SoCal High School & Prep Report

State Finals: Division III Boys'-- USDHS Dons
Win Title Over Enterprise of Redding--(March 22, 1998)

While we're waiting for Pat McKinney to put up his article, we do have details of this game. Luke Walton, the son of basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, scored 23 points, including a key free throw with 20.4 seconds to play, as the University of San Diego High Dons, who finish the season at 26-4. won the Division III state title with a 51-48 victory over Enterprise of Redding. Redding finishes the year at 23-8. Billy Speer and Jason Morgan scored 17 apiece for Enterprise. Walton also pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked a potential game-tying three-point shot with two seconds left to help give the Dons their first Division III championship. It's just the second state championship banner to be earned by a San Diego boys team. Lincoln won in 1994.

The media notes for this game didn't really feature much hard information about the two teams, but here's what they had:

It's like a Waalton's reunion at University High [sic--the name of the school is actually "University of San Diego High School, not to be confused with "University High", another school in the San Diego area]. The Walton gang includes Bill Walton's two sons Luke and Chris and their cousin Kam. Luke is a 6'-8" forward averaging 18.3 points a game and he poured in 31 in the Dons' 58-54 win over Washington Union in the Southern Regional rinals. The Dons make their first trip to the state champinoships. Enterprise also makes a first appearance after besting Del Oro, 49-31 in a devensive NorCal final. The Hornets are led by Billy Speer, a 6'-4" senior forward averaging 22.4 points per game."

The notes also added that USDHS' Ron McMillan was averaging 15.6 ppg going into the contest; Enterprise's Billy Speer, in the very next paragraph after it stated he was pulling down "22.4 ppg" said that he was a "Top Scorer" at 20.5 ppg--whatever, it's still quite a lot, and he was their best player. Other top scorers for Enterprise were listed as Jason Morgan at 12.5 ppg.

The Official Program notes were a little more helpful. Here's what the preview line was on the game:

The Walton Gang invades ARCO arena on Saturday. No it's not the UCLA Bruins with Henry Bibby, Keith Wilkes and Bill Walton [note--Walton didn't play with Bibby-- Bibby played with Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor], but it is the University Dons [sic--see the note above] with Bill Walton's two sons, Luke and Chris and their cousin Kam Walton. Luke is a 6'-8" forward headed to Arizona nest year who averages 18.3 points a game. He had 31 points in the Don's 58-54 win over No. 1 seed Washington Union of Easton in the Southern California final.

Chris, a 6'-7" sophomore, and Kam, a 6'-8" sophomore, don't see as much action as Luke but help give University and imposing front line that also includes 65'-6" forward Ronnie McMillan (15 ppg). Guard David Abramowitz, who will play at San Diego State next season, keys the offense with his outstanding passing ability and an additional 14.6 points a game.

The Dons will have a significant size advantage on the Enterprise Hornets, who like University make their first trip to the state finals. Enterprise's best player is Billy Speer, a 6'-4" fsenior forward. Speer averaged 22.4 points during the season and was named the Northern Section player of the year. However Speer is also the tallest member of the HNornet starting rotation.

Despite the lack of height, the top-seeded Hornets (23-7) had little trouble downing Del Oro 49-31 in the NorCal final and even outrebounded the Eagles 41-35. Remarkably, Speer only had five points in the win, but Enterprise got unexpeted scoring from sophomore Chris Wilmot. Elevated from the JV team for the playoffs, Wilmot hit three three-pointers against Del Oro while regular starters AJason Collins [no not the one from Stanford :-) ] and Matt Blanc each hit a pair to make up for Speer's season-low total.

So that was the hype before the game. Here were the rosters:

But even before the game got started, there was a small mixup involving the Don's jerseys. Certain that the Dons would be the home team because they were seeded higher, Don's coach Tomey told the team to be sure they brought their white home jerseys. But he also told the team to bring along their visiting red jerseys too. But Luke forgot his. When the team was told by officials that they were the visitors (because the games were hosted in the North, all of the northern teams were considered the hosts), a little bit of panic set in. "When I was told we'd be in red, I asked Luke if he brought his red shirt," said Tomey, smiling. "He said he thought his mom had it. She hadn't. I asked if we could wear white and the tournament officials were great."

So the Dons, clad in white, entered last night's game the heavy favorites because of their obvious height advantage. What they didn't fully understand was that the Hornets had nothing to lose, having already been underdogs, and that they just loved to shoot the three, which would challenge the Dons to extend their defense. In fact, as things turned out, Enterprise (23-8) buried more three-point field goals--nine in all--than twos (they only made 8 non-three field goals in the game), and in the end, their inability to hit the shot when it counted cost them the game.

And, Enterprise had some inside help. Inside as in assistant coach Mike Haworth, who played for San Diego's Madison High in 1973 and still had connections. "We weren't intimidated by them," said Haworth, "because we'd played San Diego teams like Rancho Buena Vista and El Camino in the Red Bluff Tournament. "At the end, we wanted Billy (Speers) to have the ball. You must go with your best guy and hope for one more miracle." But there weren't going to be any miracles in this one.

While the Hornets stayed close by hitting timely three-pointers, making three in a row in the second quarter during an 11-0 run to open a 23-14 lead and give their faithful hope for an upset, the Dons, behind Luke Walton, came right back with a 12-0 run of their own. USDHS also had a 12-3 spurt in the third quarter. A 42-34 USDHS lead with 6:23 to play evaporated when the Hornets rallied to tie the game at 44-44. But a Chris Walton field goal and two free throws by San Diego State-bound Dave Abramowitz with seven seconds remaining gave the Dons a three-point lead.

But with 2:38 to go, none of those streaks mattered as the game was deadlocked at 44. Luke Walton's clean block of Billy Speer's three-point field-goal attempt with three seconds to play secured USDHS' 51-48 victory over Enterprise of Redding in the California State Division III title game. When Speer tried to launch his game-tying field goal, there was Walton to get a hand on the ball. No whistle. "I got the ball before it left (Speer's) hand, so I knew it wasn't a foul," said the University of Arizona-bound Walton. "Even if the officials missed it, he had to make all three free throws. The ball caromed to Enterprise's Matt Blanc, who had hit three of those long-range bombs. But his awkward attempt, just before the buzzer, drew nothing but air. "There was no way we were going to be denied," said USDHS coach Jim Tomey. "Winners find a way to win, so when we were behind I wasn't worried and when we got an eight-point lead I thought it was over."

Congratulations to the USDHS Dons, State Division III Champions. We'll have the full stats up a bit later.

©Copyright SoCalHoops 1998
All rights reserved
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com