1989-90 I: Coaching Icons Trepanier, Saner Step Down
Two legendary mentors pulled the pin.
Point Loma’s Lee Trepanier, whose Pointers teams dominated the state and earned national recognition throughout the decade, retired after 14 seasons, with a 331-56 record and .855 winning percentage.
Neville Saner, whose Poway teams won four Division I titles in his seven seasons, retired after posting a 139-42 (.768) record.
CLARK WINNER IN DISPUTE
Barely two weeks remained before the first game and Tony Clark still wasn’t eligible to play.
Clark had transferred from Valhalla to Christian at the start of the school year, but Valhalla principal Bob Avant, an athlete and former 7-foot high jumper at the University of Southern California, had refused to sign the necessary public-private school transfer waiver.
San Diego Section commissioner Kendall (Spider) Webb also had denied the transfer, citing two reasons:
There had been a private dinner several months before at which Clark and other 11th-grade players from around the area had been hosted by a Christian booster and the school principal.
Webb also noted that a Christian coach had improperly approached another area athlete.
Clark appealed and a three-member committee of the section board of managers, unanimously sided with the player and made Clark eligible.
The committee supported the charges against Christian, but said, “Denial of the opportunity to compete in his senior year will be a penalty placed against Tony Clark because of the possibility of improper actions of persons other than himself.”
There had been a strained relationship between Clark’s father, who had coached freshman basketball at Valhalla, and Manny Silva, the Valhalla varsity mentor.
Clark, bound for the University of Arizona on a basketball scholarship and a future No. 1 draft choice by baseball’s Detroit Tigers, set a San Diego Section record with a 30.3 scoring average in 1988-89 at Valhalla and would average 43.1 for Christian..
MORE AND MORE POINTS
Individual scores in the 30s were common. Tony Clark and Christina Adams of Grossmont routinely posted numbers in the 40s and 50s, Clark even going as high as 64. San Pasqual junior Erik Meek averaged 28 points and would later captain the 1994-95 Duke University team and play eight professional seasons in Europe.
No less than a record 23 games were won by the team that scored at least 100 points. Sixteen different squads reached triple digits, including five by Mt. Carmel, which came close to Sweetwater’s all-time record of 136 in 1983-84 in a 132-58 win over Orange Glen.
12/2/89
San Diego 80, Castle Park 50.
Talk about a full day’s work in the first game. Clark James had 37 points, 29 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocked shots for the Cavers.
12/3/89
Christina Adams completed a three-game onslaught at the El Cajon Valley-Santana tournament by outscoring Serra with 49 points in a 59-48 Grossmont victory.
Adams averaged 40.5 points in the event, although sitting out the second half with a sore ankle versus Bonita Vista after scoring 36 points in the first two quarters.
The 5-foot-6 Adams, who averaged 15 points for the Foothillers in 1988-89, also rocked Hilltop with 47 points.
12/5/89
Christina Adams scored 50 points in a 79-50 win over Sweetwater, including 27 points on nine, three-point baskets.
12/6/89
Tony Clark remembered converting only nine three-point attempts at Valhalla in 1988-89. He hit five in his first game with Christian and scored 46 in a 71-68 win over Capistrano Valley Christian.
12/9/89
Tony Clark’s 58 points, third highest total in San Diego County history, gave him 142 in three games and a 79-60 win over Mountain Empire.
Mitchell Lilly had scored 61 in one game and Tom Shaules and Rob Petrie each scored 60.
—The Helen Bush School of Seattle defeated The Bishop’s, 72-43, in the Small Schools Invitational and then the tournament selection committee awarded the most-valuable player award to the Blazers’ team, although Christian’s Tony Clark scored 225 points in five games averaging 45.
“I don’t think anyone except Tony Clark should score 40 points in a high school game,” said Monte Vista’s Jeff Polinsky, who added, “When you’re on you’re on,” after scoring 45 in a 76-58 win over San Pasqual.
The Golden Eagles’ 6-foot, 10-inch Erik Meek scored 32, but sustained a foot injury.
—Santana took a 22-6, first-quarter lead and then held on to beat Christian, 54-52, despite 36 pints by the Patriots’ Tony Clark.
—Derek Wastila had 26 points and 26 rebounds to lead Coronado past Mount Miguel, 65-60.
12/16/89
J.J. Stokes, a future NFL No. 1 draft choice by San Francisco, scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half and Point Loma, trailing, 50-42, after three quarters, rallied for a 65-64 win over Christian, which couldn’t convert Tony Clark’s 47 points.
12/20/89
Torrey Pines, getting 17 points each from Bart Brandenburg and Kyle Armstrong, won the 29th Jim Mitchell Tournament, 61-52, over Dana Point Dana Hills.
12/22/89
Patrick Henry cut a 25-point deficit from an earlier, 79-44 loss to Poway, but still lost to the Titans, 59-54, in the championship game of the 43rd Kiwanis Tournament.
—Mira Mesa, with late-arriving football players J.J. Rowlett and Mark Ziegler combining for 51 points and 24 rebounds, won the Spartan Classic at Chula Vista, 95-82 over Oceanside.
12/28-29 1989
Another big game for Tony Clark (49 points) but another loss for Christian, which bowed, 80-65, to San Dieguito in the Aztec Christmas Classic at Montgomery.
Clark scored 54 points as Christian topped the Montgomery B team, 92-28.
12/30/89
Despite the loss of injured Tracy Halton and his 28-point average, Crawford edged Morse, 62-60, on Tito Singleton’s basket with seven seconds left for the Baron-Optimist championship at Southwestern College.
San Dieguito topped El Centro Central, 79-49, for the Aztec title.
1/3/90
Christina Adams was virtually unstoppable with 45 points but Helix scored a 70-61 win over rival Grossmont.
1/4/90
Clark James, averaging 31.3 points, was held to 15 as Kearny employed a “Diamond and One” defense in a 72-59 defeat of fourth-ranked San Diego.
“Carlos (Morgan) did a helluva job,” said Komets coach Bill Peterson. “The whole game, he denied James the ball.”
1/6/90
Turnabout is fair play, even if not against the same opponent.
Two days following a 108-93 loss to Mt. Carmel, San Dieguito regrouped and defeated Vista, 112-87. Six players scored in double figures led by Brian Malewicz and Matt de la Pena with 20 each.
“It was Morse-Lincoln from the first slam until the final shot,” wrote Ed Graney of The San Diego Union, noting that for the first time in 10 years neither team was ranked in the newspaper’s top 10, but as competitive and high-flying as ever.
Morse outlasted the neighboring Hornets with “a tough, man-to-man defense” and won, 63-61, before 1,800 persons at Mesa College.
Unofficial leading scorers by average/points
*Incomplete totals.
| NAME | TEAM | GAMES | POINTS | AVERAGE |
| Tony Clark | Christian | 31 | 1,337 (1) | 43.12 |
| Clark James | San Diego | 23 | 659 (2) | 28.65 |
| Erik Meek | San Pasqual | 21 | 586 (4) | 27.90 |
| Jeff Hooper | Lutheran | 22 | 603 (3) | 27.41 |
| Tobin Wilkins | Midway Baptist | 20 | 521(12) | 26.05 |
| *Jeff Polinsky | Monte Vista | 19 | 463 | 24.36 |
| *Darryl Parker | Rancho Buena Vista | 24 | 584 (5T) | 24.33 |
| Shannon LeFever | Mount Miguel | 22 | 510 (13) | 23.18 |
| J.J. Stokes | Point Loma | 24 | 530 (11) | 22.08 |
| Carlos Campbell | Sweetwater | 27 | 569 (7T) | |
| Travis Gilley | El Camino | 25 | 551 (10) | 22.04 |
| Carlos Campbell | Sweetwater | 27 | 569 (7T) | 21.07 |
| *Chris Goergens | Granite Hills | 17 | 358 | 21.05 |
| *Tony Lee | Valhalla | 23 | 488 | 21.21 |
| Joe McDowell | Sweetwater | 29 | 584 (5T) | 20.13 |
| Darryl McMillan | Lincoln | 29 | 556 (9) | 19.17 |
Tracy Halton, Crawford, 9×242, 26.9. *Alfonso de la Nuez, Ramona, 13×290, 22.30.
1/11/90
Dee Boyer, El Camino’s 6-foot, 9-inch center who missed the first 14 games with a fractured knee cap, scored 11 points in his return and the Wildcats won, 78-64, over San Pasqual, playing without 6-10 Erik Meek, out with strep throat.
1/18/90
Joe McNaull’s 6-foot, 11 inches, were all over the floor for Monte Vista as he scored 29 points and pulled down 32 rebounds in an 80-65 win over Granite Hills.
–Eight of Mt. Carmel’s nine, dressed-out players (they usually suited 12) scored from 11 to 23 points (Tom LaBuda 9×9 from the field, 5×6 on free throws) and they pin-balled to a 132-58, Palomar League victory over Orange Glen.
The Sundevils came close to Sweetwater’s record 136 in 1984-85.
–Christian evened its record at 7-7 as Tony Clark scored 49 points in 79-55, Harbor League win over Marian.
1/20/90
Chula Vista, on the road, led Sweetwater by 13 in the first half and 67-60 entering the final quarter but couldn’t hold on as the Red Devils, behind Joe McDowell’s 37 points, scored a 77-75, Metropolitan League win. The Spartans had led Sweetwater by 15 in a December tournament and lost.
1/24/90
Among four players in double figures for Lincoln was 5-foot, 1-inch (yes, 5-1) ninth grader Archie Robinson, who had 11 points in a 95-67 roll on Madison.
1/25/90
All 12 players scored, led by 24 points each by Shane Knight and Mike Graves, elevating Mt. Carmel to a 117-80 in over Vista.
1/27/90
Patrick Henry’s Alan (Fritz) Ziegenfuss coached his 400th career victory, 84-64 over Mira Mesa. “Yes, four-hundred wins is a special thing, but I credit longevity and talent a whole lot more than coaching,” Ziegenfuss said to writer Steve Brand.
–J.J. Stokes scored 41 points for Point Loma (9-9), but Lincoln won its fifth in a row, 75-70.
–Tony Clark was 21×32 from the field and 6×8 from the three point arc and equaled his season high with 58 points as Christian (9-9) topped Clairemont, 88-52.
Feb 1, 1990
Tony Clark converted 22×32 field-goal attempts and his 55 points marked Clark’s sixth game with at least 50, but Christian fell to St. Augustine, in its first game after 14 forfeitures due to the ubiquitous, dreaded, administrative glitch, 87-79.
St. Augustine had not completed paper work on public-private school player transfer waiver.
–Poway, trailing by 15 points with less than six minutes to play, edged Mt. Carmel, 80-78.
2/7/90
Tony Clark scored 50 points. It was his fourth consecutive game with at least that many and his seventh of the season. Christian topped visiting Marian, 91-45.
2/10/90
Andre Toussaint’s basket with 10 seconds left gave Lincoln a 68-63 victory at San Diego as the Hornets claimed their fifth straight Central league title.
Feb. 13, 1990
“Yes, we probably got too conservative,” said Spartans coach Mike Collins, whose team led, 68-61, with 2:13 remaining and then attempted to take the air out of the ball, passing but passing up shots.
Joe McDowell’s two free throws with 0.07 on the clock clinched the Metropolitan League championship for the Red Devils, 73-71.
Feb. 15, 1990
Tony Clark’s 36 points gave him a season total of 961, breaking the record of 960 by Helix’ Bill Walton in 1969-70. Christian improved to 12-10 with a 66-50 victory over Coronado.
–Visiting Rancho Buena Vista outscored Mt. Carmel, 103-97, reversing an 82-57 loss to the Sundevils..
Brad Grubaugh set a school record with 43 points. Darryl Parker, son of former NBA player Sonny Parker, added 37 and the Longhorns shot 70 per cent from the field.
Feb. 16, 1990
Christina Adams set a San Diego Section record with 21 consecutive free throws in a 58-47 win over El Cajon Valley. Adams, who missed on her 22nd attempt, finished with 31 points.
Feb. 17, 1990
Tony Clark scored 46 points but Christian bowed to Clairemont, 80-67.
Feb. 17, 1990
Mt. Carmel closed the regular season with a 124-65, Palomar League victory over Vista. The outburst tied the Sundevils with Marian for the fourth highest score in County history.