Brown’s Efforts Help Bring Channel Islands Title Share

Don Salado grimaced as he leaned against the lockers in the visitor’s dressing room last Wednesday at Royal High.

Salado, in his 17th season as coach at Channel Islands, adopted the pained expression as he attempted to explain Stephane Brown’s importance to the Raiders’ success this season.

No thesaurus could help in Salado’s predicament. He hemmed. He hawed. He shook his head.

“You know, Stephane just . . . ,” Salado began, then paused. “I just wish all our kids could play as inspired as he does. He puts us in a higher gear. I don’t like to think of where we’d be without him.”

Earlier that night, with the Raiders trailing by 19 points in the third quarter, Salado had called a timeout and challenged Brown to save the team’s hopes of winning a league title. Brown, a 6-foot-2 senior, responded by scoring 10 points in the next two minutes and 16 in the second half, leading the Raiders to a 60-57 victory that kept Channel Islands in a first-place tie in the Marmonte League.

“When we need a big shot, a rebound, or a steal, I do whatever I can do to get it,” Brown said.

He finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and his first basket broke Ray Coleman’s 1969-70 school single-season scoring record of 471 points.

Brown’s heroics continued Friday when he had 20 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 77-74 win over Agoura that gave Channel Islands (19-5 overall, 11-3 in league play), which was 6-15 last season, a share of its first league title since 1982-83.

Brown is averaging 21.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists, breaking teammate Marlowe Durmiendo’s 1989-90 school assist record (95) with 135.

Despite Brown’s numbers, Channel Islands is anything but a one-man team. Durmiendo (15.3 points per game), Brian Schimelpfening and Noe Noyola add scoring punch. And Renard Carn provides rebounding support.

But Brown has emerged as one of the best players in the area. He is as quick as a wink and he soars over players six inches taller.

“He’s like the Pied Piper,” Salado said. “He leads, and our kids follow.”

The journey, though, has not always been pleasant.

Brown transferred to Channel Islands from Columbus, Ohio, before his junior year. His mother, Theresa, wanted Stephane (pronounced ste-FAWN) to escape negative influences in the city. Brown lives with his grandmother, Christine Brown, in Oxnard.

“I wasn’t sure if I had the guts to move out here because I didn’t want to lose all my friends,” Brown said. “It was a big adjustment.”

After all, he had started as a sophomore on a Columbus Brookhaven High team that won a city title and lost in the Ohio state regionals.

But he was academically ineligible to play for the Raiders and was relegated to the sidelines. Still, Brown attended practices and kept statistics during games.

“It was frustrating but, then again, it was my fault,” Brown said. “It was a learning experience. But not one that I want to do again.”

When Brown finally became eligible to play in the final regular-season game, he had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as Channel Islands upset playoff-bound Westlake. “Who was that?” then-Westlake Coach Greg Hess asked. “That kid is a ballplayer.”

Brown concedes that his shooting skills from outside 15 feet are limited, but Salado works with him regularly.

“(Salado) has done so much to help me improve as a person and a player,” Brown said. “We knew the school hadn’t won a league title since 1982-83, and we wanted to give him one.”