LJ b BB: Seniors

Senior Morgan Albers looks to pass

under Saints' heavy pressure.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

On the eve of the final regular season game of La Jolla's four senior regulars, it is fitting to look back over their careers and make some observations.

Let me start with Tony Coan. He has been kind of the quiet one career-wise. He came in as a guard who could shoot from the outside. Tony is such an outwardly-calm person on the court that you don't see him react or rant and rave much. St. Augustine's gym was a madhouse Tues., Feb. 16, but from looking at Tony's face, you wouldn't have been able to read that.

We would have liked to see Tony blossom more, with more outside shooting chances in probably more playing time his senior year. He may have played a little more as a junior. This isn't a knock on Coach Paul Baranowski. It's just the role that Coan has helped carve out for himself.

Maybe in the Senior Night game Fri., Feb. 19 against Scripps Ranch he'll have some chances to loft some of his trademark line-drive shots from the outside. He has never been anything but a good citizen in the LJHS program.

On the line-drive trajectory of his shots, I remember exchanging comments with his mother earlier this season. We agreed Tony shoots the ball on a line, which isn't necessarily bad. He just doesn't put as much arc on his outside shots as some other shooters. Well, his mother said, "I told him the same thing but he ignored it. If you told him he might listen more." Something like that. I never took it upon myself to advise Tony on his shot.

I remember one student in the Cathedral Catholic student section in last month's game at Cathedral. He had picked up on Tony's first name and was loudly calling him by name to try to rattle him. I had taken a break from taking photos in the second half, was sitting up in the stands opposite the Don cheering section, and I was getting really ticked at the student calling "Tony, Tony" over and over.

I was mostly ticked because the Vikings, who you feel so attached to after watching so many of their games, were getting trounced by Cathedral and its darn seven-footer, Brandon McCoy, and they weren't playing that well after such a sparkling December.

LJHS Principal Chuck Podhorsky was sitting not too far away from me, and we made eye contact and seemed to acknowledge to each other this one student was kind of getting under our skin.

I mentioned it subsequently to Dr. Podhorsky on another day, and he said something like, "Yeah, that student was kind of irritating."

When Tony took the ball out of bounds right in front of the Don cheering section, said student, only a foot or two away behind and to the side of Tony, loudly called to him, "Tony." Just so chafing to a La Jolla fan, probably not a bother to a Cathedral fan.

Morgan Albers remained a hard worker throughout his La Jolla basketball career. He started at times, but mostly this year he has come in as a reserve in Baranowski's rotation. He had to contend for playing time with newcomers Daniel McColl and Charlie Gal, who play a different kind of game, bumping and pushing.

I think Morgan's main contribution has been his good attitude and work ethic. He told me this season he has tried to be more of an offensive threat. A natural right-hander, he has used his left-handed shot not infrequently this year. His 6'4" height has enabled him to help defend and rebound. His big challenge has always been to try to take the ball under the basket up strongly and finish. I think he has put in a lot of work to improve.

Eddie Parker moved into a full-time starting role this year after playing a lot last year. I remember in summer league, before Eddie's junior year, when I commented to Baranowski that I didn't know who Eddie was. He said, "He's got some ability." In other words, I better keep my eyes open. I'll see something.

Eddie enjoyed a fabulous December this season. In an early game in the Hilltop Tournament, he was running by people. Just leaving them flat-footed with his ability to drive from the wing. "A quickness," my former students might have said.

Eddie started out the opening game, the special outdoors game at Petco Park under the lights, with two three-pointers. That shocked poor Helix, who was already showing up short-handed with four of their football players from their talented football team still in the football playoffs. Helix never recovered from that start, and La Jolla blew the poor team out of the box. It was a glorious start to the season for La Jolla, and quite an honor to play Bill Walton's alma mater, as Walton was the host of the week-long event at the Padres' home.

Alex Pitrofsky. Now this is a guy who is long and lanky, 6'6", can jump well, runs well. In the Montgomery summer league last year, things were too easy for him. He was dropping in buckets left and right, and the opposing teams didn't have anyone his height to neutralize him.

Alex told me earlier this season that he was working on "not talking to the officials", a bad habit of his that left him at one end of the floor jawing while the rest of his team was hurrying back on defense to try to contain their opponent. Alex made a lot of headway. In fact, he no longer makes comments to the refs. Credit Coach Baranowski with helping Pitrofsky get on the straight and narrow in this area. It shows a lot of maturity.

Where Alex has been a force unleashed is like in the loss to the Saints Tuesday, when he scored three baskets in the third quarter and one in the fourth--the guards finding him near the basket with zip passes. Reed Farley has been the primary feeder of Alex in that regard, but others have done it, too. In some games, it was just pitiful how the opposing team--often in cases where it lacked a big man to defend Alex--could not figure out a way to stop his bank shots inside, and he would quickly pile up points.

His consistent 12 points a game have been a tonic for the Vikings.

I sat by his dad Joe during one game, and I remember Joe rattling off the baskets his son was making. It was getting ridiculous.

If Alex keeps playing basketball after high school, and, honestly, I don't know what any of the Viking seniors' plans are for next year, he is only limited by his continuing development and maturity as the person he is. He has the height, he runs the floor, he jumps well. As his basketball I.Q. and self-control increase, so will his effectiveness.

Thank you, you guys, for the years I've been able to watch you from up close on the baseline, taking photos of each of you over the past couple of school seasons and spring and summer leagues. Before the season started, I didn't have a plan for covering the team so extensively on my blog, in addition to the photos. But when retirement came, so did more energy and suddenly the stories starting popping out beginning with the first tournament back at the start of December.

It would be fun to have a little run in the CIF playoffs starting Wed., Feb. 24. My motto is "the more basketball, the better". I know some of my readers are befuddled by some of my comments, but it is the sport I know best from my years playing it in high school and community college, and that I could spend hours on end watching without getting tired of--like in the annual Under Armour Tournament at Torrey Pines High each December.