| The LookOut sports | |
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Santa Monica Sports Notes It was a rough week for the Samohi boys basketball team, which lost
a home Bay League game to Mira Costa 50-42 before losing at Redondo
63-39. The Crossroads boys basketball team had a good week, defeating Whitney 81-42 and Campbell Hall 75-54 in Delphic League games. With the game easily won Coach Daryl Roper experimented with 6-foot-10 center Isaiah Fox playing point guard against Whitney. Fox proved to be an adept dribbler and beat a pressing defense. He probably won't be called upon to do much of that at Arizona next season but showed he has the skills. The Crossroads girls basketball team edged Whitney 61-60 and defeated Campbell Hall 61-47. Christina Smith scored 24 points against Campbell Hall and Rachel Berman had 17. The Crossroads girls have shown improvement over last season when the team went 2-8 in the league while Whitney went 8-2. The St. Monica boys basketball team defeated Bosco Tech, 66-54. The St. Monica girls edged Bell-Jeff, 47-45, in a Camino Real League game. The New Roads girls basketball team routed South Bay Lutheran 61-6 in a non-league game. Kejon Woods, a former Crossroads boys basketball star, scored 22 points for Boise State in a 79-77 victory over Long Beach State. The 6-foot-7 Woods, who played for the Roadrunners during the Baron Davis era, is a senior. |
Kusserow Decides to Return As Samohi Assistant Coach By Mitch Chortkoff
Head coach Norm Lacy revealed that Kusserow will come back. Previously Kusserow said he'd try it for a season to see if the work still appealed to him. ``It's a blessing,'' said Lacy. ``He knows so much about coaching. I can concentrate on defense and let him run the offense. I also know it's a factor that he didn't want to walk away from the group of talented juniors we had last season. ``We have 13 seniors coming back and working with quarterback James Cooper is a big factor. I know Coach Kusserow expects him to have an outstanding season.'' Samohi went 9-3 and won a playoff game for the first time since 1987 before losing in the second round to Paso Robles. Kusserow was head coach for 18 years before going into retirement. Included was a CIF championship. ``It's hard to walk away from the game,'' said Lacy. ``We both like the Friday nights and Coach Kusserow is extremely committed to our players. ``We had a good beginning last season but we want to get better. We're going to raise the bar and commit more time. There's a maturation process that goes on between the junior and senior season.'' Cooper's prime receiver, Charles Gordon, suffered a broken ankle early last season. He's expected to return, along with receivers Chris Gary and Terrell Maze. Kusserow's offensive scheme included a mixture of passing and the running of tailback Derrick Davis, who gained 1,700 yards and made all-Ocean League. Davis is another youngster who'll be going into his senior season. One of Lacy's off-season projects is to study the defense, which gave up many big plays. Opponents with speedy running backs were able to break 70 and 80-yard touchdowns on end sweeps. But four sophomores played a prominent role on defense and should be better with experience. Kusserow is a teacher at Samohi and has one year left before he can retire. ``Even if he retires from teaching I hope he'll still be an integral part of Samohi football in future years,'' said Lacy. ``But when he got back into it he let everyone know it wouldn't be a long-term deal. ``We're going to take it one day at a time --- one season at a time.'' Samohi finished third in the Ocean League. The champion, Inglewood, went undefeated until the CIF championship game when it lost to Paso Robles. |
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