1991-92: Legendary Pointers Coach Lee Trepanier Passes
The basketball community lost a legend in August when Lee Trepanier, the retired, 56-year-old Point Loma coach, died in his sleep August 2, 1991.
Trepanier, 56, had been battling stomach and esophagus cancer for two years.
Trepanier learned of his cancer in August, 1989, but coached and taught math through the school year and retired as coach after the 1989-90 season.
Trepanier’s girls teams at Point Loma won state championships an unprecedented four consecutive years, 1984-87. He compiled an all-time record of 331 wins against 51 defeats and a .866 winning percentage.
12/4/91
Robbie Sandoval, the future girls’ coach at Mount Miguel, scored 18 points and hit a three-point basket that sent a game with Patrick Henry into overtime.
Three extra sessions later the Matadors pulled out a 52-51 victory, helped in no small part by a Sandoval basket with 20 seconds to go that narrowed a Matadors deficit to one point. Damion Willis tipped in a basket at the buzzer for the win.
12/5/91
San Dieguito and Corona del Mar battled through three overtimes before the Mustangs outlasted their hosts, 49-44, at the Newport Harbor tournament.
12/11/91
Donnie Collins’ fall-away, three-point basket as the buzzer sounded sent the Madison Warhawks into overtime against St. Augustine. John Gergurich, who led the Saints with 28 points, and Eric Ott each had two free throws in the extra period. The Saints won, 74-72.
12/12/91
Poway transfer Kirk Hipple scored 34 points and was 15×15 from the free throw line and Bill McMahon’s three-point basket with three seconds remaining lifted Rancho Bernardo (4-19 in 1990-91, its first year) to a surprise win over Morse, 73-72.
12/18/91
Rancho Buena Vista led Fallbrook for a grand total of six seconds but it forged a 49-48 victory in the Vista Tournament. Tori Anderson’s 12-foot looper brought the Longhorns from behind.
12/20/91
Tony Maxwell authored one of the highest single-game totals in Hoover history, 43 points, in a 84-81 victory over Chula Vista in the opening round of the 45th annual Kiwanis Tournament.
12/21/91
“I feel like a fool,” said Lincoln coach Ron Loneski, who added, “I feel stupid,” to Buster Olney of The San Diego Union.
Loneski was not happy with his team’s play in an 80-71, Kiwanis tournament win over Vista. “People sitting up in the stands must see this and say, ‘Doesn’t Loneski teach them anything?'”
“We were looking for some big guys, but they were all little guys (no Vista starter over 6-1), then they started bombing,” said the Hornets’ Akili Smith, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, of the Panthers’ 14, three-point baskets.
12/22/91
Vista’s sharpshooters, unable to overcome Lincoln, took it out on Hoover, converting a San Diego Section 18 baskets from behind the 19-foot, 9-inch arc, in a 119-42, Kiwanis victory. The breakdown: Jason Barnes, 5; Dave Dillon, 4; Mike Vendling, 3; Jose Perez, 2; Shawn Jager, 2, and Dave Enger and Nils Michaels, 1 each.
12/24/91
“What do I think?” Kearny coach Bill Peterson shouted to the Union’s Steve Brand, clutching a scorebook. “Try 22-4 on the free-throw line.”
Actually, Poway converted 15×21 on the free-throw line (Kearny was 2×4) and handed Kearny its first defeat, 59-49, in overtime for the Kiwanis Tournament Unlimited Division championship.
–Craig Brown scored 35 points and Torrey Pines topped Trabuco Hills, 83-67, for championship of the 31st Jim Mitchell Tournament.
12/27/91
After four games, St. Augustine coach Jeff Armstrong resigned to become coach of the Saudi Arabia Olympic team. Athletics director Rick Stewart became head coach and the Saints responded with 3 straight wins to improve to 7-0, including a 43-19 victory over Montgomery in the Sweetwater Tournament.
12/28/91
The wide gulf between San Diego’s best teams and those from around the country was evident as Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, defeated Lincoln, 93-57, in the Above the Rim tournament at Torrey Pines.
12/29/91
Poway made eight consecutive free throws in the final three minutes to defeat Bakersfield, defending state Division I champion, 59-56, in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic.
1/11/92
Chula Vista’s Jerome Green made 7×13 three-point shots in the first half and finished with 47 as the Spartans outran Bonita Vista, 85-80. The 6-foot, 2-inch junior had 26 points at halftime and came within two points of his reported school record.
1/22/92
La Jolla Country Day, leading 56-35, after three quarter was perspiring heavily at game’s end. Santa Fe Christian outscored the Torreys in the final eight minutes, 24-6, but La Jolla Cpointry Day hung on, 62-58.
“I miss Meek like I miss hemorrhoids,” said El Camino coach Ed Johnson to Ed Graney of The San Diego Union, after Johnson’s team had beaten San Pasqual, 72-36, as star, 6-foot, 10-inch Eagle Erik Meek now was a freshman at Duke. Meek scored 30 points in the teams’ last meeting, a 73-70 San Pasqual triumph in the 1990-91 Division-II championship.
1/25/92
Five Lincoln players, led by Berry Randle’s 23 points, scored in double figures in a 114-53 victory over Crawford at Lincoln. The Hornets, leading, 74-29, outscored the Colts, 49-24, in the final eight minutes.
2/3/92
Palomar League No. 2 Vista led No. 1 Torrey Pines, 53-40,in the third quarter, then trailed, 75-68, but fought back to tie the score at 79 before Craig Brown’s two free throws pulled out the victory for the Falcons, 81-79.
Vista made 14 baskets from behind the three-point arc and forced 30 turnovers. “They were like little vagrants,” Brown said to Buster Olney of The San Diego Union. “They were all over the place.”
2/6/92
El Camino led at Carlsbad, 73-65, with 44 seconds remaining, but Chad Nelson, who scored 31 points, led a Lancers comeback and 81-79 win in overtime, virtually clinching the Avocado league championship in the battle between the league’s No 1 and No. 2.
2/8/92
Sweetwater’s Andy Partch had 16 points, 15 assists, six rebounds, and two steals, plus he was 9×10 on free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter of the Red Devils’ rivalry-game, 91-87 win over Chula Vista.
2/13/92
Carlsbad’s 77-56 win over Rancho Bernardo was punctuated with a 31-point first quarter in which the Lancers buried 14×16 field- goal attempts.
2/16/92
Guillermo Sanchez’ “rim-rattling” three-pointer with five seconds remaining lifted visiting Sweetwater to a 48-47 victory over Castle Park.
“I scored 31 points?” Craig Smith said to writer Ed Graney. “I thought I had 20.” Brown, who also made 13×14 fee throws, was dominant in Torrey Pines’ 68-56 win over visiting Poway.
The season’s high scorers:
| NAME | TEAM | GAMES | POINTS | AVERAGE |
| Jerome Green | Chula Vista | 29 | 785 | 27.06 (1) |
| Miller | Fallbrook | 28 | 650 | 23.2 (3) |
| Kyle Milling | Poway | 33 | 632 | 19.25 |
| Ryan Cunningham | Mira Mesa | 26 | 620 | 23.8 (2) |
| Scot Pollard | Torrey Pines | 31 | 584 | 18.8 |
| Berry Randle | Lincoln | 32 | 583 | 18.2 |
| Rhoden | Vista | 27 | 560 | 20.7 (5) |
| Marty Ellis | Monte Vista | 28 | 552 | 19.7 |
| Lake | Helix | 24* | 530 | 22.08 (4) |
| Jager | Vista | 28 | 530 | 18.9 |
| Aaron Elliott | Monte Vista | 29 | 529 | 18.2 |
| Caphas | Escondido | 24 | 485 | 20.2 (6) |
| Kingsley | Grossmont | 25 | 468 | 18.7 |
| Jason Switzer | Grossmont | 26 | 463 | 17.8 |
| Watts | University City | 22 | 436 | 19.8 (7) |
| Morsch | Orange Glen | 21 | 413 | 19.7 |
2/19/92
A brawl Feb. 15 involving Kearny and University City resulted in a double forfeit.
Kearny led, 61-43, with 6:09 left. U. City’s Vernon Warren and Kearny’s Steve Marshall got into it. Both benches cleared and fans came out of the stands.
The teams went to separate rooms to cool out. When the game was to resume, U.C. coach Tom Medigovich told a security guard that he had sent his players home after being told by another security guard that the game was over.
San Diego Section commissioner Kendall (Spider) Webb ruled a double forfeit. Unhappy Kearny coach Bill Peterson had to agree. The CIF green book stated that “if more than 2 people leave bench,” game is forfeited, said Peterson.
Medigovich declared, “It was very ugly. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
2/20/92
Lincoln forced five turnovers in a 16-0 run and beat Madison, 86-58, for its 55th straight Central League win and seventh straight league title.
–Theoretically the splurge could have been more than 16-0. “That was a coaching error,” said coach Ron Loneski. “I made some changes when I should have kept doing what we were doing.”