San Diego Prep Review / Chris Ello : Buechler Slam Dunks His Opposition

POWAY —  He’s no Spud Webb, but Poway High School’s Jud Buechler showed Friday night that he can produce some excitement with his leaping ability nonetheless.

Buechler, the Titans’ 6-foot 6-inch senior forward, had enough acrobatics and hang time to win San Diego County’s version of a slam-dunk contest pitting 22 of the county’s best leapers at Mount Carmel High.

Webb, of course, was the National Basketball Assn. dunk-off winner two months ago in Dallas a day before the All-Star game.

Buechler, nearly a foot taller than the 5-7 Webb, outdistanced his two closest rivals, Aaron Silveyra of Poway and Aaron Johnson of El Capitan.

The win capped what has been a tremendous year for the Poway senior.

Buechler scored 23 points per game this season to lead the county and was named the Times Player of the Year. He led Poway to its third straight San Diego Section 3-A title. He gave a preview of his dunking skills in the 3-A championship game with seven slams. Buechler’s winning dunk Friday was called a “Christy Dunk,” named in honor of his girlfriend, who was not at the competition.

“That’s so she can take us to dinner tomorrow night,” Buechler said.

Buechler, one of the most highly recruited players on the West Coast, signed a letter of intent to play at Arizona a couple of weeks ago.

More soaring: The Granite Hills Eagles, last year’s Grossmont League champions, are playing well after a slow start. Granite Hills beat Mount Miguel and Grossmont last week to improve to 4-3 in league.

Granite Hills won the league title last season, led by shortstop Frank Carey and catcher Damon Hansel. Both graduated, however, leaving Coach Gordy Thompson with a rebuilding project.

“That’s something a lot of people have seemed to overlook,” Thompson said. “We have a very young team this year and now we’re finally coming around.”

The Eagles trail first-place Valhalla (6-1-1) and Santana (6-1) by two games with nine remaining.

Carey and Hansel are both doing well in their first college seasons. Carey is starting at shortstop for the Stanford Cardinals.

Hansel, drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, is playing Single-A ball in Macon, Ga. In his first two games, he had two triples and two home runs.

Charity pays: The Southwest High baseball team couldn’t get much more help than it did in its two wins last week. Marian committed nine errors in Southwest’s 6-3 win Tuesday. Coronado committed six errors Friday as Southwest rallied for a 9-4 win.

Fast feat: Patrick Rowe, Lincoln High School’s 6-foot 2-inch senior sprinter, outran Sweetwater’s Terry Rodgers to win the 100 meters at Friday night’s 19th annual Orange Glen Invitational. Rowe’s time of 10.71 seconds set the meet record.

In the 400 meters, a race that Rowe says he’s fallen in love with, he was beaten by Fallbrook’s Tim Pipes. Rowe was named the athlete of the meet, however.

Rodgers came back from his loss in the 100 meters to win the 200 meters in 22.3.