Poway’s quest for a trilogy was in full swing.

Coach Neville Saner’s team, San Diego Section winners the last two seasons, made it clear from the first tip that things weren’t going to change.

The Titans opened the season on Dec. 3 with an 81-48 victory over established and well regarded El Capitan, which would earn a playoff berth and finish with a 19-5 record.

Two returning all-San Diego section players, Jud Buechler and Dominick Johnson led the way with 20 and 14 points, respectively, and Johnson added 13 rebounds.

12/14/85

Jud Buechler broke away for a layup, was fouled and converted, and Poway, trailing with 13 seconds remaining, won at Morse, 63-62.

Johnson had forged a 60-60 deadlock with a soft jump shot, then stuffed a shot on defense, and fired the ball to Buechler.

Dec. 19-31, 1985

The Point Loma girls, possibly looking ahead in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions to a championship game against top seed New York City Christ the King, was stunned by Pasadena Muir, 62-43.

Muir scored 18 unanswered points at the end of the first quarter to take a 23-4 lead and went on to end the Pointers’ 63-game winning streak.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

The venerable Kiwanis Tournament, in its 39^th year, continued to hang in, with 32 teams slotted in three divisions.

–Madison (Unlimited), Serra (Limited), and Ramona (Classified) won division championships.

The 18^th annual Lt. Jim Mitchell Memorial, named after the 1958 graduate and three-sport start at San Dieguito who was killed in Viet Nam, actually was in its 25^th year, having been the Mustang Optimist from 1961-62 until renamed in 1968-69.

–“I still can’t believe we won,” said a stunned Ray Johnson after his El Camino team edged Poway, 43-42, for the Mitchell championship.

–The Wildcats trailed, 42-38, with two minutes remaining.  Randy Hale’s free throw with no time left clinched the victory.

Escondido was back in the Chino Tournament, an event the Cougars had entered almost every season since the inaugural in 1939-40.

Poway lost a first-round game in the La Vegas Holiday Classic but followed with an 84-73 victory over Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.

–The Titans were edged by Simon Gratz of Philadelphia, 84-81, in the consolation finals.

1/1/86

The 16^th annual Baron-Optimist tournament at Bonita Vista involved teams from three countries.

CETY’s (Center University of Technical Learning) of Tijuana, Mexico, and Burnabay Central of British Columbia, Canada, were among the eight teams.

1/3/86

I CAN’T STAND IT

Burnabay coach Ross Tomlinson “threw in the towel…his own,” reported Bud Maloney of the Evening Tribune.

The Wildcats’ coach left the bench area with his team trailing Morse, 26-10, in the second quarter and stood in a corner of the Bonita Vista gymnasium.

Tomlinson left the building at halftime and returned to his corner position with 1:45 left in the third quarter and remained there.

Morse defeated the Canadians, 90-41.

During a timeout when he was on the bench, Tomlinson voiced his disgust.  “I’ve never seen you play so badly,” he scolded his team.

Canada got the best of Mexico, when Burnabay edged the CETY’s Zorros, 62-60, in another tournament game.

1/15/86

Sweetwater’s Mahlon Williams, a 6-foot, 3-inch junior forward, converted 22 of 33 shots from the field and was7x9 from the free throw line to score 51 points in the Red Devils’ 86-70 win over visiting Montgomery in the Mesa League.

Williams’ final basket, with eight seconds remaining, broke Michael Pitts’ school record of 50, set in the 1978-79 season.

Williams tied San Marcos’ Dave (Score) Moore for the sixth highest total in one game. Moore scored 51 in the 1973-74 season.

Madison’s Mitchell Lilly, who had 61 in one game in the 1976-77 campaign, was the all-time leader through this year.

1/31/86

Castle Park clinched the South Bay League championship, improving to 9-0 in the circuit and 17-1 overall, but not before a tussle with Marian, 2-5 and 3-13.

The Trojans finished with a 21-4 run and 79-57 victory after the Crusaders had closed to 58-53.

–University City, 3-13 after a 0-21 inaugural season last year, collected its first Western League victory, 49-37 over Clairemont.

“It’s just nice to win a game; those are hard to come by out here,” said Centurions coach Tom Medevich.

2/7/86

Sweetwater, which made a habit of scoring explosions in the era of Coach Gary Zarecky, passed 100 points for the first time, 104-72 over Marian.

2/11/86

DREADED ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCH

Game films would show that officials incorrectly subtracted a point from Oceanside’s total in regulation play and the Pirates lost to El Camino, 42-40, in overtime.

The Pirates protested to San Diego Section commissioner Kendall (Spider) Webb, who did not reverse the score.

2/14/86

Visiting Ramona (11-8) made 20×25 field goal attempts in the first half and became the first San Diego Section team to defeat El Camino (20-2), 56-54.

2/20/86

Dominick Johnson had 29 points and 11 rebounds and Poway completed a 12-0 Palomar League title run, holding on to beat Mt. Carmel (10-2), 71-67.

SCORING LEADERS

NAME	TEAM	GAMES	POINTS	AVERAGE
Jud Buechler	Poway	27	636	23.55
Dominick Johnson	Poway	27	633	23.44
Mahlon Williams	Sweetwater	24	543	22.62
Jim McLusky	Mar Vista	21	483	21.95
Ken Crawford	El Camino	26	454	17.46
Charlie Applegate	St. Augustine	24	446	18.7
Junior Seau	Oceanside	24	420	17.5

BOYS PLAYOFFS

EASTERN LEAGUE

Serra 81, Morse 64 (determining playoff seeds).

Morse coach Ron Davis did not play his starting five until the second quarter.

“My kids hadn’t shown enough killer instinct to be a championship club,” Davis told Don Norcross of the Evening Tribune. “I wanted to put them in  position where they really had to work hard.”

Serra took a 22-7, first quarter lead, but Davis was satisfied.  “I got out of my team what I wanted.  They showed me a lot of poise to come back the way they did.”

Morse cut Serra’s lead to 51-42 at the end of three quarters but the Conquistadores blew the game open with a 30-22 fourth.

–Serra, trailing, 42-36, entering the fourth quarter two nights before at Morse, knocked off the Tigers, 52-50, in the regular-season finale to tie for first.

WESTERN LEAGUE

University 63, Kearny 62, overtime (17-11).

CENTRAL LEAGUE

St. Augustine 56, Hoover 50 (12-14).

QUARTERFINALS

3-A

Poway 85, Montgomery 42 (13-11).

Serra 67, Mt. Carmel 48 (17-8).

“We couldn’t beat them up and down the court and we didn’t think they could rebound as well as they did,” said Mt. Carmel coach John Marincovich.

The Sundevils 6-7, 6-5, 6-5 frontline was outboarded by 6-4 Mike Karp (14) and 6-1 Steve Smith (13) and the Conquistadores had an overall advantage of 43-22.

El Capitan 52, Morse 49 (16-7).

The Vaqueros took advantage of Morse’s playing without 6-foot, 10-inch Chris Jeter and his 18.6 average.  Jeter was on the bench with his foot in a cast, result of recent injury.

Sweetwater 88, Mount Miguel 48 (17-7).

SEMIFINALS

Serra 67, Sweetwater 53 (18-7).

Serra overcame 2×17 from the field and 2×7 from the free throw line in the first quarter and trailed, 10-6, before 2,700 at Mira Mesa High.

Coach Tom Williams’ squad, led by Anthony Moore’s 23 points, finished off the Red Devils with a 26-15 final eight minutes.

Sweetwater coach Dave Ybarra’s first coaching job was at Morse as Williams’ assistant.

Poway 58, El Capitan 50 (19-5).

CHAMPIONSHIP

Poway 74, Serra 66 (23-4).

Trailing, 38-35, Poway struck with a 16-3 run and kept the Q’s at a distance.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

DIVISION I

Poway 77, Pasadena Muir 74 (29-4).

Jud Buechler scored 31 points, made 15 consecutive free throws, including 11×11 in the fourth quarter, as the Titans took down the Southern Section 4-A champion Muir Mustangs at San Diego State’s Peterson Gym.

–L.A. Crenshaw 82, Poway 73 (25-4).

The Titans were getting closer but the defending state champion Cougars answered a late threat.

“We gave it all we had,” said Jud Buechler of Poway’s effort against the champs.

The Titans trailed, 73-71, with 1:28 remaining, but the Cougars’ Ronald Caldwell answered with a basket and free throw.  “That was the key,” said Dominick Johnson, “but we never gave up.”

2-A

QUARTERFINALS

Castle Park 62, St. Augustine 57 (13-11).

The Saints, behind, 51-33, had runs of 11-2 and 7-2 to close to 55-51 with 1:53 left in the game.

El Camino 83, Mar Vista 55 (5-15).

Lincoln 72, University 62 (17-7).

It was a double for Lincoln at Serra High.  The Hornets’ girls, in the first game of the twin bill, defeated San Pasqual, 50-49.

Oceanside 40, La Jolla 36 (13-6).

“A lot of people won’t like hearing this but I honestly feel these might be the two best teams in the tournament,” said La Jolla coach Rick Eveleth.  “Oceanside might go all the way.”

SEMIFINALS

El Camino 70, Lincoln 68 (16-7).

“We almost beat the best team in San Diego,” Lincoln coach Ron Loneski offered to Kevin Newberry of The San Diego Union.  “Nobody is better than El Camino.”

Oceanside 45, Castle Park 39 (23-2).

CHAMPIONSHIP

El Camino 61, Oceanside 35 (21-5).

The last five 2-A championships had been won by Oceanside or La Jolla.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

D-II

QUARTERFINALS

El Camino 58, L.A. Daniel Murphy 45 (20-8).

The Wildcats outrebounded the Nobles, 31-21, and converted 22×27 free throws.

“We started out passively, but when they started talking and getting physical, that fired our kids up,” said Coach Ray Johnson.

SEMIFINALS

Hacienda Heights Wilson 64, El Camino 46 (26-4).

Six-foot, 10-inch, North Carolina Tar Heels and NBA-bound Scott Williams had 16 points and 12 rebounds.  The Wildcats shot 32.1 per cent from the floor and 43.4 per cent from the free throw line.

1-A

COASTAL LEAGUE 

Army-Navy 62, La Jolla Country Day 58, 2 OT.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Army-Navy 48, Calipatria 42*

John Maffucci had retired as coach but his successor quit before the season opener. Maffucci unretired and won his third championship to go with 1979-80 and ’83-’84.

*Desert-Mountain League winner.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

D-III

Santa Monica Crossroads 85, Army-Navy 71 (17-6).

Six-foot, 4-inch Nick Markowitz scored 30 points and 6-6 Chuck Harraway, son of Washington Redskins running back Charlie Harraway, added 16, but the Warriors fell out of contention early.

“We never faced pressure like they put on us tonight,” Maffucci told writer Tom Shanahan of his team’s opponent at Carlsbad High. “We aren’t used to it because of the level of competition we play.”

The Cadets trailed, 65-34, but outscored their opponents, 37-20, in the final twelve-and-a-half minutes.

GIRLS PLAYOFFS

Like Poway, Point Loma was going for a third straight San Diego Section championship and the Lady Pointers took it a step further, winning a state title.

3-A

PALOMAR LEAGUE

Vista 49, San Dieguito 42

MESA LEAGUE

Bonita Vista 47, Hilltop 38

QUARTERFINALS

Point Loma 87, Hilltop 25 (16-8).

Another piece of cake for the Pointers, who won by an average of 56.5 points in the regular season.

Monte Vista 76, Fallbrook 42 (15-8)

Madison 50, Mt. Carmel 49 (19-4).

Mount Miguel 56, Bonita Vista 49 (19-7).

SEMIFINALS

Point Loma 61, Mount Miguel 27 (17-5).

Matadors coach Sewell Dunton’s team came within four points of “victory”. Its goal was to lose by 30 points or less.

“The girls were a little bit intimidated, but everyone is,” said Dunton.

Monte Vista 66, Madison 50 (15-7).

CHAMPIONSHIP

Point Loma 65, Monte Vista 42 (25-3).

Terri Mann led all scorers with 24 points, while Paula Mascari, a future The San Diego Union sportswriter, had 22 for Monte Vista.

The Pointers won three playoff games by an average of almost 40 points.

Pointers coach Lee Trepanier was on crutches (Achilles tendon injury).

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

QUARTERFINALS

DIVISION I

Point Loma 59, Brea-Olinda 35 (27-4).

The Pointers repeated a 68-50, Christmas tournament victory in Santa Barbara over the historically tough Wildcats.

SEMIFINALS

Point Loma 46, Granada Hills Kennedy 36 (21-3).

The host Los Angeles City Section champion strived to stay with the Pointers, who sluggishly pulled away after the Golden Cougars trimmed a 10-point lead to three.

“I think they found out what a good defensive team we are,” Pointers coach Lee Trepanier said to Mark Zeigler of The San Diego Union.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Point Loma 53, Lynwood 50.

The Lynwood Knights qualified by beating Pasadena Muir and Ventura Buena, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, according to Cal-Hi Sports and No. 1 and No. 3 in the country in USA Today.

A stunning, 62-43 loss to Muir in December is why Point Loma was not ranked No. 1.  The Pointers were third and sixth, respectively, in the same polls.

Point Loma led by 11 points two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Lynwood closed to 48-46 three minutes later.

The Pointers’ Serena Timmons, who entered the game after Michelle Collum fouled out, hit the second of two free throws for a 53-50 lead.

With 21 seconds remaining Lynwood had a chance to close to one, but as a Lynwood player prepared to shoot a 1-and-1 a teammate was called for a lane violation.

“I saw her starting to lean forward,” said the Pointers’ Lisa Carrillo.  “So I started going, too, but I held my balance longer.”

Ball game.

“Our maturity took over,” Trepanier said to Zeigler.  “Let’s face it, in the final minutes of a close game, that basket looks awfully small.  It helps if you’ve been there before.”

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Point Loma 56 (31-1), Sacramento Grant 50.

The move to Division I provided more competition, but the Pointers’ season-ending 25^th consecutive win was like others in the playoffs.

Behind Michelle Collum’s 21 points, the San Diego squad led, 49-39, with four minutes remaining after a 24-24 first half.

Terri Mann, playing almost all of the second half with four fouls, scored 12 of her 13 points in the last two quarters and Mann’s fierce rebounding and outlet passes to Chanelle McCoy led to east layups.

2-A

WESTERN LEAGUE

Mission Bay 63, University 44.

QUARTERFINALS

San Marcos 71, Mar Vista 22 (9-14).

Southwest 78, Mission Bay 45 (14-9).

Lincoln 50, Sam Pasqual 49 (15-7).

La Jolla 64, Crawford 59 , overtime.

SEMIFINALS

San Marcos 57, La Jolla 44.

Southwest 59, Lincoln 42 (15-6).

CHAMPIONSHIP

San Marcos 55, Southwest 52 (23-3).

1-A

COASTAL LEAGUE

Calvin Christian 41, Francis Parker 38.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

DIVISION III

Oxnard Santa Clara 53, San Marcos 42 (26-4).

CENTURY CLUB

1985-86	El Camino	Fallbrook	106-61
	Sweetwater	Mar Vista	102-62
	Lincoln	Clairemont	101-60
	Poway	Fallbrook	113-44
	Sweetwater	Marian	104-72

As Tom Shanahan of the Evening Tribune described on Jan 18, 1986, “The Oceanside-El Camino football rivalry may not stir much passion, but emotions in the city’s basketball rivalry have overheated.”

“Boiled over,” added Shanahan of the antipathy felt by these too-close-for-comfort North County neighbors.

The Wildcats’ gymnasium was filled to its 1,100-seat capacity when El Camino, which arrived on the scene in 1975 (Oceanside opened in 1904) and coached by new-sheriff-in-town Ray Johnson won the nasty Avocado League encounter, 61-44.

Johnson and Oceanside coach Bill Christopher were in agreement that each was embarrassed, did not excuse his team’s behavior, and did not place blame on the other side.

FISTICUFFS

The game was marked by a bench-emptying brawl for the second straight season.

“I’ll take my team off the floor the next time that happens,” said Christopher.  “I’m not coaching a boxing team.”

“For some reason,” Christopher added, “these guys think they have to prove who’s toughest and who’s macho when they play against each other.”

“If this is what’s going to happen, maybe we’d all have to do the same thing; play somewhere without anybody watching,” said Johnson.

Only 1:42 had elapsed in the first quarter when Oceanside forward Mike Owens and El Camino guard Randy Hale squared off.

Hale fouled Owens and Owens pushed Hale after the whistle.

Shoving is not uncommon but instead of trying to prevent an escalation other players immediately began squaring off.

Fans poured onto the floor.

REFEREE CALLS OUT AUDIENCE

Before play resumed, referee Carl Goff went to the public address system and told the crowd to settle down, or “I’ll clear every fan out of here,”

With 3:14 remaining in the second quarter, Pirates forward Junior Seau was ejected after a flagrant technical foul.

The 6-foot 3, 190-pound Seau undercut 5-9 Edmund Johnson, who crashed to floor after the El Camino player left his feet on a drive to the basket.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever ejected a kid,” said referee Rod Miller.  “That was the most flagrant foul I’ve seen in ten years.”

El Camino led only 46-41 with 6:11 left in the game, which became foul plagued when Miller and Goff began calling the especially tight game.

Both squads never got into a sustained flow and El Camino went to the free-throw line 34 times, converting 24.  Oceanside was 7×15.

WILDCATS WIN WITH RAY

Johnson, who came to El Camino and also coached the girls team, built the Wildcats into a state power and won 763 games before coaching collegiately from 2009-18.

Johnson returned in 2019-20 to coach again, at El Camino.