Player of Week : Skinny Hakeman Carries Heavy Load for El Dorado

Bart Hakeman

El Dorado High School

Position: Forward

Height, Weight, Class: 6-1, 160, Sr.

Last Week: Scored 92 points, includ ing a game-high 34 points against Shurr, and was named MVP of the Brea Tournament.

Season: Averages 19.7 points per game.

Bart Hakeman and the other Golden Hawk starters got together five years before Coach Terry Conley assembled the current El Dorado High School basketball roster. Hakeman and his teammates have been playing basketball together in school, in leagues and in pickup games ever since their days at Tuffree Jr. High School in Placentia.

But familiarity and a good rapport among teammates doesn’t quite explain Hakeman’s outstanding performances this season, which include Most Valuable Player awards in two out of three tournaments as well as Times Player of the Week honors.

Most observers attribute Hakeman’s shooting ability to those all-important intangibles, talent and luck.

And with good reason. Hakeman, a 6-foot 1-inch, 160-pound guard-turned-forward, is so thin, his coach said he didn’t even bother to put him on a weight program last year. “It’s no use,” Conley said. “He’s always been like that and so was his (older) brother--skinny, skinny, skinny.”

But despite his slight build, Hakeman always seemed to be where the action was and he certainly could shoot. So, plagued with an overabundance of guards and a team lacking in height, Conley had little choice but to put his skinny, scrappy shooter out there on the front line, nose to chin with guys 6-4 and 6-7. He’s a durable kid, Conley reasoned, he’ll be able to take a lot of punishment from the big guys.

Much to Conley’s delight, Hakeman proved he could not only take punishment, but dish it out as well.

In last week’s Brea Tournament, Hakeman scored 92 points in 4 games and carried away his second MVP award in almost as many weeks (his first MVP award came in the Garden Grove Tournament in early December). Hakeman has scored in double figures in all 12 games and maintains his 19.7 points per game average with an arsenal of shots inside and outside the key.

In the championship game of the Brea Tournament against Hacienda Heights Wilson, Hakeman made 10 of 10 from the field in the first half for 20 of his 28 points that night.

“He played against guys 6-7, 6-8 and got the rebounds, “ Conley said. “Bart gets out fast, hustles and can shoot from the perimeter or from 20-22 feet out, as well as drive inside for the layup. With three different shots . . . little, skinny Bart carries the scoring load.”

Hakeman’s definitely carried the scoring load in the first round of the Brea Tournament against Shurr when he scored a game-high 34 points.

“It was a very fast-paced game,” Hakeman said. “There was a lot of up and down, fast-break action, a lot of easy, open shots. I was on the high post and they were playing zone and it just worked that night.”

For Hakeman it’s been working just about every night he’s been on a basketball court. Although he has performed well in the guard and forward positions, Hakeman is modest and quiet, a co-captain on his team more by example than voice.

“He’s got a natural instinct for shooting, for the ball,” said senior guard Damon Cooke, one of the Golden Hawks who has played with Hakeman since the seventh grade. “I mean, he’s always where the ball is, he’s always there and he’s always been like that. Bart’s done all right for himself.”

And he’s also done pretty well for the Golden Hawks this season.