SoCal High School & Prep Report

Century Shootout Tournament:
Century Wins--(December 15, 1997)

There were so many tournaments held last week that it was just impossible to keep track of all of them. One we didn't hear about until it was over was the Century Shootout, played at, where else, Century High School in Orange County. In a great game last Saturday night, the host Century team defeated Dana Hills in the Championship game, with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock in an exciting overtime, 61-59.

Century is a very good team which plays in the Empire League (Division II AA) with teams from Cypress, El Dorado, Katella, Kennedy and Loara. Dana Hills a South Coast League team (Mater Dei, San Clemente, Trabuco Hills, Capistrano Valley and Mission Viejo), and plays in Division I A.

Century's roster includes:

Terrail Zoller (6'-2" Sr. F)
Mike Zepeda (6'-9" Jr. C)
Jardu Fati (5'-11" Jr. G)
Cesar Ramirez (6'-2" Sr. F)
Paul Ferretti (5;-9: Jr. G)
Robert Lopez (5'-11" Sr. SG/SF)
Moises Hernandez (6'-1" Sr. F)
Roberto Ramirez (5'-10" Jr. G)
Julio Bugarin (5'-10" Sr. G)
John Noyloa (5'-10" Sr. G)
Dennis Gaytan (5'-10" Sr. G)

We've already done a preview on Century, so we won't repeat that information here.

Dana Hills finished 16-13 last season in Division I A, and went 4-6 in league play last year. They are coached by Mark Thornton, who is in his second year. Thornton earlier this season predicted that the Dolphins would be a much improved team from last year, and it looks like he's right. The way they played on Saturday night, they might even give Mater Dei a run for the League Championship. Dana Hills had four players who returned from last year's team, including starters Larry Page (6'-3" Sr. F), Todd Pittman (6'-3" Sr. G) and Johnny Shields (5'-10" Jr. PG). Tim McKee, (6'-6" Sr. F) who was injured most of last season, could be among the best in Orange County this year, and he demonstrated some of that promise in this game, scoring 20 points, including a clutch shot with only 14 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime.

Some of Dana Hills' other players included junior newcomers Tom Gallups, Butch Kaufman, Darvell Meyers, Brett Nowell and Jeremy Walker, whose JV team from last year finished second in league play. Kaufman is 6'-6" and brought some much needed height to Dana Hills' lineup.

In Saturday night's game, Mike Zepeda hit a layup, and then with only 10 seconds showing on the clock Jardu Fati was fouled and went to the line, and made a free throw which brought the score to 61-59 in favor of Century for the win. Zepeda is a big time player, and at 6'-9" he just dominated the boards, hitting for 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. He's not quite Chenowith yet, and he's still pretty young, but he is showing some nice maturation under the boards. He also demonstrated that his post moves are improving and that he can play with his back to the hoop. Terrail Zoller, who plays more at the swing spot scored 16 points and Fatu had 11 for Century.

Century jumped out in front 14-12 in the first half, and then outscored Dana Hills 15-8 in the second quarter, to take a 29-20 lead into the locker room at the half. But then Dana Hills returned the favor, scoring 16 to Century's 9 in the third, to bring the score to 36-38, and then tied it by scoring 15 to Century's 13 in the fourth. In the overtime, Dana Hills was up 59-58 when Zepeda hit the layup, to bring the score to 59-60 Century. Fati's foul shot sealed it.

With the win, Century imporved it's record to 5-1, while Dana Hills is now at 4-2 on the season.

Congratulations to Century for winning the Century Shootout.

Other scores from the Century Shootout finals included Newport Harbor taking the third place spot, with an 84-76 victory over University. Matt Jameson was the high scorer for Newport Harbor, a division II AA team which plays in the Seaview League. Eric Palmer (5'-7" Sr. PG) scored 25 points and Larry Johnson had 20 for University, a Pacific Coast League Team which last year finished 16-10 overall, and which finished third in league play at 6-4. Last year University lost in the first round of the playoffs to Mission Viejo in Division IA. They've got a not overly tall lineup and Palmer is probably Uni's best overall player, although Larry Johnson (6'-4" So. F) is a close second. Others include Jeff Groendal (6'-0" Sr. G), Justin Hunt (6'-1" Sr. G), Charlie Thomas (6'-4" Sr. F), Ali Omid (6'-1" Sr. G), Taylor Lowe (6'-5" Sr. F) and Chris McCarthy (6'-1" Sr. G). One of the newcomers to the team that everyone was watching for was Chet Johnson (6'-2" Jr. F), and it looks like the only thing that Uni is missing is a big man, which Newport Harbor had in Adam Hearlson (6'-7" Jr. C).

In addition to Palmer and Johnson, University's other scorers included Charlie Thomas with 10, Groendal with 11, Hunt with 8, and McCarthy with 2.

In winning, Newport Harbor had a very balanced scoring attack, and other scorers in addition to Jameson included Dore with 2, Ward with 4, Archibold with 6, Robinson with 12, Illingworth with 15, Hearlson with 12, Missle with 1, and Limon with 17.

Newport jumped out to a three point lead 24-21 at the end of the first quarter and the teams played dead even in the second quarter with 15 each, to bring the score to 39-36 at the half in favor of Newport Harbor. At the end of the third quarter, Newport had stretched it's lead to 8, outscoring Uni 28-23 in the quarter. But Newport Harbor managed to hold on to the 8 point lead, with each team shooting even at 17 points in the fourth.

Congratulations to Newport Harbor on the Third Place win.

In the Fifth Place game, Magnolia beat league rival Western, 72- 60 as Zamiro Bennem (6'-3" Sr. PG) scored 26 points and had seven assists for Magnolia (7-1). Magnolia finished last season at 16-11, and went 5-5 in league play. At 7-1, they are a much improved team for 1997-98. They are coached by Al Walin, who has been around longer than almost any active high school coach in Orange County with 24 seasons. During that time, he's compiled a 310-339 record. The Magnolia Sentinels were pegged in the preseason as a top 10 Orange County team, following a very strong summer league performance in which they went 27-4 and won two tournaments. Zamiro Bennem, a left-handed point guard who averaged 15 points last season, stepped up his play in this game and proved why the recruiters are right to be looking at him, and he's being sought by at least a dozen mid-level and a few high D-I schools that we know of. Other players for Magnolia were senior wings Paul Cabico, with 14 points and Erik McGhee, who also had 14 points. We didn't hear much early this year about senior Anthony Zaragoza, a 6'-5" forward who played quarterback for the football team, but he hit for 11 points on Saturday. Asi Faoa (6'-4" Jr. C/F) only had 2 points.

Western last year finished 6-20, and 2-8 in league play, and obviously didn't make the playoffs; unless they improve their play, they are likely to be just a little better than last year, but don't look for them to be making any serious inroads against other league rivals. Western is coached by Conrad Byars, a fourth year coach who was saddled with a 27-49 record at the conclusion of the 96-97 season. Despite returning four seniors, including three starters, Western is still very young and inexperienced, with 10 sophomores on the roster. In a preseason interview, Byers said "We have a lot of question marks to answer by January." Not a lot of those questions were answered in this game, which Western lost by 12 points. Byers still evidently plans to try to play an up-tempo, guard-oriented offense revolving around Jahan Rana (6'-0" Sr. G), who scored 21 points in the losing effort, and Roland Pasion (5'-7" Sr. PG), who only managed 5 points Saturday. Tom Peters (6'-4" Sr. F/C) is the tallest returning player, but he only had 5 points to show for it, and Mike Gastelum (6'-0" Sr. G), who played in 15 games last season, also showed up, hitting for 7 points. Freddy Mejia (6'-3" Sr. F) was the only player promoted from the junior varsity team that won three games in the last two years, and he didn't show very much, only scoring 2 points.

This game saw the lead change hands at severl points but Magnolia really hammered it home in the third quarter in which they outshot Western 24-16, and then in the fourth in which they outshot them 17-14.

Congratulations to all the teams who played in the Century Shootout this past week, and to Century High School, the 1997-98 Century Shootout Champions.

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