1982-83: It Happened in Hoops This Season

The game still was played from December until early March, but San Diego Section basketballers seemingly were playing more and scoring more.

Ninety points, once considered elite, had become almost routine. 100 points no longer was surprising.

There were more highs than lows but some stunning legislative moves captured the headlines, as usual caused by a “dreaded administrative glitch”: 1982-83: Morse is Out of Playoffs And Then Back In

12/3/82

–Santa Fe Christian stepped up in class and the experience was not uplifting.  Carlsbad defeated the Navigators, 112-18.   The Lancers outscored their outmanned opponents, 29-1, in the fourth quarter.

Santa Fe Christian eventually changed its mascot to Eagles.

12/4/82

–Randy Pass had 6 of his game 14 points as Grossmont outscored San Dieguito, 10-5, in the fourth overtime of a 59-54 victory.

–The teams were deadlocked at 41 at the end of regulation play.

12/9/82

Russ Swier scored 30 of Ramona’s total in a 64-46 loss to Madison.

12/10/82

–Vista’s Jimmy Douglas scored 45 points, retrieved 20 missed shots, and third-ranked Vista topped visiting and fourth-ranked Sweetwater, 77-72.

–El Capitan dropped a 58-46 decision to Monte Vista and the Vaqueros could point the finger at the free throw line, where they missed 16 of 18 attempts.

12/13/82

Steve Brand of The San Diego Union noted the wide gulf between attendance in the championship games at the Hilltop and Mt. Helix tournaments.

“Helix attracted an almost full house (for Morse and Helix).  The Hilltop final, featuring two unbeaten teams (Mira Mesa and Point Loma), drew only a handful of fans.”

Brand pointed out that Mt. Helix had the host school, plus Morse and Lincoln and that the Hilltop championship was played during and after an epic Chargers-49ers football game; during a Virginia-Georgetown contest featuring all-Americas Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing, and just before tip of a San Diego-State Oregon game.

The 10-team tournament also started Nov. 30 but finished with a scheduled Dec. 11 ending, a full week after semifinal play and almost two weeks after the opening tip.

12/17/82

Morse ganged up on Sweetwater, 60-32, in the second half and cruised to a 92-51 victory.  Lawrence West, nicknamed “Camel” by his teammates because “he’s a hard worker”, scored 22 points.

CENTURY CLUB

TOURNAMENTS

HILLTOP INVITATIONAL

Point Loma 76, Mira Mesa 73. 

Kevin Celestine of the Pointers and Tag Glithero of the Marauders offset each other with 25 points apiece.

–Point Loma ran away from Mar Vista, 89-70 after a 28-5 first quarter to set up for Mira Mesa, 63-60 winner over Torrey Pines

MT. HELIX INVITATIONAL

Morse, 63, Helix 56.

The Tigers, leading, 46-33, after three quarters, rode out a mild Helix charge.

–Six players scored in double figures as Morse beat Kearny, 85-51.  Madison transfer Ray Epton was one of the five with 14.  Lawrence West had 17 and Shawn Bell 15, plus 15 rebounds.

–Lincoln’s Anthony Todd scored 35 points in an 81-58 win over Mission Bay.

–Morse stopped Lincoln, 67-60, as Lawrence West, after a first half collar, scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds in last 16 minutes.

Eight teams participated.

PARKER

Francis Parker 38, Army-Navy 30.

–The host Lancers won their eight-team event.

RAMONA

San Marcos 60, Canyon Country Canyon, 55, OT.

The Knights emerged in the eight-team event by converting 24×42 free throws, the losers 7×21.

–Russ Swier scored 26 points, almost all in the first half, as Ramona took a 49-17 lead in an 83-43 win over Army-Navy.

LT. JIM MITCHELL MEMORIAL

Las Vegas Western 94, Glendale Hoover 92, 2 OT.

–The Kiwanis Tournament no longer invited out-of-area teams but the San Dieguito-based event, honoring a former Mustangs athlete who was killed in Viet Nam, tabbed the two finalists, Glendale Hoover as No. 1 seed and Las Vegas Western No. 2, among the 16 teams.

–Chris Dudley’s 25 points set the pace as Torrey Pines whipped San Pasqual, 69-65, for third place.

–Western eliminated San Pasqual, 98-63, and Hoover topped Torrey Pines, 75-64, in the semifinals.

–Western also out ran Mira Mesa, 103-96, as three players scored at least 24 points.  Tag Glithero led the Marauders with 30.

–Torrey Pines, pushed by Chris Dudley’s 22 points, upset 10^th-ranked El Camino, 72-65, dealing the Oceanside club its first loss, but the Wildcats, in their fourth season under coach Ray Johnson, rebounded to go to 5-1 with a 102-57 win over Escondido.

KIWANIS

The 36^th annual’s entry list of 27 teams, including fifteen Unlimited and 12 Limited division squads, was the lowest since the 1953-54 season, when there were 24 squads.

–A move to 32 teams in 1955-56 was followed by the creation of the Classified Division for a peak of 44 squads in 1967-68.

Helix 57, Lincoln 50, Unlimited Division.

Lincoln’s Anthony Todd collected his fourth foul with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t score again, finishing with 12 points.  Helix clinched with a 22-12 last quarter.

–Yoyo Mitchell’s basket with 4 seconds to go finally got San Diego past Chula Vista, 77-75, in four overtimes.

La Jolla 63, Crawford 54, Limited Division.

La Jolla pulled away with a 19-8 third quarter. Crawford was assessed 28 fouls and 5 players fouled out.

–Sophomores Demetre Lafitte and Dave Burgess combined for 48 points and 17 rebounds as University upset Sweetwater, 75-60.

POINT LOMA

–Starting center Mark Fisher was stranded by weather in Denver and leading scorer Kevin Celestine had a hip pointer.

–The Pointers managed with John Giles, picking up for Fisher and scoring 24 points, and Celestine rallying with 16 in a first-round, 79-56 win over San Marcos.

–The champion Pointers moved to 7-1 the same day in the round-robin event by playing another game, and defeating Mar Vista, 63-49. Celestine added 14 points.

BARON-OPTIMIST

Vista 48, Orange Glen 41.

El Camino 73, Marian 62 (small schools)

The Patriots’ slow-down game pestered Vista until Jimmy Douglas broke through in the third quarter and finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

–A 30-10 third quarter, after it trailed, 29-20, at halftime propelled El Camino past Crawford, 74-50.  The Wildcats’ Freddy Spears scored 30 points.

–The ensuing win over Marian gave the Wildcats a 4-0 record in the tournament and they ended December with a San Diego Section-leading average of 85.1 points.

SANTANA

University 55, Patrick Henry 49.

Jim Binford and player-of-tournament David Reyes each scored 15 points for the Dons.

RICHMOND CHALLENGE @VANCOUVER, CANADA

Sweetwater won the round-robin tournament with a 2-1 record on the basis of the most points scored (295).

–Sweetwater 105, British Columbia Richmond 74.

–British Columbia Abbotsford, 81, Sweetwater 73.

–Sweetwater 109, British Columbia, Coquitlam Centennial 91.

CHINO

LaVerne Damien, 69, Escondido 47.

The Cougars were eliminated in consolation play.

1/4/83

Monte Vista overcame a 15-point Helix lead to defeat the Helix, 51-50, on Brad Morgan’s 15-foot basket at the buzzer.

–Reggie Wallace scored 40 points as Sweetwater beat Southwest, 80-51.

1/5/83

Mike Haupt scored 26 points as Mira Mesa set a school record in a 99-73 win over Christian.

1/12/83

Anthony Todd scored 27 points and Arthur Hamilton 17 as Lincoln outlasted Morse, 76-73, in two overtimes.

1/18/83

Out of the past came Poway and Orange Glen, which played to an old-fashioned 20-19 score, edge to Poway.

1/28/83

Reggie Owens scored 22 points and Oceanside gained a first-place Avocado League tie with El Camino, 58-53 in overtime, extending the Pirates’ home-court winning streak to 33 games, dating to the 1980-81 campaign.

–The Pirates trailed by eight points with six minutes remaining and by five with 1:02 left in regulation.

ALMOST TALLEST

Six-foot, 4-inch Russ Swier believed he was the third tallest person in Ramona, population 12,500.

Swier stood behind his 6-5 coach Larry Bringham, who played at U.S. International University “and a dentist here in town named Jim Hill,” according to Bud Maloney of the Evening Tribune.

The 6-8 Hill played at Fordham University in New York.

Swier led the San Diego Section with a 27.0 average this season.

ALL-TIME SINGLE-SEASON LEADERS IN SCORING AVERAGE

2/4/83

Lincoln dropped a double-overtime, 76-68 decision to Hoover, despite Anthony Todd’s 35 points.

–Todd had to pick up the slack after the Hornets forfeited 12 victories because of ineligibilities.

–Hoover’s Ricky Pernell scored 36 points, following games of 38, 31, and 29.

2/8/83

Anthony Todd joined an elite group when he scored 50 points, with 24 field goals and two free throws in a 96-78 win over St. Augustine.  The 6-foot, 8-inch Todd was aided by Alton Beavers’ 16 points and 13 rebounds.

–Todd became the 11^th player in County history reach 50.

–Search 1979-80: “Three Division Alignment…” for a listing of the 10 others.

2/10/83

Anthony Todd, just two days later, socked Crawford with 46 points in an 89-48 win.  The Colts led, 15-12, after one quarter.

 2/16/83

—Sweetwater sweated before clinching a fifth straight league title, the first four in the Metropolitan before realigning in the new South Bay loop, 66-62, over Hilltop.

The Lancers converted 12 of 14 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter and slowly chopped a 54-46 Red Devils lead to 4 points, but their last score came with one second left.

2/20/83

—La Jolla won a playoff against University, 58-37, to clear the final hurdle to the 2-A playoffs.  The Vikings and Uni had tied as Western League champions, each with 10-2 records.

—Point Loma closed with a 91-59 win over San Diego and also finished 10-2. A postgame vote by league officials accorded the Pointers the No. 1 playoff position.  They also would be the top seed in 2-A.

PLAYOFFS

3-A

First Round

Morse 76, Madison 64 (17-7).

Granted a reprieve from a City Schools boss, No. 1 seed Morse took a nine-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Tigers originally were scheduled to play Hilltop, the only team in the playoffs with a losing record.

3-A Quarterfinals

Sweetwater 56, Monte Vista 52 (19-5).

Sweetwater won its 16^th in a row, improving to 20-5, which marked their sixth straight 20-win season, but not before experiencing sauna-like perspiration, especially with the memory of their No. 1 seedand first-round, 86-83 loss to Fallbrook the previous season.

“I must have lost ten pounds,” declared Red Devils coach Gary Zarecky.

Vista 77, Mira Mesa 73 (16-8).

The favored Panthers got more than they expected from the rising Marauders, sparked by junior Mike Haupt, who scored 32 points, a total matched by Vista’s Jimmy Douglas.

Vista did not know which team it would play until Mira Mesa suddenly was given playoff entree when Morse was ruled out because of forfeitures.

Morse 75, Hilltop 38 (11-14).

All 12 Tigers got into the scoring column.

Helix 72, Torrey Pines 56 (20-6).

2-A

La Jolla 67, Hoover 54 (15-9).

Central League champion Hoover ran afoul of Rick Eveleth’s tough and resourceful Vikings.

La Jolla held Hoover’s high-scoring Ricky Pernell to 19 points while three Norsemen made double figures.

Point Loma 56, Southwest 47 (15-8).

El Camino 91, Chula Vista 63 (14-10).

Lincoln 60, Oceanside 52 (14-8).

3-A Semifinals

Helix 66, Vista 54 (20-5).

Six-foot, 4-inch Tyrone Muldrow didn’t let Jimmy Douglas’ at least 4-inch height edge get in the way as Muldrow scored 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds.

With an assist from Scott Webb, Muldrow’s basket stopped a Vista rally, which had narrowed the score to 55-51 and sparked a Highlanders run of 13 points in a row.

Douglas had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Panthers.

Morse 64, Sweetwater 56 (21-5).

Parade Magazine third-team all-America Lawrence West led the Tigers with 22 points. All of his 10 baskets came from point-blank range.  “What we tried to do was get the ball inside and get them in foul trouble early,” said West.

Sweetwater star Reggie Wallace picked up his third foul halfway through the first quarter and sat for the remainder of the half, at which Morse led, 35-26.

2-A Semifinals

La Jolla 76, Lincoln 54 (8-16).

El Camino 76, Point Loma 72, OT (20-5).

The Pointers scored the last six points to etch a tie at 68 and send the game into overtime.

“When we walked off the court at the end of regulation time we were really hanging our heads, but we gathered our composure and came back,” said Wildcats coach Ray Johnson.

A basket by 22-point contributor Freddy Spears with 12 seconds remaining in the extra session clinched the El Camino victory.

1-A Semifinals

Army-Navy 57, Julian 49.

Francis Parker 83, Victory Christian 43.

SCORING LEADERS

3-A Championship.

Morse 51 (4-20), Helix 50 (24-3).

Helix led, 49-47, before 4,677 persons at the Sports Arena, until the Tigers’ Carl Fisher scored two baskets in the final 1:09 to pull out the victory,

2-A

La Jolla 79 (21-4), El Camino 67 (23-3).

“Our basic game plan was to work for the best shot and bang the offensive boards and it worked almost perfectly in the first half,” said Vikings coach Rick Eveleth.

La Jolla led, 39-24, at intermission.

“They took it to us underneath,” said El Camino coach Ray Johnson.

1-A

Francis Parker 40 (19-3), Army-Navy 39 (17-5).

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL PLAYOFFS

First Round

Division I

Los Angeles Crenshaw 86, Morse 45 (4-21), @Long Beach Arena.

Many in the crowd of 1,751 stood and gave the Tigers a standing ovation when the Tigers’ Ray Epton scored a field goal with 3:34 left in the half.

The Tigers had launched 14 unsuccessful attempts from the field before Epton’s basket.

Morse also did not score in the first quarter, drawing an 0-17 collar as the Cougars, behind 6-foot, 7-inch John Williams, who scored 22 points.

The Cougars took a breath in a 19-17 Morse second quarter before racing to a 52-26 advantage in the second half.

“I told our players before the game the key would be for us to cut down on our turnovers,” said Morse coach Ron Davis.  “When we had 12 turnovers in the first quarter that was the end of the game.”

Technically, Morse finished with a 4-21 record, with a total of 20 forfeitures.  They were 21-4 on the court.

Crenshaw topped Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, 62-55, in overtime for the state championship.

Division II

Oxnard Santa Clara 57, La Jolla 56 (21-5).

A 17-3 La Jolla lead evaporated into a 54-49 deficit and then the Vikings battled back but couldn’t finish, turning the ball over three times in the final 1:36.

Atherton Menlo defeated Santa Clara, 53-51, for the state title.

Division III

Santa Monica Crossroads 81, Francis Parker 64 (19-4).

Parker, considered the longest of longshots, outplayed the Roadrunners for almost three quarters. Mark Seiber scored 22 for Parker and Jay Filderman added 20 points, 14 on free throws.

Crossroads reached the state finals before losing to Cloverdale, 71-64.