Prospects Look Good for Serra Basketball : Preps: After finishing second to Crossroads in Southern Section IV-A Division playoffs last season, the Cavaliers are off and running in summer league play with a 23-4 record.

Although the 1992-93 prep basketball season is more than four months away, the Serra boys are serving notice that they will be among the top teams in the South Bay.

The Cavaliers have been successful in summer league play, reaching the final 16 of the Los Angeles Watts Summer Games in June and finishing second in the Slam-N-Jam Carson Grand Finale on Wednesday.

Serra’s strong play should not be a surprise. The Cavaliers finished second to Crossroads in the Southern Section IV-A Division playoffs last season and reached the State Division IV playoffs for the first time in school history.

Serra also returns four starters and nine lettermen.

But Coach Dwan Hurt has been impressed with the team’s improvement.

“I really like what I see,” he said. “The team seems to be playing better at this point than they did last year.”

The Cavaliers are 23-4 this summer, having lost to perennial powers Mater Dei, Capistrano Valley, Fremont and Dominguez. Serra lost to Dominguez, 60-55, in the championship game at Carson.

Hurt said falling short of a Southern Section championship last season might have been a blessing.

“Not getting the championship has helped the program in the long run,” he said. “It’s helped build character and it’s put a lot of determination into the players in the program. It’s just been the best thing that could have happened because (now) the team is working real hard toward that goal.

“I think it’s definitely an inspiration to us. The kids were just overjoyed to be (in the IV-A final) last year but this year they want more than that.”

Hurt also believes that the Cavaliers will be more talented than 1991-92 team, which finished 15-17.

“I can say we are more talented than last year although we do miss (guard) Dan Carpenter,” Hurt said. “We seem to be closer together. We’ve experienced the peaks and valleys of last season and we’re working hard together.”

Carpenter, a 6-foot guard who was the team’s leading scorer with a 22.9-point average, has graduated. But Hurt will be counting on 6-8 center Akeli Jackson, who missed most of last season because he was academically ineligible, to step forward. Jackson was one of the team’s best players in the playoffs.

“He’s been looking very good,” Hurt said. “He’s working with weights every day and he’s working hard academically. He’s working hard in every aspect. A lot of colleges are looking at him and he’s got a lot of potential to go somewhere now that his grades in are order.”

Serra should have one of the area’s strongest front lines with the return of forwards Arthur Tate, Michael Boyd and Reggie McFerrin. The 6-5 Tate averaged 16.4 points and earned All-Southern Section Division IV second-team honors last season. The 6-6 Boyd averaged 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds.

“We definitely have the people to go to inside,” Hurt said. “We understand that our weakness is our guards, but we want to make our weakness our strength by the time the season starts.”

Guards Eric Reed, who started last season, Roderick Swift, Todd Laverne and Lamar Stephens will contend for the backcourt positions.

But the biggest challenge for Serra may be living up to preseason expectations.

“It’s a team that has been together awhile and we’re going to have a lot of expectations for ourselves at the start of the season,” Hurt said. “This will definitely be a different situation because we’ve received a lot of recognition this summer. We can’t creep up on people anymore.”

Serra also has a difficult schedule that includes games in the Pacific Shores and Artesia tournaments, the Tournament of Champions and nonleague games against Morningside, Manual Arts and Long Beach Poly.

All things considered, Hurt likes the Cavaliers’ prospects.

“I still think we have a long way to go and there’s a lot of improvement to be made between now and the start of the season,” he said. “But I think when we come together, we’re going to be a very good basketball team.”