Will it be once every 57 years?

That’s how long it took El Cajon Valley High to win its first league basketball championship, a feat not accomplished since the school opened in the 1955-56 school year.

The Braves (19-8) have yet to enter the UT-San Diego basketball poll Top 10 but  their exploits have created a stir along Main Street in the city sometimes known as the Big Box.

A 69-61 victory over Mount Miguel, in which Andre Nikkita scored 41 points (30 in the second half) gave El Cajon Valley a 7-1 league record and championship of the Grossmont Valley circuit.

The Braves open the San Diego Section II playoffs at home against Serra (16-10) Wednesday night, Feb. 21.

Nikkita, the County’s leading scorer with 764 points, is averaging 28.3 points in 27 games. He needs nine points to break the school record of 772, set by Kemmy Burgess, who averaged 29.7 in 26 games in 1997-98.

Scribe Bill Dickens has been following East County teams since the 1960s.

“They had some good teams in the Bill Walton era (1969-70 at Helix), but who could tell?” said Dickens, citing the achievements were such of the Highlanders, 61-2 in two seasons,  that all else was overshadowed.

SEEDINGS SET

If playoff seedings, determined after last Friday’s final regular-season games, stay true through the first three rounds, these Nos. 1 and 2 seeds will meet in the finals of each division:

I, Mission Hills-El Camino.

II, La Costa Canyon-Hoover.

III, Cathedral Catholic-St. Augustine.

IV, Army-Navy-Mater Dei Catholic.

V, Horizon-Foothills Christian.

UT-San Diego weekly poll:

First-place votes in parenthesis.

It was a question never answered, because it seldom was asked.

Which was the better team? The 25-1 San Dieguito Mustangs, who won the Class A championship, or the tradition-rich, 24-3 Hoover Cardinals, who won the AA title in the 1960-61,  first season of the CIF San Diego Section .

Some 50 years later a reader of this website suggested I write a story about that San Dieguito team.

My initial reaction was, why didn’t  I press the issue in 1961 and get Hoover coach Charlie Hampton to address the subject after the San Dieguito coach declared his Mustangs team the best?

Or confront CIF commissioner Don Clarkson and have him explain why the Mustangs wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the AA (large schools) playoffs, despite their almost-unbeaten record against bigger schools.

I was a cub reporter on the Evening Tribune, out of Lincoln High, and I thought all things started and ended with the Eastern League, of which Hoover was a member.

My colleague, Roger Conlee, covered County schools and leaned heavily to the Grossmont and Metropolitan leagues.  The Avocado League was held in slightly more regard than the tiny Southern League.

This was a terrific San Dieguito team, led by  6-foot, 7-inch senior John Fairchild, who would be a standout at Brigham Young University and play for the Los Angeles Lakers and other professional teams over a six-year period.

Conlee and I believed otherwise, I guess.  There were weeks when the Mustangs were not even in the Tribune’s Top 10, compiled by the two of us. Late in the season San Dieguito’s 16-1 record wasn’t good enough.  Sweetwater (5-8) and Point Loma (7-8) were considered more worthy.

North County squads, other than Escondido, didn’t get much currency in those days.  Bias definitely favored the city.  The population swing and subsequent North County power emergence still was years away.

Roger Conlee finally took a trip late in the season up U.S. 101 to Bing Crosby Hall, a cavernous barn on the Del Mar Fairgrounds which served as the Mustangs’ home court.

Conlee saw San Dieguito dispatch Vista, 49-40, before about 2,000 partisans.  The victory was  the 17^th in a row  in a streak that began after a 54-47 loss to Helix in the season’s opening game.

Mustangs coach Dick McCracken, who posted a 40-6 record in his two seasons, spoke out after the game.

“I’m sure proud of this team,” McCracken told Conlee.  “I only hope we can get into the large school playoffs (Avocado League squads were consigned to the small schools alignment, reserved for schools with less than 1,500 enrollment).

Then McCracken elaborated:

“The only point I’d like to make is that we beat the two teams (Hilltop and Kearny) that beat Hoover. I think we can beat Hoover, too.  We have better shooters.  The only thing which might beat us would be the coaching.  I’m no Charlie Hampton.”

(Hampton was the legendary Hoover coach who compiled a .774 won-loss percentage in 11 seasons and posted a 223-65 record).

Coronado coach Don Valliere weighed in on the subject after a 67-49 loss to Fairchild and company.

“San Dieguito without question has the best basketball team in the County,” said Valliere.   “They may not play defense as well as Hoover, but all in all they’re better.”

The final Tribune Top 10, published before the playoffs:
1—Hoover, 21-3.
2—Hilltop, 19-5.
3—Lincoln, 16-7.
4—Point Loma, 13-9.
5—San Dieguito, 22-1.
6—Crawford, 14-8.
7—Clairemont, 12-10.
8—Grossmont, 12-8.
9—Chula Vista, 10-10.
10—Escondido, 13-10.
10—Ramona, 21-1.

San Dieguito rolled through the Class A playoffs, beating El Cajon Valley, 73-57, Kearny, 66-53, and Sweetwater, 54-46.  Hoover won the AA title, defeating Chula Vista, 63-36, Hilltop, 56-49, and Point Loma, 66-53.

There would be no matchup of city and county powerhouses.  Section commissioner Clarkson  hadn’t considered allowing the Mustangs into the AA playoffs.

So the season ended.

With apologies to Aretha Franklin, the Mustangs also deserved a little R-e-s-p-e-c-t!

With nine days until the first round of San Diego Section playoffs,  Cathedral Catholic still is No. 1.

UT-San Diego’s CIF basketball ratings did not change from the previous week.

One through 10, no one moved up or down, although Army-Navy cleared up a nettling mark on its record.

The Warriors, 21-4 and ranked second, defeated La Jolla Country Day, 72-36,  in a rematch of its upset,  44-43 loss to the Torreys Jan. 15.

St. Augustine defeated La Jolla 76-41 and Olympian 74-41 last week and commemorated a special moment in the Saints’ history.

OLD RIVALS MEET AGAIN

Tom Shaules, who set a County record of 60 points in a 102-38 win over Crawford in 1958, was honored at halftime of the Olympian contest, which the Saints led 56-16 after 16 minutes.

Among those who came to see Shaules was an old rival, San Diego High’s Arthur (Hambone) Williams, who was part of two hard-fought games with the Saints in 1958.  Shaules’s team won the first game on the Saints’ floor, 62-56.  Hambone and the Cavers won the rematch at San Diego, 65-57.

MAVERICKS GET RESPECT

La Costa Canyon battled state No. 4 Etiwanda before bowing 56-51.  The Mavericks are fourth in San Diego but the highest-ranked County team as judged by Max-Preps, which has them 17th in Southern California.  Cathedral is 19th.

First-place votes in parenthesis

Team+Record+Points+Last Week

Others receiving votes: Mt. Carmel (16-11, 4 points), Torrey Pines (16-9, 3), Westview (18-7 , 3), Mater Dei (20-5, 2), Santa Fe Christian (17-7, 2).

Army-Navy, gathering steam behind the long, shot-blocking, 7-foot, 1 inch Cheikh N’Diaye and slick-shooting guard Devin Watson now is second in the UT-San Diego boys’ basketball poll.

N’Diaye had six blocked shots and 20 rebounds to with his 20 points and Watson scored 29 as the Warriors eased past Santa Fe Christian 64-53 in a Coastal League battle last week.

Earlier in the week Army-Navy defeated Horizon 71-54.

The Cadets still trail Cathedral Catholic in the poll, although they earned a 67-61 victory over the Dons last month.

Also receiving votes: Torrey Pines (15-8, 6 points); Santa Fe Christian (16-6, 1); Westview (16-7, 1).

Polls are great, but what do they mean come playoff time?

First things first:

Cathedral hung on to first place in the UT-San Diego basketball poll, but for the first time since the 2013 calendar the Dons were not  unanimous choices.

Cathedral received 8 first-place votes after an uneven week in which it was surprised by Army-Navy 67-61 and needed an overtime before subduing St. Augustine 62-59.

Cathedral, Army-Navy, and El Camino each received first-place votes.

Teams are in the second round of league play, with  playoffs scheduled to begin Feb. 19.

After roughly 20 games, division playoff favorites are shaping up.

Coming out of the backstretch toward the turn for home:

I–El Camino.  The Wildcats are under the radar on a state level, ranking 39th in the computer-based view of CalPreps, but rate a slight edge locally over Mission Hills.

II–San Diego Section’s most loaded division. La Costa Canyon, San Marcos,  and Hoover  stand out. Morse and  San Ysidro are demanding respect.  La Costa is fifth, Hoover 10th, San Marcos 12th, and Morse 20th in CalPreps.

III–Cathedral is 3-0 against St. Augustie this season and is third in its division and 19th overall in California.  St. Augustine is fifth in D-3.  Unless a New York Jets-Balitmore Colts, Super Bowl III upset occurs, these two teams will meet in the Section finals.

IV–But for a confounding loss to La Jolla Country Day (9-8), Army-Navy (17-4) would be San Diego’s No. 1-ranked team.  The Warriors are seventh in the state in D-4 but could make a deep playoff run.

V–Dialing Tri-City Christian, 18-1 and 12th as seen by CalPreps.

First-place votes in parenthesis:

Also receiving votes:  Santa Fe Christian, 15-6 (6 points); Torrey Pines, 13-8 (6); Tri-City Christian, 18-1 (2); Westview, 15-6 (2).  

January, 1958,  was  special  for Tom Shaules, for St. Augustine High, and for basketball in San Diego. That wintry month annually signals the anniversary of Shaules’  epic run through the City Prep League.

The 5-foot, 8-inch senior scored a record 60 points against Crawford, led the Saints in three games in which they scored more than 100, and created a buzz around North Park and throughout the County.

Friday night home games at St. Augustine meant get there early. The tiny Daugherty gymnasium between 32nd and Bancroft streets was built to accommodate about 500 persons.  Attendance would be double that, as long as the fire marshal wasn’t around.

On January 8, 1958, St. Augustine jumped to a 46-18 halftime lead over Crawford, an  out-manned first-year school.

Shaules had 27 points in the first two quarters.

Jerry Moriarty, the Saints’ coach,  turned  the second half over to Tom Carter, the varsity football mentor who also doubled as JV basketball coach.

Moriarty got into his automobile and drove a few miles East to Hoover to  scout the remainder of the Cardinals-San Diego game, both upcoming opponents for St. Augustine.

A very late-evening telephone call awakened Moriarty at home.  Someone, possibly Carter, was calling to say that Shaules finished the game with 60 points and that St. Augustine had won 102-38.

Shaules’ quarterly scoring output was 13, 14, 13, and 20.  Evening Tribune reporter Paul Cour wrote:  “The Saints’ sharpshooter scored 20 field goals on driving layins and his unorthodox jump shot from around the key.”

This in an era long before three-point shooting arc.

Shaules also made 20 of 21 free throw attempts, including 17 in a row.  The Saints led 76-24 after three quarters.

Carter sat Shaules for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, according to Cour.

“Coach Moriarty wouldn’t have let me play that much,” said Shaules.  “He was embarrassed.  The next time we played Crawford I only played the first half.”

Shaules followed with 34 points to pass 1,000 in two seasons in a 71-57 victory over Kearny, then had 37 more in a 105-34 victory over La Jolla.

Next up was Lincoln.  Hornets coach Don Smith said he would not make any drastic defensive changes.

“Teams have two-timed Shaules; they’ve used a zone against him, and he still scores,” Smith told Cour.  “We’ll play the game like any other.  We think we can win the ball game.”

Shaules sniped the Hornets for 38 points in a 74-50 victory.

St. Augustine then  took a rest from City Prep League competition and defeated Arizona’s visiting Yuma High Criminals, 62-51, as Shaules scored 23 points.

St. Augustine finally was stopped, when Hoover scored a 55-48 victory and Shaules was held to 19 points in a slow, dreadful affair in which 48 personal fouls were called, 24 on each team.

After an earlier, 62-56 victory over San Diego, the Saints and Cavers met again.  San Diego High brought in bleachers to increase its gymnasium’s capacity from about 900 to 1,500.

A turnaway crowd of more than 1,600 (the entrance was closed an hour before tipoff) watched the Cavers, who would finish with a 23-2 record, score a 65-57 victory.  Shaules scored 27.

St. Augustine, in its first City League season, finished with a 20-6 record and tied for second with an 11-5 league standing. Shaules set the County scoring record with 735 points and a 28.3 average.

St. Augustine was not a basketball school. Shaules’ supporting cast essentially was Sammy Owens, a rugged forward and 15-point scorer known more as one of the City League’s best football running backs.  Alex Castro, a defensive specialist, was the  Saints’ other starting guard.

“Bill Whittaker (a playground mentor who went on to a long career as baseball coach at St. Augustine) taught me some things when I was 8 or 9 years old,” said Shaules, “but my idol was a guy named Robin Freeman.”

Shaules fashioned a jump shot  that, like  Freeman’s, had a reverse spin on the ball.  A 30-point scorer, Freeman was an all-America at Ohio State in the early ‘fifties, when Shaules was a student at Blessed Sacrament, the grammar school which also lists Bill Walton among its alumni.

His records have been broken but Shaules remains a San Diego hoops legend.

He was known as “Shotgun” Shaules during a successful career for Seattle University, then a powerful independent whose alums included future NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor.

“I went with Elgin (on what could be termed as a recruiting visit) and the team back to Louisville for the NCAA finals when they played Kentucky,” Shaules remembered.

The NCAA would frown upon the practice today.

Shaules went into sales for the National Filter Company after college and finally was able to relocate to San Diego in 1998.  A widower with three grown children, Tom resides in the Chula Vista suburb of Eastlake.