DIV320.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

CIF State Championships: Division IV Boys'
Game Preview--(March 20, 1998)

Southern California champion Verbum Dei v. Northern California champion Pacific Grove
Friday 3/20 at ARCO Arena, Sacramento, 4:15 p.m.

In the boys' Division IV final at 4:15, former UCLA star and Chicago Bull David Greenwood coaches his high school alma mater Verbum Dei (22-5) against Pacific Grove (27-2). Verbum Dei, which won a title in 1995, takes a 17-game winning streak into the final behind the play of Marlon Parmer and Dalron Johnson. The Eagles crushed La Jolla Bishop's, 67-46, to advance. The former UCLA star and Chicago Bull played for Verbum Dei in the 1970s when the Eagles dominated in the Southern Section. Greenwood never got a chance to play for a state title because the tournament did not begin until the 1981 year. But he and the Eagles are in a position to win the school's second state championship after defeating La Jolla Bishop's, 67-46. Marlon Parmer and Dalron Johnson are the top players for Verbum Dei, which won a title in 1995 and takes a 17-game winning streak into the final.

Verbum Dei, knocked off Crossroads, beating them convincingly by 10 points, 82-72 in the Southern Section semifinals, and then they beat Gardena Serra to win the CIF-SS Championship, in a game which saw Marlon Parmer (6'-1" Jr. PG) score 34 points. The team features other solid players:

Dalron Johnson (6'-8"Jr F/C)
Larry Davenport (6'-4" Jr F)
Washum Dashiell (6'-3" Jr SG/SF)
Robert Watkins (6'-1" So SG)
Eric Moses (5'-8" Sr PG)
Rashawd Cobbs (5'-11" Jr PG)
Lawrence Diggs(6'-2" Jr SG)
Cedric White (6'-3" Jr F)
Beck Drummond (6'-4" Jr PF)
Earl Shuford (6'-4" Jr F/C)
Ricardo Suazo (6'-5" Jr F).

Washum, Davenport and Dalron are all capable of scoring in double figures. Watkins is up from the JV for the playoffs, and has performed well. Diggs, and the others off the bench are performing admirably as well.

We don't have a roster for Pacific Grove yet, but we know a little bit about them: They advanced to the state final appearance with a 55-54 victory over Modesto Christian, a team which everyone thought would repeat this year. Pacific Grove comes into this game ranked by Cal-Hi Sports as the No. 1 team in the NorCal region, while Verbum Dei is ranked No. 2 in SoCal (a pretty meaningless ranking, since Pacific Grove is now the No. 1 team, regardless of their prior seeding). Pacific Grove features Michael Lazzari a 6'-3" swingman and guard Eddie Banaszek a 6'-1". Lazzari is from Australia, and learned the game in the same Melbourne Tigers club team that produced former Seton Hall star Andrew Gaze, had never even played in a high school game before. Banaszek is the nephew of former 49er lineman Cas Banaszek. Pacific Grove was the No. 2 seeded team in the NorCal Regional Championship behind Modesto Christian, the defending state Champs, who had won 69 of their previous 71 games and an amazing 14 straight playoff games.

The game tips off at 4:15 today, and is the first of the Boys' Championship games. Don't miss it.