war on the floor first report

SoCalHoops Recruiting News

War On The Floor: Day One
Report By Dave Keefer--(June 23, 2001)

[Dave Keefer writes regularly for California Preps, and he is covering the War on the Floor Tournament for us as well as for them while we are in Palm Springs for the boys' tournament there. We'll have more from Dave on the War on the Floor throughout the tournament. Here's Dave's first report]

The War On The Floor got off to a slow (but hectic) start Saturday for event organizer Dennis Magro as three of the first six games resulted in forfeits. To make matters worse the other driving force behind this event, Bort Escoto, was a late scratch also when his back quit on him. Hopefully Bort will be up and at ‘em soon but Dennis managed to handle everything well and it was a good first day.

Because of the forfeited games Dennis had to juggle the schedule a little and some teams played out of their brackets and some played at times that were other than originally scheduled. But we’re sure it will all make sense by the end of the tournament. We had a chance to see most of the teams play and will see more as the tournament moves along. The no-shows were Daniel Murphy, Inglewood, and Fremont. It’s not known if they will still attempt to play in the tournament.

Most coaches played their whole squad and used lots of combinations to see what their players could do. They all want to win here but they also want to use these games to evaluate all their talent before the regular season begins. So our first-day player observations are based on somewhat limited action. Stats were a little difficult to obtain and weren’t kept as strictly as in regular season games.

Campbell Hall 57, Notre Dame 56

This was the first game we caught and it was a good one. Some of the early matchups were mismatches but this game was fairly tight all the way. It stood at 46-44 when Hall’s PG Greg Harris (13 points) showed his mettle. He hit a clutch trey to make it 49-44, then followed later with two free throws to keep his team ahead 53-47 late in the game. With five seconds left Notre Dame was forced to foul Jason Heard with the score 57-55. He clinched the victory with two ft’s that more than offset a last second trey by ND to make the final score 57-56. Matt Llewellyn of Campbell Hall led all scorers with 16 points.

Fairfax 116, Canoga Park 38

Fairfax' Josh Shipp

Wow! It’s hard to imagine that there could a better team in the state. We saw a few teams today that have some athletic and talented players. Fairfax has that and more: lots of size! Evan Burns is a big guy but he can run, pass, and DUNK about as good as anyone we’ve seen on the high school level. He has such a great inside and transition game that he hasn’t had the need to develop a jumper with range yet. With his talent he probably soon will. Fairfax has plenty of other players to marvel at. PG Kevin Bell is very very quick. He looks to pass first but if you give him any daylight he’s at the rim with a layup. He seemed a little bored in the second half because the lead had swelled, so he decided to calmly pop a few treys. Others with good strokes were Franklin Sampson and Josh Shipp. Look for up and coming Alex Bausley to be a star also. He can bang but is agile enough to hang around the perimeter too. Most of the starters were on the bench when Alex thundered home a dunk. They all jumped up and cheered wildly. Canoga Park was a late addition to the tournament, replacing Cleveland. Can it be that Cleveland and no-show Inglewood want no part of this Fairfax monster??

Taft 70, Canyon 46

We thought this game would be closer but Taft’s guards seemed to take Canyon out of it by halftime. So we broke for a quick lunch before heading for the next game.

Santa Monica 51, Simi Valley 44

Simi Valley jumped out to a 25-9 lead and looked like a team to be reckoned with in the Marmonte League next season. But the Pioneers are very young and inexperienced and it showed as they let the game slip away. K.C. Bellefontaine holds down the middle well (he’s a nice shot blocker) and Simi Valley has some hustlers but they have some more work to do this summer. Santa Monica doesn’t look to be as talented as last year either, but they held their poise and had a nice comeback victory.

Harvard-Westlake 67, Saugus 31

We caught part of this game and saw why H-W is top seeded in their bracket. They have some talented players and are looking at a lot of wins when Winter rolls around.

Sylmar 59, Hart 53

Some of the starting five for Sylmar were surprised to find themselves on the bench when the game started. Seems they may have been a tad late for some deadlines (like showing up on time?). This gave guys like sophomore Charles Murphy a chance to shine as Sylmar showed a ferocious press in the first half. Hart didn’t seem as athletic as Sylmar but they never got intimidated and they hung close the whole game. There were several technicals called on both teams (elbows, overreacting to fouls being called, etc.) and a late one proved costly to Hart. The score was tight (possibly tied) and Hart was called for a foul. The player who was cited for the foul whipped around in disgust and was tee’d. Sylmar sank four straight free throws and retained possession, then quickly scored a deuce. The six quick points were too much for Hart to overcome and was actually the margin of defeat.

The [almost] complete and hopefully accurate list of scores in chronological order:

Taft 59, Calabasas 51
Campbell Hall 57, Notre Dame 56 (Orlando Baeza, ND, 14 pts)
Chatsworth over Daniel Murphy (forfeit)
Canyon 61, Montclair Prep 59 (Haggerty, Canyon, 33 pts; Blaise, MC Prep 25)
Littlerock over Inglewood (forfeit)
Huntington Park over Fremont (forfeit)
Littlerock 58, Huntington Park 51
Fairfax 116, Canoga Park 38
Sylmar 88, LA Poly 46
Harvard-Westlake 99, Paraclete 63
Burbank 56, Bullard 54
Chaminade 65, Hart 56
Saugus 65, Chatsworth 56 (Franklin Robinson, C, 18 pts)
Taft 70, Canyon 46
Thousand Oaks 84, Grant 60
Oxnard 78, Alemany 25
Calabasas 66, MC Prep 54
Clovis West 82, El Camino 51
Santa Monica 51, Simi Valley 44
Hoover 80, Paraclete 71
Harvard-Westlake 67, Saugus 31
Chaminade 81, LA Poly 57
Oxnard 68, Simi Valley 34 (unofficial score but close)
Sylmar 59, Hart 53
Alemany vs. Santa Monica (not known)