DeBusk Sets Eagles Soaring With a Talk

Tired of ragged play and fed up with inconsistent production, Santa Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk lashed out at his team Friday in the locker room before its Serra League encounter with visiting Servite.

“He told us that this is the time of the season to step it up,” sophomore guard Travis Smith said.

The Eagles heeded their coach and blasted the Friars, 85-44. And on Saturday, they beat pesky Estancia, 55-49, in a nonleague game, behind 26 points (six-three pointers) from 6-3 sophomore Lenny Collins.

DeBusk said it’s difficult to gauge just where the eighth-ranked Eagles are at this stage of the season. They are young and returned no starters from last season’s 26-3 team, but they appear to have a deep bench with little apparent drop-off in performance in the first nine or 10 players. DeBusk played 14 players Friday.

“I’ve never started three sophomores before,” DeBusk said. “So it’s difficult to evaluate compared to previous teams. We’ve looked like a good team at times. We’ve had parts of games that looked good, but we’ve never really been able to put together one complete game.”

Smith, the second player off the bench, scored 21 points against Servite, making 10 of 13 shots from the field. He also had four rebounds and three assists. He and his teammates were moved by DeBusk’s sometimes blunt pregame assessment of their play.

“The [Servite] game was a step in the right direction,” Smith said.

RUNNING BEHIND

Saddleback High boys’ basketball Coach Tim Mesenhimer admits the Roadrunners haven’t been earth-shakers. But a recent rebound has Saddleback, which won only two of its first 15 games, perched to make a run for a playoff berth.

Second-ranked Ocean View is a heavy favorite to win the title in the five-team Golden West League, but Saddleback is in the hunt for one of the other two automatic playoff berths, despite a late start by most of its players.

“Three starters played football and one played water polo, so they had no summer league games or preseason practices,” Mesenhimer said. “Basically, we are 20-30 games behind everybody else, experience-wise. Now, we are just figuring it out.”

Guard Ismael Isais, a junior and one of the football players, is averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 assists.

“He’d have more assists if we could just make our layups,” Mesenhimer said.

Running back Joel Gonzalez began playing basketball only recently and Manuel Pedroza, another late-comer because of football, “has been playing much better of late,” Mesenhimer said.

“The fact that the Golden West League isn’t very strong after Ocean View helps quite a bit,” Mesenhimer added. “Since we do have a shot at the playoffs, the guys are practicing harder and taking it a bit more seriously. Our defense has gotten much better because we know that we aren’t going to score a ton of points.”

SERVITE LOSES HOGAN

Servite senior forward Roger Hogan quit the team during Saturday’s 61-55 loss to La Puente Bishop Amat, Friar Coach Brian Kenney said.

Hogan, a starter and key contributor, was taken out of the game after hoisting an “ill-advised” shot, Kenney said. During the next timeout, Kenney asked Hogan whether he was still a part of the team and Hogan responded: “No, I quit.”

Kenney said he had repeatedly warned his players about being benched for poor decision-making before the incident occurred.

“We told them that we’re not playing together as a team and doing what we want,” Kenney said. “Other kids were subbed out because they weren’t doing what we wanted either. We weren’t focusing just on Roger.”

HUNTINGTON BEACH HARDSHIP

A frustrating season for the Huntington Beach girls is practically terminal now. The Oilers will be without Kelsey Ball and Lauren Murray the rest of the season.

A recent MRI exam revealed that Ball, who has played only five games, had a torn tendon in her ankle. According to Coach Bill Thomson, doctors recommend surgery, but not until after Ball, 15, a 6-foot sophomore, finishes growing.

Ball averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in the second half of the 1998-99 Sunset League season.

Murray, a 6-1 junior forward expected to contribute six-to-eight points and eight-to-nine rebounds, who has played only seven games, has missed the last seven. She has been diagnosed with mononucleosis. Thomson said “there was a chance” she could return, but questioned how helpful she could be given her lack of conditioning.

Huntington Beach (10-9, 2-3) is in fourth place in the Sunset League. Healthy, the Oilers had a chance to break into the county’s top 10.

“I thought we had a chance to compete for the league championship and we’ve been decimated by the injuries,” Thomson said. “The kids are together as a group, and we’re improving each time out, but we just don’t have the firepower to compete with the top teams.”

NEW BURDEN TO SHOULDER

Lindsay Pavlik of Mater Dei, who missed the Monarchs’ 58-45 loss to Riverside J.W. North Saturday, as well as Thursday’s victory at Lakewood St. Joseph, has a dislocated shoulder. She is not expected to play against Rosary Thursday or El Toro Saturday. She also missed the start of the season with a wrist injury.

“That’s a big hit,” assistant coach Geri Campeau said. “She hurt it during practice. It just kind of popped out and went back in, but it swelled and was real sore.”

The absence of Pavlik (10.7 points, 11.1 rebounds) puts additional pressure on Kristian Kirkpatrick (11.2 points, 6.8 rebounds), who missed two games recently because of a viral infection, and Jessica Williams (five points, 6.5 rebounds), who has been pushed into a starting role.

Staff writers Martin Henderson and Ben Bolch contributed to this report.

If you have an item or idea for the prep basketball report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at martin.henderson@latimes.com or paul.mcleod@latimes.com or ben.bolch@latimes.com