Some Playoff Contenders Are Hurting

Broken hands, busted eye sockets, bruised internal organs. Sounds like the injury blotter at a hospital in Pamplona, Spain, after the running of the bulls.

But those were a sampling of the wounds inflicted on Southland boys’ basketball players during practice and games over the last two weeks. Besides putting a fright into many, the rash of injuries could affect the rapidly approaching Southern Section playoffs.

El Segundo, which began last week ranked No. 4 in the Division III-A coaches’ poll, will probably be without 6-foot-7 senior center Jamie Jones the last two weeks of the regular season because of a hand injury.

North Hollywood Campbell Hall, ranked No. 1 in Division IV-AA, lost 6-6 senior guard Jason Heard for the season after he took a charge in practice Jan. 24 and bruised his pancreas, which required surgery.

Westlake Village Oaks Christian, a Division IV-AA semifinalist last season, will have a tough road just to make the playoffs after its leading scorer, 6-4 junior forward Matt Hornbuckle, broke a hand Jan. 20. Additionally, Duke Lemmens, a 6-4, 230-pound junior forward, was elbowed below an eye during a game last week and suffered a fractured orbital bone.

“Without those two, it’s going to be tough,” Coach Ryan Moore said.

The Lions, 8-14 overall and 3-2 in the Frontier League, have lost two consecutive games since losing Hornbuckle, who averaged 19.4 points. Oaks Christian, in a three-way tie for second, plays host to first-place Ojai Nordhoff today.

El Segundo (17-4, 3-3) is in fourth place in the Pioneer League, but already has enough victories to qualify for the playoffs as an at-large entry. But that could result in a tough first-round opponent for the Eagles, and it’s still not 100% whether Jones will be back by then, said Coach Rick Sabosky.

Jones, who averaged 18.5 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots, was diagnosed with a fracture in his left hand after a 42-40 loss to Compton Centennial on Wednesday.

After losing Heard for the season, Campbell Hall stayed unbeaten with three wins last week, including a 75-67 nonleague victory Saturday over Pasadena Muir, ranked No. 5 in Division III-A. But Coach Terry Kelly says the Eagles will miss Heard’s contributions. He was the team’s third-leading scorer at 11.8 points a game.

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Hawthorne was without reserves when it traveled to first-place Santa Monica for an Ocean League game Wednesday, but that didn’t matter to the Cougars, who played with five players in a 49-47 victory.

Hawthorne (9-11, 2-4) was already short on players when leading scorer Brandon Richardson re-injured an ankle Jan. 21.

Lifting players from the junior varsity wasn’t an option, said boys’ Athletic Director Art Houghtaling, because the lower-level teams are also depleted in numbers and the Hawthorne coaches felt more comfortable keeping players within their skill levels.

“Not too many players were complaining about playing time,” Houghtaling said, jokingly.

Santa Monica (15-7, 4-1) came into the game in first place in league and is coming off a 56-53 nonleague victory over Villa Park, its fifth in a row.

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A share of first place will be on the line in several key games Wednesday. Compton Dominguez will try to avenge a 58-48 loss to Lynwood when it plays host to the Knights in a San Gabriel Valley League game. Los Angeles Loyola travels to North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake in the Mission League, and San Bernardino San Gorgonio plays host to San Bernardino Cajon in the San Andreas League.

On Friday, key league games include Chino Hills Ayala at Glendora in the Sierra League, Santa Barbara at Ventura in the Channel League, Valencia at Saugus in the Foothill League, and Oxnard Hueneme at Oxnard in the Pacific View League.