Sports

RISING SONS

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lucious Allen and Walt Hazzard played basketball at UCLA, they were part of the Bruins’ record 10 NCAA championship teams.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jr., Bakir Allen and Rasheed Hazzard sought their fortunes outside Los Angeles.

According to their respective coaches, the three players are doing well despite carrying the burden of being the sons of well-known basketball players.

Abdul-Jabbar Jr., the former Brentwood High standout, is a redshirt freshman at Valparaiso in basketball-crazed Indiana.

“We truly like Kareem,” Valparaiso Coach Homer Drew said. “He is his own person and is being judged not by his name, but his personality. No one here cares if Kareem is the son of a famous basketball player.”

Bakir Allen, the former Crossroads standout, is a sophomore reserve guard at UC Santa Barbara. Rasheed Hazzard, the former Venice standout, is a backup point guard at George Washington in Washington, D.C.

The younger Abdul-Jabbar recently turned 18 and has grown an inch since high school. The 6-foot-6 Abdul-Jabbar had a 3.4 grade-point average during the midterm.

“He’s a quick learner on the floor,” Drew said. “He’s also really improved his shooting.”

In Indiana, standout prep basketball players can gain as much notoriety as their professional kin. Drew knows the pressures placed on promising collegiate basketball players. His son, Bryce, was named “Mr. Basketball,” a honor bestowed to the best high school player in Indiana.

“He had his choice of 50 schools,” Drew said. Indiana, Kansas, Notre Dame, Clemson, Syracuse, Stanford to name just a few. “But he chose to play for his dad.

“We really have two celebrities.”

Allen struggled as a freshman at Santa Barbara after averaging 20.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.3 assists as a senior at Crossroads. He averaged 2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists as a freshman and shot 29.8% from the field and 43.6% from the free-throw line.

“Basically, the bottom line is that his freshman-year statistics did not blow anyone out of the water,” Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said. “It’s not unusual for a freshman to shoot poorly. They don’t know a good shot from a bad one and spend too much time thinking about what they are doing.

“But Bakir is progressing well. He’ll see a lot more playing time.”

Hazzard averaged 17.4 points, four rebounds and eight assists at Venice. He’s backing up senior point guard Omo Moses and junior Vaughn Jones.

“Rasheed comes from a great basketball background--he’s been in a gym since infancy,” George Washington Coach Mike Jarvis said.

“He’s been exposed to enough good basketball and basketball players to know what it takes (to be successful).”

QUICK EXIT

Former Westchester High standout Jason Sanders has quit the San Diego State basketball program.

“I felt my future was in jeopardy. I was unhappy with my situation,” Sanders said.

Sanders was a sophomore backup to point guard Chad Nelson. He scored 37 points in 20 games under former Coach Tony Fuller, who is now at Pepperdine.

The Aztec’s new coach is Fred Trenkle.

Sanders watched from the stands Monday night as the Aztecs defeated Southern California College, 76-54, at San Diego State’s Peterson Gym.

TOURNAMENT TIME

Crossroads, Palisades, Santa Monica, University, Venice and St. Monica began competition Wednesday in the St. Monica tournament as the high school boys’ basketball season began this week. Beverly Hills started its season Wednesday at the Loyola tournament.

One of the best games of the season will take place today at Washington High when Westchester, one of the favorites to win the City 4-A Division title, plays perennial power Washington at 4 p.m.

The Comets feature one of the City’s best backcourts in 6-foot-4 senior Ben Sanders and 5-10 junior Danny Walker. Washington is led by 6-6 forward Robert Gordon-Lamar and 6-2 guard Patrick Blake.

The 53rd annual Beverly Hills Invitational begins its 16-team tournament Monday. Newhall Hart, Loyola, Palisades and Santa Monica are among the teams entered in the field.

FOOTBALL FAREWELL

Venice was the last of the area’s top 10 football teams to be eliminated from the playoffs.

Bell beat the Gondoliers, 29-3, Nov. 23 in the City Section quarterfinals.

The Eagles outgained the Gondoliers, 343-39, and had four sacks. Cornerbacks Omar Guerrero and Dulio Orellana each intercepted passes to help the Eagles advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1984.

Bell didn’t need help--thanks to the play of Venice’s special teams.

Punting deep in their own territory, the Gondoliers snapped the ball out of the end zone to give Bell a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter. After the free-kick, the Eagles drove 56 yards to increase their lead to 9-0 after an 11-yard pass from Gus Valenzuela to Dicky Purcell.

A three-yard punt in the third quarter gave the Eagles possession at the Gondolier 20-yard line. Bell needed only three plays to increase its lead to 29-0 on a two-yard run by Vern Benard.

STREAK STOPPER

Faith Baptist defeated Brentwood, 60-26, to claim the Southern Section Eight-Man Large Schools Division championship Saturday at Brentwood.

The Contenders’ victory ended the Eagles’ 34-game winning streak and handed Brentwood a home loss for the first time since a 1990 playoff game.

Quarterback Judd Granzow paced Faith Baptist (10-1), rushing for 127 yards in 16 carries and scoring on runs of 30, eight and two yards. Granzow completed three of six passes for 96 yards, including two for touchdowns.

Brentwood finished 10-1.

NCAA WATER POLO

UCLA’s water polo team finished fourth and Pepperdine fifth at the NCAA championships last weekend.

The teams squared off Friday in the first round of the eight-team tournament at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach and the fifth-seeded Bruins beat the fourth-seeded Waves, 8-7.

“It’s a pretty big win for our guys,” UCLA Coach Guy Baker said. “I thought we did a really good job of containing (Pepperdine’s Alan) Herrmann, who might be the best two-meter man in the nation. Only one of our guys has been to this tournament before--Scott Turner--and he told me that I barely was able to get him in for garbage time.”

This time, Turner’s time was quality time.

Turner, a senior, was named to the all-tournament first team and scored four goals in three games.

UCLA (17-14) lost in the semifinals, 9-5, to eventual champion Stanford, and lost the third-place game to California, 8-5.

The Bruins’ Luther Weidner, a freshman, was named to the all-tournament second team, and Jeremy-Braxton Brown, a sophomore, received honorable mention.

Pepperdine had an easier time after losing to UCLA.

The Waves (17-9), beat eighth-seeded Air Force, 10-5, in the fifth-place semifinal and sunk Navy, 13-10, to garner fifth place.

Herrmann, a sophomore, was named to the all-tournament second team and scored eight goals in three games.