Big Guys Don’t Faze Turley

With one weekend left in the high school basketball season, there’s no need to withhold judgment on who deserves recognition as the region’s most improved player.

Conor Turley of North Hollywood Campbell Hall is the runaway winner. He’s a 6-foot-6 senior who has become the most effective center in Southern California not named Amir Johnson.

“Every day, he gets better,” Coach Terry Kelly said. “It’s all a product of how hard he works.”

Turley’s contributions have been crucial in helping Campbell Hall go 31-0 and reach Saturday’s Division IV state championship game against Berkeley St. Mary’s (29-4) at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Over a one-week period, Turley took on three 6-11 centers and gave each a lesson on how to play the post position.

In the Southern Section Division IV-AA final, he scored 22 points against 6-11 freshman Auri Allen of Los Angeles Verbum Dei.

In the Southern California Regional final on Saturday, he scored 15 points against Fresno San Joaquin Memorial’s 6-11 twins, Brook and Robin Lopez.

“I was just trying to take it to them,” Turley said.

Just watch and admire the big and little things Turley does, from using his body to shield himself and gain position in the low post, to setting screens, rebounding and making good decisions on passes.

Averaging 17 points and 9.3 rebounds, with a 3.9 grade-point average, Turley could be headed to the Ivy League, with Brown and Cornell among a growing list of schools pursuing him. He’s having fun going up against taller players.

“With the 6-11 guys, you’re not going to block their shots,” he said. “You try to get good position and push them out of the post.”

Johnson, who is 6-10 and plays for Westchester, is the best in Southern California, but Turley has demonstrated he deserves respect no matter how tall or talented his opponent.

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To say freshman guard Brandon Jennings of Compton Dominguez was impressive last week against Santa Ana Mater Dei would be an understatement.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland watched from his courtside seat at the Sports Arena as Jennings scored 20 points in a 68-61 defeat in the Southern California Regional Division II final.

Afterward, everyone was in agreement: Jennings was a star in the making.

“If there’s a better point guard out there, introduce him to me,” Dominguez Coach Russell Otis said.

Added Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight: “He’s matured leaps and bounds since July. Russell’s got a gem for the next three years.”

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As the father of a young boy with another on the way, Troy Thomas is not about to compromise on moral principles he believes are important to producing quality men.

That was the reason he gave to his seniors for leaving his alma mater, Encino Crespi, to become football coach at Anaheim Servite last week.

Thomas is taking a pay cut and walking away from a program he turned into a Southern Section Division X champion. But Thomas said he was offended by the school administration allowing students to smoke at a religious retreat, permitting faculty to chew tobacco on campus and tolerating obscenity from coaches.

“They should have addressed it a long time ago,” Thomas said. “They wouldn’t make the hard decisions.”

Once Thomas revealed his feelings to students last week, action was taken. Father Paul Henson, Crespi’s principal, said smoking at retreats will no longer be permitted. Ditto for chewing tobacco on campus. And he said he will address coaches about not using obscenity.

Thomas said he was pleased Crespi has made the changes, but it’s unfortunate it took his departure to make it happen.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.