Basketball Joneses

Steve Virgen

Handshakes, hugs and, ah yes, the playful trash talking will ensue

Saturday when former Corona del Mar High basketball standout Casey

Jones will most likely take on his son, Paul Jones, in the CdM Alumni

Basketball Tournament.

Casey Jones, a three-year varsity starter who earned first-team

All-CIF 4-A honors twice for the Sea Kings and went on to play for

USC, will play with a team made up of alumni from the 1970s, while

Paul, who made a name for himself in football, will take it to the

hoop with the recent class of 2002. Two preliminary tourney games per

team will take place Saturday to determine seedings, that’s when the

Joneses will probably do battle.

“We have played against each other,” the elder Jones said. “We’re

really competitive. I try not to give him an edge.”

The younger Jones, despite enduring the effects from a sore throat

last week, is anxious to take on his father. And, he’s not afraid to

talk about his father’s team.

“I’ve been telling him he’s an old guy and half of his team is

going to be out with arthritis,” said Paul, who already has a

scouting report on his father’s team. “We can’t let them have any

open outside shots and we can’t let them get the ball down low where

they’ll try to outmuscle us. (The players from 1970) are a good team.

It should be a good game. I don’t want to say we’re going to lose.”

Casey Jones and his son still play one-on-one basketball games

against each other. Paul is one of four boys of Casey and wife,

Michelle. Paul hopes to be the first Jones son to beat his father.

There is Nick and Tony, who are 14-year-old twins, and Joe is 12.

Also, Kylie, the baby of the family, is a 4-year-old girl who could,

perhaps, get into the game in the future.

The twins and Joe play in the Newport Junior Basketball All-Net

program. Paul plays for fun, but he still desires to defeat daddy

Jones.

“I play one-on-one against him all the time,” Paul Jones said. “He

normally beats me. I don’t think I’ve ever beaten him. He shoots the

ball like no other, and once you go up to block his shot, he’ll go

right by you. He still has quickness at his old age. We like to talk

trash a bit.”

Casey Jones has been playing pick-up basketball at the Eastbluff

Park gym, but he says his wheels are not as fast.

“Guys my age, we don’t run, we plod up and down the court,” said

Casey Jones, 47. “I usually play at least once a week. I don’t have

anything special. I used to be OK. I guess I was an all-around

player.”

Joking aside, the humble Casey Jones believes the CdM Alumni

Tournament is important because it helps maintain the Sea Kings’ rich

basketball tradition.

“CdM has a new phase with new coach, Ryan Curry,” Casey Jones

said. “He seems like he’s going to keep the program headed for a

positive future. He buys into the whole idea of the (alumni)

tournament. It can only help put fire in his players. I think (the

CdM tourney) helps perpetuate the idea that there is a program there.

There is a lot of pride and tradition, and the younger kids will see

that and will want to keep CdM basketball on a high level.”

Paul Jones will be on the 2002 team that will also feature Andy

Almquist, an All-Pacific Coast League sweeper for the Sea Kings

soccer team, and former CdM hoops player Eric Glass.

Paul Jones also thinks the CdM Alumni Tournament is good for the

current Sea Kings, but he mainly enjoys the tourney for himself.

After all, it brings him that much closer to his father.

“My dad and I are really close,” Paul said. “We like to watch

sports together and play basketball. We like to talk trash to each

other, but we encourage one another, and we still have fun. We’ve

been talking about this tournament for three years. And, now it’s

here.”