Harvard-Westlake Gets Reinforcements

Harvard-Westlake High, which compiled a 114-14 record over the last four seasons, is 3-3 after a 58-52 loss Monday to Santa Monica Crossroads.

But Coach Greg Hilliard isn’t fretting over the Wolverines’ start.

Hilliard points out Harvard-Westlake has been missing between two and four of its top 10 players during each game this season.

Senior Alex Holmes and juniors Kelechi Ogbunamiri and Spencer Torgan played in their first game of the season against Crossroads after helping the Wolverines to a runner-up finish in the Southern Section Division VII football playoffs.

Senior Alex Minn, Harvard-Westlake’s No. 2 scorer, didn’t play against Crossroads after spraining an ankle in a 63-50 loss to Crespi in the third-place game of the Thousand Oaks tournament last Friday.

Senior Dan Kinzer, a 6-foot-8 center, had five points against Crossroads after missing the previous four games with a stress fracture in his hip.

Junior Anthony Naylor hasn’t played this season because of a shoulder injury and isn’t expected back until after the start of the new year.

“Monday was actually the first time [this season] that we all shook hands and saw each other,” Hilliard said. “We played kind of sloppy, but it was nice to have [Holmes, Ogbunamiri and Torgan] out there. . . .

“To be honest, I feel fortunate to be 3-3. We could be 1-5 with everything that’s happened.”

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Holmes, a highly regarded 6-3, 300-pound tight end and linebacker, averaged 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds as a junior, but Hilliard doesn’t consider him a true post player.

Holmes has a solid three-point shot and runs the floor well.

With his size, “He can play wherever he wants to play,” Hilliard said with a laugh.

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Coach Fluke Fluker of Chatsworth has an answer for those surprised at the Chancellors’ 56-42 upset victory Wednesday night over No. 2 Chaminade in the Valencia tournament.

“The only Fluke in that game was the coach,” he said. “Our guys are sick and tired of the Rodney Dangerfield label about not getting any respect. They wanted to make a statement.”

Richard Harrison, Adam Drell and Ronald Ruffin held 6-9 Scott Borchart of Chaminade to 11 points.

“All of those guys are 6-6 and lift weights every day,” Fluker said. “I think Borchart has seen enough orange and blue for a lifetime.”

Chatsworth will play Quartz Hill tonight at 7:30 in a semifinal game.

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Last week could be called “Beat Banning Week” at Taft. The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams each defeated Banning, then the football team knocked off the Pilots in the City Championship game.

The Taft boys’ team is 4-1 and a surprise. The Toreadors lost most of their top players from the West Valley League championship team of last season. But Coach Mark Drucker has found two outstanding shooters--Wendell Walden, up from junior varsity, and returnee Raja Boykins.

Sophomores Cecil Brown and Shane Berry, a point guard, also have made major contributions.

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Paraclete (1-5) is another basketball team that got off to a slow start because several of its top players were involved in the football playoffs.

Michael Washington, Rob Fockaert, Brian Whisler and Robert Watts, who helped the Spirits win the Southern Section Division XII title Saturday night, were in their basketball uniforms Tuesday night when Paraclete lost to unbeaten Rosamond, 79-74, in a nonleague game.

“The cavalry is arriving,” Coach Andy Gavel of Paraclete said Monday.

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Improved mid-range jump shooting has made senior Jeff Staniland of Ventura a more complete player this season, Coach Dan Larson said.

Staniland, a 6-2 guard, was a Times’ All-Ventura County selection last season after averaging 21 points a game. But most of those points came on close-range shots after he drove the lane.

He is averaging 27.7 points this season after scoring 46 points, tying a school record, in an 80-64 victory over Antelope Valley in a consolation bracket game of the Valencia tournament on Wednesday night.

He has made 69 of 122 shots (56.6%) and 50 of 57 free throws (87.7%).

“I’m sure his [field-goal shooting percentage] will drop a little when we start playing teams that are familiar with us and the way he plays,” Larson said.

“But right now, he’s pulling up and hitting shots with guys right in his face.”

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Warm weather has led some Californians to remark that it doesn’t seem like the holiday season, but you won’t hear any complaints from members of the five Canadian teams taking part in the La Canada tournament, which began Tuesday and ends Dec. 23.

“They love coming down from the cold Canadian north and playing in 80-degree weather,” said Charlie Plowman, tournament director.

“They love going to the different attractions in the Southern California area. They love the whole experience.”

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Gilbert Arenas of Grant isn’t the only player in the region averaging more than 30 points per game.

Sammy Delrahim, a sophomore guard at tiny Tarzana Stoneridge Prep, is averaging 32.5 points after four games.

Delrahim attended Taft and El Camino Real last year but didn’t play.

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Sylmar, Newbury Park, Harvard-Westlake and Montclair Prep begin play Saturday in the 54-team Las Vegas Holiday tournament.

The tournament will include teams from 15 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces.

Mater Dei, the No. 2-ranked team in USA Today’s national poll, is among 19 California schools represented.

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Staff writers John Ortega and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this notebook.