4d904

SoCalHoops Tournament News

1998 4 "D" Labor Day Tourney Notes
USA Red, 4"D", Cerritos, & More--(Sept. 4, 1998)

The 1998 4 "D" Labor Day Tournament got underway today at Leuzinger High in Lawndale. For those of you interested in attending, Leuzinger is located at 4188 Rosecrans just east of Hawthorne Blvd. It's about a mile or so east of the 405 Rosecrans Ave. exit. Two gyms, decent floors, incredibly hot. Bring a fan, lots of water and dress appropriately.

We only saw limited action today, catching some of the younger kids in action early this afternoon. Saw an Inland team beat a 11 & U 4 "D" team coached by Eric Washington. Hmmm, some of those kids look remarkably old to be in 5th & 6th grades.

The JV division got underway too, as the Cerritos Hoyas really hammered a team from, we think, Lancaster. This was the same Cerritos team which also won the YBOA tournament held over Memorial Day at Costa Mesa, and they still look tough. We'll have a report on them tomorrow.

The next game was between 4"D"'s Meteors coached by Eric Washington. They had a couple of new players, one a freshman at Westchester, and another a senior at Crenshaw, neither of who's names we got, but they were good, and playing with Daniel Yerelian (6'-0" Jr. F) of Peninsula, and John Clemmons (5'-10" Jr. PG) from Westchester, the 4"D" guys looked very good.

4 "D" took on The USA Red team which was coached by Larry Gray. The roster for USA included:

Lester Clay (6'-3" So. F) from Crenshaw
David Gale (5'-10" Fr. PG) from Buckley
Eric Jones (5'-10" Fr. G) from Fairfax
John McGee (6'-2" Sr. F) from Westchester High
Quentin Burney (5'-11" Jr. G) from San Dimas High
Vincent Williams (6'-2" So. F/C) from Santa Monica High
Daniel Malwah (6'-3" So. G/F) from Pacific Hills
Marcus Roberson (6'-1" So. G/F) from Crenshaw
Marcel Farmer (5'-10" Jr. G) from Westchester.
John Woodard (5'-6" So. G) from Westchester High
Blake Walker (6'-4" So. G/F) from Cajon High

A couple of the guys, we're not exactly sure who, didn't show, and so David Gale, normally on this team's roster, sat in at the point guard spot, sharing duties with Eric Jones. Jones did a credible job, as did Gale, who finished with 7 points, and he had some very nice no look passes, shot well from the perimeter, including a very nice three, and drove and penetrated well, getting about 5 assists. The USA Red team is the "new" USA team, not the one which finished third in Vegas or which won the summer league at 4 "D", and none of these guys had really played together before. In fact, most had only practiced together two or three times before the game today, and so it was a big surprise that they did as well as they did. We were most impressed with Lester Clay (6'-3" So. F), a big, strong, quick player. Lester is a transfer to Crenshaw from Dorsey, and if he makes the varsity at Crenshaw this year he will certainly be an impact player. He's smart, can hit the j from out to about 20' with great regularity, and plays pretty good defense too. Of course, the team will need to work on its press-break, and stay out of foul trouble, as they turned the ball over too frequently in today's game. But they show nice promise if they can stay together through the rest of the tourney. We'll have more on this team and the rest of the teams competing in the JV division tomorrow.