Boys basketball: A novel approach

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT COAST - The Sage Hill High Lightning will be dropped on the

Orange County boys basketball doorstep Wednesday when it opens its

inaugural varsity season at home against Garden Grove.

But while the private school’s first varsity team has little tradition

of its own -- a 14-9 lower-level record last year against primarily

sophomore competition -- first-year coach Gordon McNeill has borrowed

liberally from his former program, Corona del Mar, to inspire his players

this season.

“I cut out an article from 2000 when (the Sea Kings, for whom McNeill

was an assistant to longtime CdM head man Paul Orris) beat University

High of San Diego in the first round of the state playoffs,” McNeill

said. “I wanted to put that in their heads.”

And while many of those heads are not exactly bursting with basketball

IQ, McNeill said there is a nucleus of talent that could quickly propel

the program past the baby-steps phase.

“It’s kind of hard to gauge, because I don’t really know what this

level (CIF Southern Section Division IV-A and the Academy League) is

like,” McNeill said. “None of our kids have played varsity before, some

have never played organized basketball and some have only been played one

or two years of basketball. We have no tradition and no footsteps to

follow in. But I love being a head coach, taking my turn at doing my

thing and seeing how it goes. My goal is to grab one of the top three

spots in league. It’s been fun so far.”

McNeill said 6-foot 2, 230-pound junior Michael Fitzhugh and 6-3

sophomore Kevin Joyce will be fun for Lightning fans to watch.

“Fitzhugh is a legitimate player,” said McNeill, a former star at UC

San Diego. “He’s our captain and he led the team in scoring last year.

He’s a Charles Barkley type who can really back guys down in the post.

He’s someone who could potentially earn a college scholarship.”

Joyce, who will start at shooting guard, is the best of what McNeill

believes is a good group of outside shooters.

Erik Williams, a 6-0 junior making the adjustment to organized

basketball, will start at the point, where he will trigger what McNeill

expects to be an up-tempo attack.

“We’re going to have to run, because we don’t have very much size and

we seem to struggle in our half-court set,” McNeill said.

Juniors Scott Cho and Cliff Swanson, among the top players on the

football team, will round out the starting five, according to McNeill.

Cho is a 6-3 center and Swanson, at 5-11, 210, will try to outmuscle

taller foes at forward.

Sophomores Tim Wilkins, Paul Youssef, Alex Cochran and Ethan Tanney,

freshmen Matt Loper and Blake Brewer, as well as junior newcomer Zach

Friedrichs, the football team’s quarterback, will make up a bench McNeill

said he hopes to use liberally to build more experience.

“Our practices have been very intense,” McNeill said. “The No. 1 thing

I always emphasize is that we’ve got to play hard.”

McNeill said he will also rely upon hard-nosed defensive principals

used by Orris at CdM.

Sage Hill opens Academy League play Jan. 8 against visiting Calvary

Chapel of Downey.

Sage Hill boys basketball roster

11 Paul Youssef 5-8 So.

23 Matt Loper 5-9 Fr.

24 Kevin Joyce 6-3 So.

25 Blake Brewer 5-11 Fr.

30 Tim Wilkins 5-10 So.

31 Ethan Tanney 5-11 So.

32 Zach Friedrichs 6-0 Jr.

43 Erik Williams 6-0 Jr.

44 Alex Cochran 6-2 So.

50 Cliff Swanson 5-11 Jr.

51 Michael Fitzhugh 6-2 Jr.

52 Scott Cho 6-2 Jr.

Coach: Gordon McNeill