BOYS’ BASKETBALL ‘94-’95: EMPIRE LEAGUE : Consistency Is Vital to Katella’s Success : Basketball: Danley expects this quality in everything from Clayton’s intensity to the Knights’ level of play.

LaByron Clayton and his Katella teammates have Coach Tom Danley excited, and that’s not an easy thing to do.

Danley has coached at Katella for 28 years and the Knights have been to the playoffs 26 times. Last season, Danley won his 500th game, but offered only a mild response to the milestone victory.

“It’s a matter of attrition and age,” Danley said after the game. “Five hundred wins just says I’m getting old.”

Winning isn’t getting old for Danley. The Knights pushed his record to 514-211 last season, and Clayton and a host of talented returning players have the coach thinking of a championship season for the Knights this season.

Clayton is one reason for this optimism.

Clayton, a 6-foot-5 senior, is a dynamic, athletic player who earned second-team All-Empire League honors last season. He averaged 12.4 points and showed he was able to dominate a game.

“LaByron is capable of being an impact player,” Danley said. “He reminds me of Dan Wright, who played for us in the early 1980s. He was only 6-4, but could dominate a game.

“Wright had great leaping ability and he knew how to intimidate opponents by just playing hard.”

Danley hopes Clayton’s intensity is consistent this season.

“We want him to pick his spots, but consistency will be a key,” Danley said. “We want to see the effort game in and game out.”

That was something Danley didn’t see last year--from Clayton or the rest of the Knights.

“I don’t know what it was, but we didn’t feel like a team,” Clayton said. “Everyone went their separate ways last year. But we’re a lot better this year. Everyone is more together. Everybody is on the same track.”

Tustin eliminated Katella from the second round of the Southern Section Division II-A playoffs last season, but the Knights’ early exit helped motivate them this summer.

“The summer went well,” Clayton said. “I think we only lost three of 26 games.”

But Danley wasn’t completely satisfied with his team’s performance.

“In summer league, the kids got ripped a couple times,” Danley said. “There were times when we should have won by 15 points but it was close because we weren’t playing to our potential.

“We need to maintain our intensity.”

Like the intensity Clayton showed against Los Alamitos, which won the Empire League last season with league MVPs Ryan Staniec and Tim Lin.

“But I dunked on Staniec in one of the Los Al games,” Clayton said. “That was one of my favorite moments.”

Clayton hopes he’ll have a few more moments like that this season.

After living in various parts of the country, Clayton has found a home in Orange County. He is the youngest of four children, and the family has stayed in Anaheim for the past six years.

“My mom has had to move around because of her job as a nurse,” Clayton said. “I was born in Wisconsin, but I’ve also lived in Gary, Ind., Reno, even a small town in Mississippi. I loved Reno because it was a 24-hour town, but we lived in a real small town in Mississippi.

“You couldn’t just go around the corner to a store to find what you needed. But it made me more appreciative for for what I have now.”

Now he has a drive to go to college, a goal Danley said is within reach.

“College coaches are sending me letters, but I’m not really that excited about it,” Clayton said. “Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but we’re trying to get ready for the season and win the league.

“But Coach Danley isn’t always teaching us about basketball. I’ve learned a lot about life from him.”

1993-94 IN REVIEW

Standings

League Overall School W L W L Los Alamitos 9 1 22 5 Esperanza 7 3 18 9 Katella 6 4 16 9 Cypress 4 6 13 13 Loara 2 8 12 14 El Dorado 2 8 7 16

Highlights

Los Alamitos won the league championship with league MVPs Tim Lin and Ryan Staniec leading the way. Lin averaged 16.7 points and made 101 of 207 three-pointers and Staniec averaged 16.4 points for the Griffins, who advanced to the Division I-AA quarterfinals under league coach of the year Steve Brooks. . . . Sharp-shooting guard Mike Thimgan led Esperanza, which finished second. The Aztecs, who also had all-league players Josh Greer and Mike Lawson, were eliminated in the second round of the Division I-AA playoffs by Fountain Valley. Esperanza and Los Alamitos have moved to the Sunset League. . . . All-league players Nick Roditis, LaByron Clayton and Mike Pahl helped Katella finish third. Knight Coach Tom Danley, in his 28th season at Katella, posted his 500th career victory in the Sunbird tournament at Western High. Katella lost to Tustin in the second round of the Division II-A playoffs. . . . Cypress all-league guard Derek Mitchell and the Centurions finished fourth but earned an at-large berth to the Division II-A playoffs. Cypress played at top-seeded Compton Dominguez in the first round and lost, 75-42. . . . Loara missed the playoffs, though guard Scott Davis, a first-team all-league selection, averaged 21 points. First-year Coach Tim Tivenan and El Dorado struggled and tied Loara for fifth.