Rancho Santiago Off to Surprising Start

About a month before the start of the basketball season, Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett sat at a football game discussing his team’s prospects.

He asked what the word on the street was about his team, then laughed when told there wasn’t one.

At the time, Pagett said he had no idea how well his squad would perform when put to the test.

Now that the Dons have exceeded all early expectations by starting 7-2, Pagett is amazed.

When asked if he believed his team was capable of this start, he quickly said, “No . . . Did I answer that quickly enough?”

Pagett’s early-season doubts were generated by a lack of returning players.

Only point guard Andy Nieto was back from last season’s team that finished 20-12, marking it the eighth time in the last nine years the team has won 20 games.

“He was the key guy to have back,” Pagett said, “because he gives us some leadership. He leads by example and plays extremely hard.”

Pagett is starting fresh this season. After 13 seasons as head coach at Rancho Santiago in which he compiled an 287-138 record and led the Dons to state titles in 1990 and 1991, he took last season off.

Ray Rodriguez, who had been an assistant, took over the team and Pagett spent his time traveling and only watched a handful of games.

“People asked me if I went to a lot of games and I said ‘No.’ ” Pagett said. “Then they asked if I missed it and I said, ‘No, I didn’t really miss it.’ But I wanted to come back and coach. I didn’t leave to go look for something else to do.”

The Dons have been led up front by freshman forwards Lohnnie Tape (Esperanza High) and Brian Slusser (Edison). Tape leads the team in scoring at 20.4 points per game and Slusser is averaging 14.3.

Brian Saukkola, a freshman guard from Villa Park High, also has made a key contribution for the Dons, who play Rio Hondo at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Pasadena tournament. Saukkola is averaging 14.3 points.

Andy’s brother Vlad Nieto, another sophomore guard, is averaging 8.4 points.

“As a coach,” Pagett said, “you always expect your players to do well. But you never know how a group will pan out. These kids have really blended together well.”