Simi Valley Returns From Tournament With New Vigor

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — It’s no secret Simi Valley High has but one goal this season: to win the Southern Section 4-A Division championship. That’s why, in the wake of their 1-2 record in the Beach Ball Classic, the Pioneers (9-3) are not fretting.

In fact, they are feeling pretty good about themselves.

“It’s been a good experience from a basketball point of view and from a cultural point of view,” Simi Valley Coach Bob Hawking said. “We will learn from having played here. You have to learn to play better.

“We haven’t backed away from anything.”

Simi Valley lost to Hillcrest of Simpsonville, S.C., the tournament runner-up, in the first round by one point. The Rams needed a wild final 15 seconds to finish off the Pioneers.

In the consolation final, Simi Valley lost by four points to Kentucky’s defending state champion, Clay County of Manchester. In between, the Pioneers crushed Socastee of Myrtle Beach.

Hillcrest went on to beat DeMatha, of Hyattsville, Md., in the semifinals. DeMatha was ranked No. 5 in the nation by USA Today at the time.

“I think that we’ve indicated that we can play with this type of competition,” Hawking said. “But we still have a ways to go.”

Simi Valley’s three losses are two less than it has endured for the past two years combined.

The Pioneers start Marmonte League play--they’ve lost one game in the past two seasons in league competition--Saturday against Thousand Oaks. And they’re wasting no time.

Simi Valley practiced at 3 p.m. Thursday, only a couple hours after arriving at LAX from Myrtle Beach, in preparation for the Lancers.

“I’m not even going to reflect on the losses,” Simi Valley guard Butch Hawking said. “We’re looking forward to Thousand Oaks. We want to go back there and show people we’re the enforcer, that we’re going to dictate the games.”

There is no indication that the Pioneers won’t win their third consecutive league title and then make another run at the Southern Section championship.

Don MacLean and Shawn DeLaittre are having their best seasons, Hawking is regarded as the best point guard in the league, and sophomore Steve Carnes showed he’s getting ready to contribute at both ends of the court.

DeLaittre, in particular, appears to have picked his game up a notch or two.

“I guess I’m letting people back home know I can play with the big boys,” he said. “I feel a lot more confident. I just feel good about my game right now.”

As do many of the Simi Valley players.

Pioneer numbers: MacLean, a center, averaged 34.3 points and 16 rebounds a game, and DeLaittre, a swingman, averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds in the Beach Ball Classic.

The Pioneers averaged 87.3 points a game, a tournament record.

MacLean was chosen for the all-tournament team. DeLaittre was given the hustle award.

Tall tales: One of the tournament’s statisticians bounded into the press room on the last night of the tournament and announced rather gleefully that MacLean had decided to attend Pitt.

To fuel the speculation, Pitt Coach Paul Evans attended Wednesday’s tournament games.

If indeed possible, MacLean’s stock might have risen further since the tournament began. Already considered one of the best-shooting high school big men in the nation, observers were impressed with his defense and tenacity around the basket.

Alas, the informant was misinformed. MacLean, who reportedly has narrowed his choices to UCLA, Kentucky, UNLV, Georgia Tech and the Panthers, denied making any such selection.

“Who starts these rumors?” he asked. “They’re not out of it, but I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m going to wait until April and make a decision then. I want to see all these teams play on television first.”

Feats of Clay County: Clay County does not start a player taller than 6 feet, 2 inches. Still, the Tigers were able to gang up on Simi Valley center MacLean fairly effectively.

“I don’t think we stopped him, we just outscored him,” Clay County Coach Bob Keith said. “MacLean is big time all the way. There’s no question about it.”

Clay County’s Tigers are from a small coal-mining town in the Appalachian Mountains of southeastern Kentucky. Manchester, with a population of 1,700, must also mine basketball talent.

The high school has only 720 students, but the Tigers were 35-3 last season when they won the state championship. Keith’s 17-year career record at the school is 497-83. He was Kentucky’s coach of the year in 1986-87.

Clay County returned four starters from last year’s team, including Russ Chadwell, a 6-0, 150-pound guard with tremendous leaping ability. Chadwell was an unofficial second in the slam-dunk contest behind 6-5 Everick Sullivan, who will attend Louisville next year.

Bowled over: For what it’s worth, three former Beach Ball Classic players will compete in New Year’s Day college football games. They are: Miami receiver Mike Irvin, in the Orange Bowl; Syracuse running back Michael Owens, in the Sugar Bowl; and Notre Dame tight end Andy Heck, in the Cotton Bowl.

At the tournament, Irvin played for St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida, Owens for Carlisle of Pennsylvania and Heck for W.T. Woodson of Virginia.

DeMatha defeats: Tuesday, the day DeMatha was moved from 10th to fifth in a national high school poll, the Stags lost to Hillcrest of Simpsonville, S.C., 84-68.

Less than 24 hours later, DeMatha lost to Eau Claire of Columbia, S.C., 77-60.

“We got bombed,” DeMatha Coach Morgan Wootten said.

Going into this year’s tournament, the Stags were the only team to win the championship twice. But, for two consecutive years, DeMatha (9-2) has left Myrtle Beach with a 1-2 tournament record.

The Stags are 858-121 in Wootten’s 32-year career.

Little giant: It was supposed to be the year of the big man at the Beach Ball Classic, but it wasn’t one of the giants who was most impressive.

In three games, Kenny Anderson, Archbishop Molloy’s 6-2 point guard, scored 73 points and dealt 14 assists to lead the team to the tournament championship.

An innovative playmaker, Anderson was named the tournament’s most valuable player over All-Americans such as 6-11 teammate Robert Werdann, MacLean, 6-11 Jerrod Mustaf (DeMatha), 6-8 Joe Rhett (Eau Claire), and 6-7 Bruce Evans and 6-5 Everick Sullivan (both of Hillcrest).

Anderson, also an All-American, is considered one of the best juniors in the nation.