Carson Player an Inspiration

All Marques Washington knows about the ordeal that nearly claimed his life is what he has been told.

He was sitting with a friend on the hood of a cousin’s car after being dropped off for a basketball game. The boys on the hood playfully told the cousin to drive. The car lurched forward, slow at first, then faster. The cousin made a sharp turn.

That’s when Washington went flying off the hood backward, landing headfirst on the pavement and suffering a violent seizure. Last rites were issued at the hospital, where the boy slipped into a coma and nearly died.

Six years later, Washington is serving as an inspiration.

The Carson High senior guard has made a triumphant return to the hardwood even though his right eye is permanently damaged and a scar on the back of his head serves as a constant reminder of the accident.

“I feel normal,” Washington said. “I feel like every day I’m getting better.”

Washington scored 10 points Friday in the Colts’ 57-48 victory over Woodland Hills Taft and hopes to make an even bigger impact Wednesday as Carson (18-7) takes on top-seeded Westchester (25-2) in the quarterfinal round of the City Section playoffs.

Washington has only played in two games since turning an ankle against Washington in the Colts’ second Marine League game, but his spirit remains undeterred.

“Now it’s my turn to be the man and take charge,” said Washington, Carson’s second-leading scorer before the injury.

Few thought Washington would play again after the car accident left the eighth-grader in a coma for a week.

His recovery has been slow. Confined to a wheelchair, Washington was home-schooled for several months before attending Long Beach Jordan for the rest of the ninth grade. He started the 10th grade at Carson, where he joined the basketball team and played for three seasons. In September, City Section officials granted him another year of eligibility.

Colt Coach Richard Masson said Washington’s recuperation has been remarkable.

“To come back and play at this level of competition again is something,” Masson said. Washington remains close to the cousin who drove the car at the time of the accident. When Washington suffered his seizure, it was the cousin who made sure that he did not swallow his tongue.

“I didn’t look at it like it was his fault,” Washington said of his cousin.

Washington may never recover full vision in his right eye, but the important thing is that he says he feels “110%.”

Moving on: Laguna Hills Coach Dave Brown announced last spring that this season would be his last, giving him plenty of time to contemplate his farewell speech. Somehow, though, the anticipatory move didn’t make saying goodbye to his players any easier Wednesday after the Hawks were eliminated by La Habra Sonora, 58-39, in a Southern Section Division II-A first-round game.

Brown, 59, spent the day thinking about how it would be the last time he would wake as a coach, board the team bus and address his players. The third-winningest coach in Orange County history almost seemed resigned to the fact that the Sonora game would be his last.

Sonora coaches made no such assumptions.

“When we looked at the brackets, we said we did not want to play Laguna Hills because of [Brown] and the way he always has his team prepared,” said Sonora assistant Mark McGarry.

Said Sonora Coach Mike Murphy: “We hated to be the ones to play him. I have so much respect for him. The way he runs his team and program is just awesome. There’s nobody in Orange County I respect more.”

Sonora out-shot and out-defended undermanned Laguna Hills en route to victory. Afterward, Brown, who finished his 33-year coaching career with 527 victories, said he was pleased with the effort of his players.

“I love this group,” he said. “They got everything out of their ability.”

Brown, who spent his first 20 years coaching at Fountain Valley before moving to Laguna Hills, never took a team past the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Yet, he is one of four Orange County coaches to record at least 500 victories, a testament to his longevity. Only retired Anaheim Katella Coach Tom Danley (618) and Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight (600) have more victories.

“After coaching this long, [retirement] had to happen some time,” said Brown, who has planned a move to Oregon after the school year.

“Even though there was never any time to be sentimental, I knew I was retiring and was working up to it.”

Good point: La Puente Bishop Amat Coach Ray Lokar’s complaint that his Lancers, the fourth-seeded team in Division III-AA, drew an unusually tough first-round opponent became moot after Bishop Amat knocked off Monrovia, 62-59.

But Lokar’s beef was legitimate. He felt his Lancers shouldn’t have been matched against a Monrovia team that was more dangerous than its subpar record indicated, especially considering the Wildcats were getting star forward Bryant Markson back from an extended injury layoff.

“The only way the playoffs work is if you face increasingly difficult competition as each round goes on,” Lokar said. “This matchup should have happened in a later round.”

Lokar said the section committee that draws up the playoff brackets needs to include someone with more expertise in each division. But Paul Castillo, the section’s assistant commissioner who oversees boys’ basketball, said the committee did its job.

“The rules for bracketing were followed as they needed to be,” Castillo said. “[Lokar] got a tough contest, he’s correct. But there were other first-round contests that were probably equally tough.”

Odds and tip-ins: Compton Dominguez’s bid for a fourth consecutive state title ended Friday when the Dons lost to Apple Valley, 51-48, in a Division III-AA second-round game. ... Huntington Beach Edison desperately missed center Tommy Grady, one of the leading shot-blockers in Southern California, Friday during its 54-44 loss to Rowland in a Division I-A first-round game. The 6-foot-6 junior was out for a second consecutive game because of a sore ankle. UCLA football Coach Bob Toledo might be pleased to know that Grady, one of the hottest quarterback recruits in the country, wore a Bruin cap while he sat on the bench in street clothes. But Edison football Coach Dave White cautioned that the recruiting process is just beginning. “He’s got a million places to choose from,” White said. “It’s a little early for him to tip his hat.”

*

Correspondent Tim Dermody contributed to this report.