EMPIRE LEAGUE 1993-1994 / BOYS BASKETBALL : Esperanza’s Thimgan Gets Down to Business

August was play time for Esperanza’s Mike Thimgan.

For an entire month, he didn’t touch a basketball. He went to Mammoth Lakes in search of trout. He went to Iowa to visit his grandmother. He went to San Clemente to relax on the beach.

Then he went back to work.

“August is my vacation time,” said Thimgan, a 6-foot-3 senior guard. “Every year, our family goes somewhere to fish or camp. It’s relaxing. But when the first week of September comes around, it’s time to get ready for the season.”

The next few months are intense.

Thimgan didn’t just walk onto a basketball court as a star. He worked at it.

“This kid is a coach’s dream,” Esperanza Coach Mark Hill said. “But he doesn’t have a ‘star’ mentality. He goes out and works at it.”

Thimgan, a two-year starter, has worked hard to become a player. He was named All-Orange County last season after leading the Aztecs to their second consecutive Empire League championship.

He averaged 14.2 points.

“His best stat is that we’re 19-1 in league the last two seasons,” Hill said. “He’s the epitome of a winner.”

This “epitome of a winner” once could be found firing up air balls in his back yard.

Thimgan remembers the basket his father put up in their back yard. Then just a child, he would go out and shoot for hours on end. It wasn’t always encouraging.

“We had a three-point line painted on the court and I would try to hit that shot,” Thimgan said. “I couldn’t even hit the net.”

That changed.

Thimgan shoots as many as 400 shots a day during the off-season. After every 50 shots, he shoots 10 free throws.

Last season, he made 56% of his shots, 47% of his three-point attempts and 84% of his free throws.

“None of it came naturally, I’ve had to work at it,” he said.

The hard work cost Thimgan most of his freshman season. He played in only one game for the junior varsity before breaking the small finger on his shooting hand.

He did it in practice, taking a charge.

“Nate Harrison was scoring down the lane and it was one of those situations,” Thimgan said. “I threw my hand back to catch myself and bent my pinky back. But I had to take the charge.”

Thimgan missed nearly a month.

“Maybe I should have eased up in practice, but I can’t,” he said.

That desire got noticed. Thimgan won a starting spot on the varsity as a sophomore.

He was mainly a role player. But when needed, he could score, too.

Thimgan scored 23 points against Katella. The Aztecs won by eight.

“I thought that was good of me to step up,” Thimgan said.

He did it more often last season. Thimgan won two games last season with free throws in the final seconds. He also smothered Steve Carbone, Los Alamitos’ leading scorer, in a key league game. In fact, he held Carbone under 10 points in three of four games against him the past two seasons.

“Mike is just great in many ways,” Hills said. “He’s more than just a scorer. He’s a guy who can beat you in many ways.”

Hill would like to see Thimgan beat teams more often with his scoring. But selfishness doesn’t come naturally to him.

Still, this season the Aztecs will be looking more to Thimgan and expecting more. He is one of two returning starters.

“I never thought of myself as a scorer,” he said. “But, if that’s what Coach wants me to do, I’ll do it. I just had to work at it more.”

Except during August.