Kroeger Emulates His Hero as an Intense Competitor : Basketball: Edison senior forward wants to play the game as hard Golden State’s Chris Webber does.

Micah Kroeger was just an awe-struck kid back then, one of dozens of youngsters at an Eastern Michigan basketball camp whose attention strayed away from dribbling drills to catch a glimpse of a rising prep superstar.

Chris Webber.

“He was dominating,” Kroeger remembers. “Just dominating.”

Kroeger moved from Michigan to Huntington Beach four years ago with his family, but his memories of Webber’s prep days are as vivid as a kid’s imagination.

He spins story after story about Webber’s days at Detroit Country Day High and later at Michigan.

Stories that Kroeger’s Edison High teammates have heard dozens of times.

“My teammates just hate them (Michigan) now,” Kroeger said, “because I love them so much.”

Over the years, Kroeger has grown from avid spectator to a pretty good player himself.

A 6-foot-6 senior forward, Kroeger leads Edison in scoring (15.9 points) and rebounding (7.4). As a junior, he led the Chargers to a 19-9 record and the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs.

Kroeger’s outside shooting touch and passing skills made him a natural to play swingman in the Chargers’ offense. He flourished at the position last season, scoring almost at will off the break and by pulling up from three-point range.

Kroeger was free to roam the perimeter because of the dominating presence inside of Kyle Murphy, a football lineman turned rebounder and roadblock on screens during basketball season.

It was a winning combination. The Chargers finished third in the Sunset League behind Huntington Beach and Ocean View but pulled off one of the biggest playoff upsets by beating Glendora and star guard Cameron Murray in the second round.

Kroeger scored 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Murphy added 24 points and eight rebounds as the Chargers held off the Tartans, 70-65, before a noisy crowd at the Glendora gym.

The victory earned the Chargers a spot in the quarterfinals against top-seeded Riverside J.W. North and star guard Edward Gray, who signed with Tennessee.

Kroeger kept Edison close early, scoring the Chargers’ first nine points before Gray got hot from three-point range.

Kroeger led the Chargers with 21 points, but fouled out with 3 minutes 24 seconds left in the game. Gray finished with 26 points and North coasted to a 69-47 victory.

Murphy graduated and left Edison with little size inside this season. So Kroeger is playing more and more with his back to the basket, a role he hasn’t exactly been comfortable with.

Take, for example, last week’s 52-39 loss to Huntington Beach. Kroeger made only two of 12 shots and had fits trying to guard Tony Gonzalez, Huntington Beach’s burly 6-6 center. Gonzalez outscored Kroeger, 25-10.

“Tony’s unstoppable,” Kroeger said. “When he outweighs you by 40 pounds, it’s tough to stop him.”

Games such as the Huntington Beach loss frustrate Kroeger. Edison (10-5, 3-3) has played well at times, but has struggled early in league play.

Said Larry Hirst, Edison’s first-year coach: “Micah is a great player but he was a little overanxious to carry the team on his shoulders this season. He has been trying hard, though, to mix the physical, mental and emotional parts of the game together.”

Perhaps a little bit of Webber has rubbed off on Kroeger. Although nowhere near as dominating inside, Kroeger has the intensity to match that of the Golden State Warrior rookie’s.

Kroeger was a terror in the summer leagues, both with officials and his teammates. He would yell at teammates if they made a bad pass. He would yell at referees about what he thought were bad calls.

“I got a lot of technical fouls in the summer,” he said. “I would just blow up, and I knew that was one of my main negative points.”

All that yelling didn’t earn him any points with the officials, his teammates or his coach.

“Micah is so much more dominant than the other kids,” Hirst said. “But when things weren’t going well, he would get on his teammates in a very negative way. We had some problems with that in the summer. I would say his playing time and his time on the bench were about the same during the summer because of that.”

Kroeger went back to the bench early in Edison’s season, but for a different reason. He sprained his right ankle going for a layup against Capistrano Valley. He spent the next four games watching from the bench while the swelling went down.

“It was tough sitting on the bench watching, but I think it really helped me,” Kroeger said. “It gave me some perspective. I got to see the game in a whole new light.

“I got to see how tough it is to call a game (as an official), how difficult it is to make every call right. I began to understand that they make mistakes too.”

Kroeger was expected to miss six weeks with the ankle injury, but he was back in the lineup in less than three. It’s heavily taped, but he insists he can play.

“It’s still hurting,” he said. “But not bad. I’m not going to use it as an excuse. Nobody cares to hear about that.”