By Ed Piper
I just put two photo posters on my wall above my computer: from the Viking 2007-08 and 2008-09 CIF D3 champion boys basketball teams. I was going through materials from all 20 years of my time following, then photographing, and finally also writing about LJHS sports.
And the Taylor Davis-led teams of Coach Kamal Assaf (still a classroom teacher at Bishop's) almost got away with a third title in 2009-10. Forward Jack Latta, to my recollection, was called for a 50-50 foul on a Mt. Miguel player shooting a three-pointer at the buzzer, and with three free throws to make two points, the Matadors narrowly won, 47-46.
It was a great run in the playoffs for a trio of years, and still stands as a highlight during my 20 years following La Jolla High sports.
When I began attending my granddaughter's games as a varsity cheerleader in Fall 2004, boys basketball was the king on campus. Eventually, I turned my camera both ways, from shooting my granddaughter and her fellow cheerleaders on the sidelines, to additionally taking shots of the players on the court.
Assaf was a voracious consumer of coaching knowledge, studying every video he could get his hands on and attending every coaching clinic he could drive to. Mike Haupt, the basketball coach at St. Augustine to this day and a close coaching colleague of Assaf, remembers reaching Kamal (who received his name from his parents' heritage), and finding Kamal was at another clinic. He just couldn't get enough.
On the court, these Vikings were good defenders who played in the clutch--obviously, if you don't play in the clutch, you don't go that far in the playoffs three years in a row.
Peter Sefton, a senior in 2007-08, was named CIF Player of the Year. He was 6'5". La Jolla didn't have a taller player in those years, and they made the most of their talent.
The best team of the three by record was the 2007-08 team, which built up a 24-9 record, nearly running the board in the Western League with a 10-2 record.
The Vikings played St. Augustine in the Saints' old hell-hole, a tiny, deafeningly-loud bandbox of a gym which played to the hosts' advantage. My wife had a panic attack during a game there from the noise, and we had to take an exit for her to reorient herself.
The students--all boys--had a seating area beyond the end court line, and when you were on offense, you had to face them as they mounted a wall of sound that was only amplified by the tiny quarters of the gym.
St. Augustine had a down year that year, going only 6-6 in league and finishing fourth.
Davis, a sophomore in 2007-08, was a junior the next year and became a leader along with Latta. The Vikes only went 5-6 in league, but they came alive in the four-level playoffs, to finish 17-15 with the title.
In 2009-10, when Assaf's band of aggressive defenders lost as time ran out. Latta averaged 18.7 points a game in the limited statistics available, and Davis 13.0. Ryan Mills was a 6'2" speedster who chipped in 6.7 points a game.
Max Greenberg was a starting guard who brought the ball up court against pressure on the latter two teams.
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