State Basketball Thursday: Bishop Amat shocker, beats Agoura 70-61; Lutheran edges Ribet Academy 79-77; DRanch goes down, 68-41

Now i know, thanks for the info, I value your opinion alot more.:)

Chris has always had that game. The kid was a beast that just needed to be set free to dominate any big man with his athleticism, length and basketball IQ. I think anyone who's really knows Chris' game knows he's got a sweet outside jumper and the ability to put it on the floor. He's probably a 3 playing in the middle. Like I've said he's about as sweet as Marcus Camby and he's still growing at 6'7"! This was a Championship team that some how lost too many big games at the end. Next year Reyes will be unstoppable and every one will say, "When did he learn to shot from the outside? Kid's a legit talent.

Any one know where Chris Adams has signed or if Bolden is going to continue playing? Both are great kids with tons of potential in the right system that allows them to develop skill that would make them so much more dangerous..

Here's a look at what Reyes' career at Damien might look like when he's done.

Leading Scorer..maybe
Leading Rebounder...for sure
Leading Blocker...for sure
Most Victories in a career..for sure
Most playoff wins...for sure
Most Minutes played...for sure
Two semis...done that
Finals...next year
Chamionship...I certainly hope so !

Best of luck Chris...now go get your 40 points already!!!!

Damien vs Hoover
State Playoff Game March 9th, 2010
Chris Reyes Highlight Video.
Tip off win over Angelo Chol, One on one drive to the basket, Jump Shot, Power Spin Move and more. For those that had doubts about the inside competition. Thanks Damien Fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7LQIa1U_6I

In case anyone wants to know Salesian's Soccer team wins its second round State Tournament Game 3-0 and is scheduled for a CIF Championship rematch in the Semis against Animo at Warren High school on Friday. It should be a great game as Animo always brings their "A" game. Best of luck to the Mustangs and Coach Johnson who have really made a statement with their grace and creativity on the field and their class and integrity off the field. Play like the Champions you are!

said: thanks for the new location update for our game ,trojan nation would like to invite the whole valley for tonites game grat mathc up!

Damien played a great game last night but came up just short against Hoover as Angelo Chol and company started slow and rebounded. Damien's kids left it all on the floor last night. I am really impressed by how many Spartans made the 2 hour drive down on a Tuesday night, parents and probably 100 students, supported their guys. Great season

Talk about Facts! Do you really think he gave up his travel team? What rock is your head burried under? What he did was take his name off the books. He still coaches them. Go to a travel ball tournament some time and you will find him there coaching his team. Those are the FACTS!

The fact is LVL has a mercenary type team because it supplanted the LVL type of kid that used to play, and indeed win , against other like minded schools. Thats hard to argue but recently with the addition of NC maybe Cooper is making inroads to local kids, imagine Bonita's Miller or Damien's Adams at LVL....that's a State Champion for sure.

Cooper is one heck of a coach because he takes his players from Travel Ball status to "come recruit me" I got college ready skills status. That's a reflection on the CIF system not Cooper per se as too many local coaches coach to win league and not to prepare kids for the next level, and the results are indisputable.

CO's star is limited, SD's star is limited, DHS star's is limited, GHS's star is limited and maybe other local players are as well. That's a shame.

Last night San Diego's Hoover High, Damien's opponent, was a Travel Ball team with Travel Ball skills and little else. They lacked discipline, organization and fundamentals in terms of shooting the ball with from and running set plays. In truth they were an "athletic" team and nothing else. They boxed out and got after it but structure wise it was Travel Ball 401. The same could be said of Eisenhower, who launches three's rather than shoots them. You want to see how not to dribble, how not to shoot but how to hustle..... go see Eisenhower. They do box out, play aggressive defense and challenge every shot but what they do best is take instruction from their coach and take a tongue lashing like dutiful soldiers...and it works as their two back to back CIF titles show.

Cooper on the other hand is elevating the skills and Basketball IQ of his players and that's where he's different from other schools who's stars have glaring short comings that any basketball player will acknowledge. In my opinion local teams should have played LVL because they all lost to LVL type teams in the playoffs. Athletic teams that shoot three's, box out, run, get after it and play mad defense.

Nothing wrong with local basketball other than it's only a refelction of the lack of good local pre high school basketball coaches who teach the game well. Chris Reyes is a good example of a kid who received great instruction before he set foot on Damien soil and then Dunn took it from there, all the way to two semi final appearances.

To win Championships you need great coaches at the lower levels or a great pre high school coaches...Cooper is both and it's worked wonders for his LVL players. Few would argue that.

Basketball is like Football, if you follow my analogy. The Spread has hurt the development of the College QB when he gets to the Pros but it's been a source of great stats at the high school and college level where coaches are putting up mad numbers and getting paid to win, win, win and win big! Sort of like Travel Basketball "teams" influence on the high school game. And in truth, it ain't going anywhere as Travel Ball clubs continue to rake in the dollars all the way to the fourth grade and up.

BTW, was the LVL gym PACKED last nigh or what!!! Bigger venue time means people are finally embracing the Cooper model and LVL gamble is $$$$$$ing off. See you at the next game ;-)

Not hate, just an opinion.

Anyone know the results of the Calvary Baptist game? See all the other scores but not that one.

C'mon Fred
I dont remember bonita playing last night, but Damien came up short

to valley observer said: FYI per Cif rules cooper had to give up his travel ball over two yrs ago but keep on hating,please do your homework so you dont, sound so un informed, last nite pack house next game mayb at Univ. of La verne!

Let's be real clear here! LVL may only have a hundred kids or so but their mission has changed from where the school once was. Their coach deals heavily in travel ball and sports camps. Which is why out of only a few hundred kids 15 or so are very good at basketball! RECRUIT! That is where high school sports has gone. We just get to live with it. Their must be a reason why local teams don't play them. Go ahead and say because they are afraid. We all know that not to be true. Our teams play in Orange County and all over the place. Fear of playing them isn't the issue. the issue is Cooper will try and steal kids by making promises to them. please don't hate. These are FACTS! With so many local people saying the same thing there must be some amount of truth.
I love seeing La Verne Calvary Baptist still playing. I wish we would just do the right thing and place the private schools in their own division!

Great game between Damien and Hoover. Damien battled throughout the game, hit some big three ptrs to stay close, but came up short at the end. Damien controlled tempo throughout and trailed 25-23 at half. They briefly took the lead on an Adams 3 ptr in the third quarter, and was within 2 points in the last minute. Too many turnovers and the athleticism of Hoover's Choi was the difference. Great effort from Damien and a good season. Adams and Reyes played well all year, and the other players fit nicely into their roles. Coach Dunn got a lot out of this team.

My figures are pretty close at the school is K-12. I don't know the breakdown, but that is amazing for their girls basketball team. And as Don made mention look at what little old La Verne has been able to do this season.

Actually.

Calvary has THIRTY-ONE students - not close to 100!

LVL only has about 125 right now - rapidly declining, not a good thing - but a sign of the times.

Joey, is this where Rosanne Rosannadana from Saturday Night Live fame says ..."Never mind' !

If "anyone" read your first comment and expanded on "that"...well Joe...you can only guess how many "Big Envelopes" are in "their" future.

RIP

Gilda Radner...your work live on !!!

I guess I'm just wondering here if only because Fred brought this one up, but other than the Amat Girls basketball team, who else has won a state title in the recient past in any one of the three major sports of Football, basketball or baseball (weather or not it was a boys or girls sports program) ?

No matter the Religion, school, boys, girls, whatever, it’s really quite remarkable that little La Verne has had so many teams advance so far in the playoffs this year.

Good luck to the Trojans, Spartans, and Lady Cougars.

Even that public school over there had a pretty good year . . . you know, Aaron’s fave. lol

sai to joe: as always you have to be sarcastic just saying come and see us play :)

WOW!

Not sure what got lost in translation. Maybe we should read slowly. I wrote:

No. 15 La Verne Calvary Baptist (18-8) at No. 2 Los Angeles View Park (27-6)

La Verne Calvary Baptist (on Damien Ave) GIRLS team plays at View Park in the 1st Rnd of State Playoffs.

Did not mean for anyone to them mixed up with La Verne LUTHERAN's heralded boys team who plays View Park at home... in their beautiful gymnasium on Fruit Street.

Didn't mean to start a Holy War. Maybe show THEM the respect you so desperately are fighting for.

Calvary Baptist Schools in La Verne is a real little guy. They have a little over 100 students total in grades k-12.

Yes. But *Calvary Baptist* is on Damien Ave down the street from DHS

said: just the facts Lutheran is on fruit st. so of the 210 and we are not la verne baptist #2 SEED LA VERNE LUTHERAN VS #15 PARK VIEW AT 7PM PLEASDE AND JUDGE FOR YOUR SELF!

Isnt it La Veren Lutheran located on Fruit street La Verne?

No. 15 La Verne Calvary Baptist (18-8) at No. 2 Los Angeles View Park (27-6)

This is the same "La Verne" that Lutheran & Damien are located in, aren't they? This is the same Calvary Baptist that is a few hundred yards away from Damien... on Damien Ave.?

A little love for the little guy?

Good luck to the whole SGV.

Go Spartans! We are behind you! You always make us proud!