.

STREAKING

Things were not going well for Hart.

The Indians started the season 2-5 and players were beginning to doubt themselves. But first-year Coach Mike May was not worried. May knew it would take the Indians time to adjust to his style, which stresses intense, nonstop defense.

May was right.

Hart has won seven consecutive games--including its first two league games--and is expected to be among the top teams in the Foothill League race.

“I think all we needed was some experience in the system,” said May, who previously coached at Colton. “The kids are becoming more comfortable in the system and the chemistry is really apparent on the court.

“We’ve won several close games, and our defense has helped us night after night.”

RELIEF

Saugus offensive lineman Shawn Stuart, who on Monday committed to UCLA, was one of the most highly recruited players in the area. But being the focus of so many schools’ attention was not as much fun as Stuart thought it would be.

Stuart, a 6-4, 280-pound center, was touted as one of the best linemen in the nation entering his senior season and did nothing to alter that opinion. Stuart was selected co-MVP of the Foothill League and was lineman of the year on The Times’ All-Valley Team.

“I’m just relieved the whole thing is over,” Stuart said. “This has been going on for more than a year now, and it’s been on my mind a lot.

“It really takes a lot out of you.”

BLOCKMAN

Senior forward Willie Perryman is emerging as Burbank’s defensive leader.

Perryman (6-3) blocked 23 shots in three games last week, including a school-record 10 against Canyon.

“He’s not just blocking shots, he’s spiking them straight down at people,” Burbank Coach Fred Cook said. “He’s just a great athlete.

“He’ll catch any shot that goes up. Well, almost any shot.”

BRINGING OUT THE BEST

Cousins Wendell and Tim Nunnery made for a memorable rendition of “Family Feud” in Hueneme’s 74-60 Channel League victory over Rio Mesa last week.

Wendell scored a career-high 35 points to lead Hueneme, and Tim countered with 31 for Rio Mesa.

A bit of the blow-by-blow:

Wendell made 11 of 11 free throws. Tim made 10 of 10.

Wendell made four of six three-point attempts. Tim made three of five.

Wendell scored 19 fourth-quarter points. Tim scored 11 of the Spartans’ 13 fourth-quarter points.

Ultimately, it was Wendell’s fourth-period heroics that proved decisive. He accounted for all of the Vikings’ scoring in a 14-0 run. He also made eight free throws and had three three-point baskets in the period.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Rio Mesa Coach Steve Wolf said of Wendell. “He’s going for the ozone, hitting them. It was like all at once.” Was it the showdown that did it?

“They always play well against one another,” Hueneme Coach Howard Davis said. “(Wendell) had a good quote in one of the papers. He said they both got to show their talent. And they both did.”

NO SURPRISE

Considering that Monroe has only two returning starters from a team that finished 7-10, the Vikings’ 12-2 start could be classified as surprising.

But the Vikings don’t see it that way. “They’ve known for some time now that they were going to play well,” Monroe Coach Paul Graber said. “They’ve been playing together since the summer and have beat just about everybody but Simi Valley in summer leagues.”

Two returning nonstarters are leading the way: Junior Kenyatta Niles is averaging 16.6 points and senior Tweedy Stiner is averaging 15.9.