Nordhoff Has Frontier Upside-Down

Most basketball “experts” picked Nordhoff High to finish near the bottom of the Frontier League boys’ standings.

So much for the experts.

Nordhoff hasn’t won a league title since 1984, but after a stunning 69-62 victory over Santa Clara last Friday, the Rangers (16-2, 4-0 in league play) are alone at the top.

Their best player, Andy Flores, is averaging 22.8 points and 9.2 rebounds a game, and the Rangers made their debut in The Times’ regional poll this week at No. 9.

Flores’ brother, Mario, played basketball for Santa Clara, graduating in 1995.

After scoring 24 points against Santa Clara last week, Flores went up to Coach Lou Cvijanovich of the Saints and shook his hand.

“I remember watching him coach games when I was little and my brother played there, and I respect him so much,” Flores said. “I almost felt sorry for him, but I had to do what I had to do.”

Flores nearly attended Santa Clara, but went instead to Hueneme as a freshman because of family financial problems.

Before his sophomore season, he and his family moved to San Benito, a small town near Corpus Christi, Texas.

He returned last year and played as a junior at Nordhoff, where the Rangers stumbled to an 11-13 record, 4-6 in league play.

This year, there have been no problems.

The Rangers’ goal is to remain atop the standings during the final round against league teams.

“We haven’t had this problem yet, so we haven’t had to deal with it,” Coach Jim Hall said. “It’ll work out fine if the kids just continue to play hard.”

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Imagine if Gilbert Arenas of Grant, averaging 36.3 points, and Mike Yildez of Bell-Jeff, averaging 24.1 points, were on the same team.

“You’d probably need about four balls,” Bell-Jeff Coach Eli Essa said.

In fact, Arenas and Yildez were teammates last season at Grant.

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Chaminade Coach Jeff Young and All-Southern Section forward Scott Borchart want everyone to know they are staying put. Young said rumors have been circulating that he might leave the West Hills school. And Borchart keeps having to tell people he’s not transferring to Simi Valley.

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Correspondent Mike Bresnahan and staff writer Eric Sondheimer contributed to this notebook.