Cross-town Move Gives Royal’s Foster a New Start

Would you rather be a part-time player for one of the top-ranked basketball teams in the Southern Section or a full-time player for one that has a 6-6 record.

It’s the latter if you’re Branden Foster of Royal High.

Foster, a 5-foot-8 senior point guard, was a backup to Shaun Michel on a 25-6 Simi Valley team that reached the Southern Section Division I-AA semifinals last season, but he transferred to cross-town rival Royal under open enrollment in the summer.

“It was a big adjustment, but it’s been a good move,” Foster said after helping Royal to a 79-55 victory over Lynwood in a quarterfinal of the Hart tournament on Monday. “It’s given me a chance to play with a lot of guys I’ve known for awhile.”

Foster had 13 points and five assists and played all 32 minutes against Lynwood (9-5), a team that had superior speed and athleticism compared to Royal.

“I don’t know where we’d be without him,” Coach Larry Wiksell said of Foster. “He’s the only point guard we’ve got right now.”

Dan DeOliviera, a 5-8 junior, was expected to be Royal’s backup point guard, but he might not play this season after undergoing knee surgery earlier this year.

“I think it might be best to let him take off the season,” Wiksell said. “He’s had two knee surgeries in two years and you don’t want a player coming back too soon and worrying about getting hurt.”

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Wiksell seemed content as he sipped a cup of coffee following Royal’s victory over Lynwood.

“That’s as well as this group can play,” he said. “I just want to savor this game for a day before we play [Tuesday].”

Wiksell was most pleased that Royal didn’t get caught up in a playground-style game with Lynwood.

The Highlanders had a 30-second stretch near the end of the second quarter when their lead was cut from 31-14 to 31-19 and forward Scott Rice missed a dunk attempt, prompting Wiksell to call a timeout and tell his players to calm down.

“I basically told them that they had played a [quarter and a half] of real good basketball,” Wiksell said. “And I didn’t want to see them blow it by getting caught up in a street game.”

Royal responded by outscoring Lynwood, 9-5, in the final 2:13 of the second quarter to take a 40-24 halftime lead.

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Jerry Owens of Hart, who recently committed to UCLA on a football scholarship, is not expected to play for the Indians’ basketball team this season.

Owens, a wide receiver who had 63 receptions for 1,373 yards and 16 touchdowns before sustaining a broken leg in the regular-season finale, was expected to help Hart’s basketball team during Foothill League play.

But Coach Dave Montgomery said he doesn’t expect Owens to play this season.

“His next doctor appointment is Jan. 12,” Montgomery said. “And I expect them to tell him the same thing then they told him before, that he won’t be ready to play until March.

“It’s a shame because he’s a good player. I’ve been here for two seasons and I think I’ve actually worked with Jerry for about four weeks.”

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It would be an understatement to say that Coach Kevin Kanemura of Van Nuys was disappointed with his team’s play in an 82-50 loss to San Francisco Archbishop Riordan in the first round of Chaminade tournament on Saturday.

Kanemura spent most of the first half yelling at players for not executing offensive plays or for blowing defensive assignments.

He finally walked out of the gymnasium with about a minute remaining in the second quarter.

He returned for the second half.

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Coach Tim Guy of Kennedy thinks he has a rising star in 6-6 senior Nana Gbewonyo, who’s averaging 22.5 points after eight games.

A strong leaper, Gbewonyo hardly played in the summer because of lower-back pain. Guy said Gbewonyo’s best days are ahead.

“He hasn’t even started [to develop] yet,” Guy said.

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