Seven Players, Coach to Get Wooden Honors

Seven Southland high school basketball players and one coach will be honored with John R. Wooden awards Friday night at a banquet at the Regal Biltmore Hotel.

The players were chosen from the City Section’s 4-A and 3-A divisions and from five Southern Section divisions. Each player’s school also will receive $500 for its athletic fund.

David Bluthenthal of Westchester, Allen Kordich of San Pedro, Casey Jacobsen of Glendora, Tayshaun Prince of Compton Dominguez, Scott Long of West Hills Chaminade, Ruben Douglas of Burbank Bellarmine-Jefferson and Conrad Adamczak of Pacific Hills are players who will honored.

Ed Azzam, who guided Westchester to the Division I state championship, is the coach of the year.

The award ceremony will precede the announcement of the Wooden Award--presented annually to the nation’s top college basketball player--and the college All-American team.

Bluthenthal, the City 4-A player of the year, averaged 23 points a game and will attend USC in the fall. He helped Westchester win its first City 4-A and Division I state titles and scored 16 points in the Comets’ 52-40 state-final victory over Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame.

Kordich, the City 3-A player of the year, averaged 27 points and led San Pedro to the 3-A semifinals.

Jacobsen, a junior, averaged 32 points for Glendora, which won the Southern Section Division I-A championship.

Prince, who has signed with Kentucky, is a McDonalds All-American who was also the state player of the year. He averaged 22 points for Dominguez and helped the Dons win their third consecutive Southern Section II-A title.

Long, who will attend the U.S. Naval Academy, averaged 15 points for Chaminade, which won the Southern Section III-A title.

Douglas averaged a state-high 34.6 points for Bell-Jeff. He has signed a letter of intent with Arizona.

Adamczak led Pacific Hills to the Southern Section V-AA title and the state Division V championship. He averaged 22 points and scored 23 in the Bruins’ 69-52 victory over Stockton Brookside Christian in the state final.