Sea Kings shoot for championship

Does size matter?

When the Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team takes the court Saturday in the CIF Southern Section Division III-A championship at the Honda Center, it will dwarf its opponent.

Renaissance Academy has nothing on CdM when it comes to numbers.

From height to enrollment to tradition to experience, the small private school from La Cañada appears to be at a disadvantage.

But does it matter?

“It doesn’t mean anything,” said CdM junior guard Joe Eberhard, “beside the fact they’re not going to have much fans there.”

With the game tipping off at 9 a.m., there might not be a huge crowd to see the fourth-seeded Sea Kings (21-7) and second-seeded Wildcats (27-1) play.

The early start probably won’t deter CdM fans from attending because of the arena’s closeness.

As for Renaissance, with about 50 high school students, it will probably need its students to invite everyone they know to make enough noise in the building.

One thing Renaissance has gotten used to is playing in section championships. This marks the third year in a row the school is vying for a crown, the previous two were losses in Division V-A.

But Renaissance’s history doesn’t compare to CdM’s.

The Sea Kings are making their ninth section title appearance, and the road to claiming the school a fifth championship looks promising.

Look at the numbers. Just as staggering as CdM’s enrollment figure of more than 1,500 students is to Renaissance’s, so is the height discrepancy.

Renaissance has to deal with CdM 6-foot-9 junior center Stefan Kaluz, who’s averaging 20.8 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. Then there’s 6-7 senior forward John Joyce, 6-5 Eberhard, 6-2 senior guard Eddie Lane and 6-5 junior forward Ali Meshkin coming off the bench.

To Eberhard, the Wildcats “got one big guy, but he’s weak.” The tallest Wildcats’ player is 6-8 sophomore center Anthony Stover.

“They don’t got much post. They can’t take care of Stefan,” Eberhard said. “They’re not too deep. They basically have five [players].”

Whatever the number, the players have been good enough for Renaissance Coach Sid Cooke to lead a sophomore-laden team with no seniors to 22 consecutive wins.

Out of the 11 players, seven are sophomores, three juniors and one freshman. Corona del Mar first-year coach Ryan Schachter said he won’t let the youth fool his team, which has five seniors, five juniors and three sophomores.

He knows the Wildcats can play. Schachter attributes their success to having players who understand the game’s fundamentals.

“They have guys who play team basketball, they aren’t the fastest, biggest, but they play extremely well together,” Schachter said. “They don’t have a go-to-guy. It doesn’t matter who’s favorite. Just two teams left. It’s going to be a game.”

It won’t be a contest if the past two years is any indication of how Renaissance will fair in a title game.

Price of Los Angeles blew out Renaissance each time in the Division V-A final. The Wildcats’ game against the Sea Kings might end in another drubbing if the size beats them up.

If that happens, CdM will be on its way to taking its first section crown since 1994-95.

Next for the school would be playing a school more its size in the state tournament, which is based on enrollment figures and not on a level playing field.

The Sea Kings have already qualified for the tournament, but so has the likes of Artesia, a nationally ranked program, which plays for the Division I-AA title Saturday at the Honda Center against another nationally ranked program in Mater Dei.

For now, Schachter’s not worried about state. CdM has its hands full with Renaissance.