DIVISION IV-AA : Corona del Mar’s Merriman Wearing Happy Face This Year

Todd Merriman puts on a game face. Sure he does.

Look again. It’s there, just like it always is.

Still don’t see it? Here’s a hint: Don’t go searching for facial contortions and fiercely gritted teeth.

Come on, it’s right under your nose . . . and his.

Just look at the smile.

That’s it. That’s Todd Merriman’s game face. Yep, the grin is in with the Corona del Mar captain and leading scorer, and why not? After all, high school basketball is fun again.

That wasn’t the case a year ago, when Merriman was a junior sixth man on a Corona del Mar team that didn’t reach the goals it set. As the season wore on and the frustration mounted, Sea King players feuded with each other on and off the court, making practices, games and meetings tension-filled events.

“It wasn’t a lot of fun to be there,” Merriman said. “I think we all felt the pressure when things didn’t go well, because we’re Corona del Mar and we’re expected to win no matter what.”

The season soured to the point that Merriman found himself wearing a different kind of game face--the basic scowling type. At school. At practice. At home.

Everywhere.

When the season ended, Merriman decided it was time to re-evaluate his priorities. Those priorities didn’t necessarily include basketball.

In May, he was elected Associated Student Body president and began preparing for the post he assumed at the start of this school year.

In June, he informed Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris that he wasn’t going to participate in the Sea Kings’ summer league and probably wouldn’t come back to the team for his senior year.

Naturally, Orris was surprised by Merriman’s decision. Suddenly, instead of moving up to top gun, Merriman was moving on.

“It was a shock,” Orris said. “But Todd’s a real sharp, straightforward kid and doesn’t beat around the bush, and I knew he must have what he felt were good reasons.”

Basically, Merriman just wanted to be happy again.

“I’m known as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but I didn’t think I’d stay that way if I kept playing,” Merriman said. “I wanted to be able to smile all the time like I had before.

“I think coach understood, even though he was a little upset. I just didn’t know if I wanted to go through my senior year with that bad taste in my mouth.”

Orris says he understood to a point, and so did Merriman’s teammates, who spent the summer convincing Merriman that this year would be different.

Some methods of persuasion were more effective than others. For example, Sea King forward Chris Quinn, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound all-league tight end and one of Merriman’s closest friends, was relentless.

“Quinn gave me heat every day during the summer,” Merriman said. “He said he’d beat me up if I didn’t play. I’m still not sure he was joking.”

No fisticuffs were necessary to get Merriman back on the court. A summer without basketball, and the camaraderie of his teammates was enough to bring Merriman to the gym when school started, which didn’t surprise Orris.

“I got the impression that he would come back if we didn’t force the issue,” Orris said. “This is his senior year and these are guys he’s played with all along, and I didn’t think he’d want to miss that once he had the chance to be away for awhile.”

Merriman doesn’t regret his decision to return.

“I had to make sure this was what I wanted to do, and it was,” he said. “I’m having a great time.”

With Merriman back, Orris scrapped Corona del Mar’s traditional forward-oriented man offense in favor of motion offenses that give the freewheeling Merriman more room to operate at point guard. The move has paid off for Merriman, who is averaging 17.5 points, and the Sea Kings, who meet Playa del Rey St. Bernard for the Division IV-AA championship at 7:30 tonight at Estancia High School.

“When Todd came back, I thought we had a fighting chance in league and in our playoff division,” Orris said. “I haven’t seen anybody here with his kind of open-court abilities in a long time, and that really catches people off guard because we’re always thought of as a slow-down kind of team.”

In the first round of the IV-AA playoffs, Merriman was at his full-throttle best, scoring 20 points in the first half of Corona del Mar’s 70-61 victory over third-seeded Hemet West Valley. Merriman’s game is based on his ability to slash and drive to the basket, which sets up his three-point shot.

Orris, not known as a coach who encourages a playing style that includes no-look passes and twisting reverse layups, isn’t so stubborn as to try to harness Merriman’s creativity.

“He’s very athletic, and when guys produce in that way like Todd has, I give them a little more leeway,” Orris said. “He’s having fun and we’re playing for the championship, and I think that says a lot.”

So does the smile.