Single-Minded Bankhead Scores 40 Points to Spur Cleveland’s Win

All season, Cleveland High forward Shawn Bankhead has seen double. Two guys hanging on him here, a couple more over there. That happens when you’re a team’s offensive focal point.

Wednesday, double vision became eye-popping anticipation when El Camino Real pretty much left him all by his lonesome.

Can my eyes be deceiving me?

“I had a little smile when I saw that zone,” Bankhead said.

More like an ear-to-ear grin, because Bankhead was in a zone of his own.

The 6-foot-6 senior scored a season-high 40 points to lead the Cavaliers to an easy 72-60 victory in a Northwest Valley Conference basketball game at Cleveland.

El Camino Real (10-5, 1-2 in league play) first tried to defend the lanky swingman with a straight-up, man-to-man scheme. No problem. Bankhead nailed seven of his first eight shots and had 15 points when he came out for a brief breather with 1 minute 38 seconds left.

In the first quarter.

By halftime, he had outscored El Camino Real, made 12 of 16 shots and had 27 points as Cleveland (9-6, 3-0) took a 37-21 lead. El Camino Real tried a futile zone defense in the second half, then inserted the monolithic James Romero (6-7, 320 pounds) to try his luck against Bankhead. No dice.

Bankhead, who made 18 of 25 shots, continued to score every way imaginable. Even the visitors’ bench was impressed. Was there anything left in the repertoire?

“No,” Bankhead said, beaming. “Did you get the dunks?”

Yup, all four of them. The last of the slams, a 180-degree reverse, came with 4:15 to play and sealed El Camino Real’s fate. It gave Cleveland a 60-44 lead and mass substitutions followed.

Only Kenyth Henry and Charles Adams, each of whom scored 20 points, kept El Camino Real within range. Conquistadore swingman Markee Brown, averaging a team-high 23.9 points, did not score and didn’t play in the second half.

Brown, after realizing he wasn’t going to play after intermission, changed into his street clothes while on the bench and watched the final four minutes from one end of the gym. “We have some things we need to work out,” Coach Neils Ludlow said.