SoCal High School & Prep Report

State Finals: Division I Boys'--L.A. Weschester
Wins Title Over St. Joe's Of Alameda--(March 22, 1998)

For the first time in it's history, Westchester is the State Division I Champion. And for the second time in two years, Alameda St. Joe's has had their dream season shattered. Last year it was Crenshaw which took away the chance for St. Joe's to win its first state title since the glory days of 1991-1992 with Jason Kidd when St. Joe's swept two years in a row. And this year, not even the spirit of former coaching great Frank La Porte, who died in September of pancreatic cancer, could help resurrect the dream for St. Joe's, which lost by a score of 52-40 at the hands of the Westchester Comets.

This game was hyped as more than just a game between two of the state's top teams. It was about tributes, ghosts from the past, and perhaps no other team came into this game with as much pressure on it, pressure placed there by others, the media, and most of all by the players. Westchester had nothing to prove except that they were the best team in the state; St. Joe's had to prove that they were worthy of the memory of a legend.

The media notes put out by the CIF for this game said:

"This could very well go down as a classic match-up between two powerful teams. Both teams have exchanged time atop Cal-Hi Sports rankings all year long and have been on a collission course which could only end in a state championship bout. St. Joseph appears for the fourth time in the title game, but for the first time under new coach Gordon Johnson, who took over the reigns when long-time coaching legend Frank La Porte passed qay last September. The two-time state champs (1991-1992) feature one of the top players in the state in Ray Young and beat Vallejo 57-50 in the NorCal final to advance. Westchester makes its first appearance in the finals, but have the weapons to come away with the hardware. The Comets have terrific size with thee playerws 6-foot-8 or better: Jamal Sampson (6'-10 center), Chris Osborne (6'-9" Center) and David Bluthenthal (6'-8" Forward). Westchester narrowly escaped the Southern Regional finals edging Artesia 61-60."

If the notes seemed to view St. Joe's as the senitimental favorite, that was nothing compared to the Official Program available to the public for $5.00. In addition to complete rosters on each school, and some additional background, including championship records, almost everywhere you turned in the Program, there was a reminder of what had happened last year to St. Joe's and the fact that their long-time coach had died of pancreatic cancer before the start of this season. On page 7 of the Program, there was a very nice tribute to Frank La Porte, which we reprint, just so you'll get the flavor of how emotional this game was for St. Joe's, and how big the win was for Westchester in it's first time ever title game:

In Memory of Frank La Porte

"Just ask his former players what they thought of Frank LaPorte and you get an understanding of how he affected the lives of the people he touched.

"Star forward Ray Young called him a 'father figure' and a man who has played a big role in his life. Players thought of him again last Saturday during the regional finals game against Vallejo and knew that somehow he was there smiling on them as the team again advanced to the state finals with a 57-50 win.

"La Porte, who had coached the Pilots since 1981, passed away last September after a bout with pancreatic cancer. His final season was one to remember as LaPorte's team advanced all the way to the stat efinals before falling to Crenshaw Los Angeles in the final minutes of a thirller. It was a game that could have easily gone the way of the Pilots, but LaPorte was thirlled with his team's effort and let them know how proud he was of the tremendous season they had.

"La Porte struggled through his last season at times as his chemotherapy weakened his body. But not his mind, nor his spirits. He fed off the energy of his students and they fought and played their best basketball for him.

"As was often the case with LaPorte he preferred his players to take the spotlight, but he found it anyway through the success of his basketball teams that went on to win back-toback state titles in 1991-92."

And as if that wasn't enough to put some pressure on the Pilots, the Official Program also featured a small article on the Division I contest, which was mostly about St. Joe's. Written by Kevin Askelund of the Willows Journal, here's what it said:

Returning members of last year's St. Joseph team probably still have nightmares about last year's state final when the Pilots saw a 15 point fourth quarter lead evaporate in an 88-82 loss to Crenshaw. McDonald's All American Ray Young, all-state underclassman Blandon Ferguson and guards Rene Jacques and Nate Murase return to the stat efinals in search of not only what eluded them last year, but a victory for departed coach Frank LaPorte. La Porte, who coached at St. Joseph since 1981, died in September after a bout with pancreatic cancer.

Against this backdrop, the pressure was perhaps too great for St. Joe's. And while they led throughout the first half of the game, Westchester was a team without a concscience, without a past, only a present, and they avoided the distractions and the burdens faced by St. Joe's by picking up the win and holding St. Joe's scoreless for the last four minutes of the game employing a smothering full court pressure defense. Westchester goes out with a record this year of 30-3, having lost only to Compton Dominguez at the MLK Classic in January at Pauley Pavilion, and twice in mid-December at the Vegas Reebok Holiday Classic where they played without star forward David Bluthenthal.

The win yesterday established Westchester as the undisputed top team in the state, something which most folks have known throughout the year, including Gordie Johnson, who told us at SoCalHoops when we visited with him in November of last year that he believed if his team made it to the finals again they would see Westchester there.

All year long, the Pilots were playing with the enormous weight of trying to return to the state final after losing to Crenshaw a year ago. "We're just a tiny school," said St. Joseph coach Gordy Johnson. And he's right. LA City Section schools have now won 12 of the last 17 titles since the Championship involved both North and South opponents beginning in 1982. And of those 17 titles, only two have been won by Northern California schools, both by St. Joe's. Alameda St. Joe's has only 450 students, and that includes the girls enrollment. Westchester has an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. But Alameda St. Joe's, which would ordinarily be a small school Division team, elects to play up every year in Division I. Why do they do it? Because that's the way their late coach Frank La Porte thought the game should be played. "He thought if you were going to be the best, you should play the best," first year coach Gordie Johnson told SoCalHoops in November.

And while St. Joseph High of Alameda had plenty of inspiration and ambition too, Westchester was just plain better Saturday night . Last year, the Pilots lost by blowing a fourth quarter lead; this year, they never really established any momentum, and while the two teams played it fairly close in the first half, Westchester took control in the third quarter and never looked back. Westchester, which was making its first appearance in a state final, joined Cresnshaw, Carson and Manual Arts as LA City Section schools which have now won state championships. This was the sixth consecutive championship-game victory for a Southern California school.

The Game

Here were the lineups for both teams:

The Pilots led throughout the first half, but were blown away by a 14-0 run to open the third quarter, were never able to fully recover. St. Joseph, which finishes the year at 29-5, had its moments early as Jacques and backcourt mate Nate Murase triggered early leads of 10-3 and 23-15 with jumpers, steals and transition baskets. All-American swingman Ray Young dunked off a turnover for a 27-18 lead, and for a moment, St. Joseph looked as though it had a chance to prevent the Southern California sweep of boys titles for the weekend. Westchester got off to what has become it's trademark slow start, and the Comets trailed by as many as eight points with three minutes left in the second quarter before finishing strong. But Westchester was actually behind at the half, 28-25, before coming out in the .

The Comets struggled badly during the first 13 minutes, missing lay-ups, putbacks and short jumpers under pressure from St. Joe's front court players, including 6'-11" Hondre Brewer and 6'-8" Justin Davis, and it looked like Bluthenthal had finally met his match, or maybe he was just remembering what had happened to Westchester during the Dominguez game, when he struggled against 7'-0" freshman Tyson Chanlder. Bluthenthal's low point in the game, and the high point of Westchester's frustration in the first half, was best demonstrated when, with 3:42 remaining in the first half, Bluthenthal stole a St. Joe pass, and went coast to coast for what was an uncontested basket. But rather than make the easy layup and get the sure two points, Bluthenthal elevated, intending to put down a massive dunk. The only problem was that the ball bounced off the back of the rim, way up in the air, and into the hands of Young, who went the other way for a dunk that gave the Pilots a 23-15 lead.

At the half, both teams knew what was coming from Westchester. "We discussed what was coming in the second half during the break. We just wanted to get through the first five minutes of the third quarter without getting blown away. We thought if we could do that we'd still have a chance," St. Joseph Coach Gordon Johnson said. "Unfortunately, we didn't do that. We got out of sync, made some turnovers, and just couldn't recover."

"They really turned it up a notch, slowed us down, went on a run and we never could catch up," Pilots guard Rene Jacques said. "They took us out of what we wanted to do." And indeed, the Comets also knew what they had to do, going into the second half trailing: "I think at halftime, we realized this was it, especially for the seniors, this was our last game," said Westchester point guard Brandon Granville. We wanted to go out with a bang."

In the second half, Westchester really hammered St. Joe's defensively, holding them to only 13 points and a season-low total. The Comets stepped up their man pressure from baseline to baseline to establish control. They made the Pilots work for every inbound pass, open shot and assist, simply wearing St. Joe's down. The third quarter Westchester performed the other half of its game trademark: After a slow first half, they exploded in the third quarter, turning the 28-25 deficit into a 39-28 lead, and going on that 14-0 run. Jacques finally ended the barrage with jumper with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter.

Star forward Ray Young, who will attend UCLA next season, only was able to score 10 points, took the loss hard: "I let the team down. I let Coach down." But Johnson didn't agree, saying "Ray can't win the game on his own. This loss is not his fault. He should not hang his head."

"To me, this hurts a lot more," said senior guard Rene Jacques, a veteran of last March's loss to Crenshaw of Los Angeles after St. Joseph had led into the final period. The players dedicated the 1997-98 season to winning the title for LaPorte following his death last September. Jacques said that during the pregame, every St. Joe player had a prayer for LaPorte, explaining "We asked him to help us play hard and stick together," said Jacques. "This is very bitter for me, but it's a learning experience. Everything that we've gone through this year has been a learning experience. For me this is my second time. It's very difficult. I had two shots at it, and we didn't come through."

St. Joseph pulled down 41 rebounds, but Westchester, led by 12 rebounds from Bluthenthal, who also had 16 points, pulled down a total 44 boards as a team. St. Joseph was limited to 16-for-61 shooting, 3-for-19 from 3-point range, and Westchester, running freely, was 20-for-53. The Comets, never really a good perimeter shooting team all year, attemtped ten 3-point shots, making just one. But that one was more than enough to satisfy coach Ed Azzam.

Young pulled the Pilots to within two points, 40-38 with 6:20 to play, but the Comets were never really challenged even as Young seemed to come alive at the start of the fourth quarter when he made a tough left-handed shot inside and turnaround jumper along the baseline that pulled St. Joseph to within 40-38. Following the Young shot, Bluthenthal regained his composure from the terrible first half offensive performance, and helped Westchester pull away with a free throw with 5:59 left that gave the Comets a 41-38 lead. Bland then stole a pass and passed to Bluthenthal for a lay-up, and it was 43-38. Granville then got the assist to Osborne on the next possession for another basket which extended Westchester's lead to seven points at 45-38. Westchester then held Young scoreless the rest of the way, playing great defense, and forcing Young to fire up two airballs in the final two minutes, something which he probably hasn't done all year. The Pilots didn't score during the last 4:00 of the game, and they shot only 16 for 60 (27%) from the field. St. Joe's Murase and Jacques, both of whom will attend Sacramento State next season in the hope of rebuilding the faltering program, combined for 19 of the Pilot's 27 first-half points. They were unable to put anything together though in the second half, and combined for just five points; Young only managed 10 points in the game, a tribute to the Westchester defense, on five of 16 shooting.

Senior forward David Bluthenthal led Westchester with 16 points, Bland added 11 and forward Chris Osborne came off the bench to score 10 points. Granville scored 10 points and had eight assists.

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