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The fourth-quarter play symbolized how far the El Camino High School boys basketball program has come this season.

After a Sacramento High turnover in Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship game at Arco Arena, the Eagles' Juawnn Springfield took off for an easy breakaway.

But instead of taking the ball to the basket, he stopped near the top of the key, pivoted and passed to a trailing Kyle Baxter. Baxter took the gift and dunked it, much to the delight of El Camino's huge and raucous rooting section as the Eagles sprinted past the Dragons 89-76.

"He could have scored that," El Camino coach Justin Clymo said of the junior guard. "But instead he gives it up so someone else can be successful. This win was possible because of the chemistry and the unity we were able to develop during the course of the year."

If wasn't that way early in the season when they lost 67-65 to the top-ranked Dragons in the Dec. 6 Maita Classic at Sheldon.

"The last time we played these guys, we were up by eight with 2 1/2 minutes to go, and we took four terrible, selfish shots," he said.

Then Clymo and Baxter, one of his senior leaders, visited Menlo College and men's coach Brandon Laird, which proved enlightening. Laird, a former Eagles standout, played at UC Davis when Clymo was an assistant to Bob Williams.

"We go into the locker room, and the feeling of unity and commitment is so good that we wanted to bring it back and show that it was OK to be unselfish," Clymo said. "You have a guy like Kyle Baxter … he's taken a back seat to other guys during the season by being unselfish, and it's contagious."

Friday night at Arco, however, Baxter was in the driver's seat in helping lead the Eagles to their first boys section basketball championship since 1989.

The 6-foot-7 beanpole had 27 points on 13-of-15 shooting from the field as the Eagles climbed to 25-5 and earned a Northern California Regional home game Tuesday. Section championship game records were set for most combined points and most second-half points by a team (59 by El Camino).

[ March 16, 2008 06:41 PM: Message edited by: Jacks Fan ]

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Grand Canyon's coach Scott Mossman on Humboldt hosting the regional: “We’ve been treated like kings the whole time we’ve been here. Everywhere we went it was like a first-class operation. I wish the tournament was here every year. This is a college basketball atmosphere.”

"Its cute how they have Pack the Gym night. Up here, we just call that Saturday." - PosseBoy

"My dad had a basketball in my hands before I was four years old and he's still my second coach, fixing my shot and helping me fine tune my game," said Baxter about his father, Bill Baxter, one of the all-time leading girls basketball coaches in the state.

It's one thing to have a dad who's a coach but its another to have one who has 530 victories, won five Sac-Joaquin Section titles, gone to three state championships and earned a title with his 1994 El Camino Eagles girls, who defeated Woodbridge of Irvine to cap a 36-0 season.

It also helps on the basketball court to be 6-foot-7 and possess an all-around excellent game, plus being a leader on and off the hardwood.

The season may have come to an end March 6 in a 72-67 double-overtime loss to Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) in a game Baxter scored 12 points with nine rebounds and fouled out of midway through the first overtime, but basketball certainly would seem to have a part in Baxter's future.

"Our stud fouled out and we didn't score in the second overtime," Eagles coach Justin Clymo told Cal-Hi Sports, still in a bit in shock after the tough loss. "Not having him on the floor and his dominant influence hurt us in the end."

To look at Baxter's overall numbers it isn't exactly apparent he dominates opponents. He was third on the team in scoring with a 13.5 PPG average and pulled in a little over eight rebounds a game. Very respectable numbers but not dominating.

A better indication, though, is what Baxter did in crucial games. He stepped up big time to score 27 points in a gigantic 89-76 victory over Sacramento in the Sac-Joaquin Division III championship at ARCO Arena last weekend. In the NorCal opener against a pesky Mission of San Francisco team this week, he had 15 solid points and 11 rebounds to lead the team to a 69-65 victory.

"We don't focus a lot on one guy scoring so Kyle's numbers are not indicative of his impact," said Clymo. "He easily could have averaged 20-25 points a game but he's sacrificed his offensive game for the team. He scores when we need him to, rebounds all the time, and even plays the point on the press. Kyle does it all even though he doesn't need the ball to impact a game."

Doing it all will hopefully attract the attention of a few more colleges besides Humboldt State and North Greenville in South Carolina who have expressed major interest in the well-spoken young student athlete who carries a 3.3 GPA in the classroom.

Athletics and family are probably the two most important things to Baxter. Not only does he have a dad who played locally in high school and at UC Davis, and is a coach and athletic director at the high school he attends, but he also has a mom, Michelle, who played volleyball and softball at UC Davis and is currently a PE teacher at Oakmont High in Roseville.

Kyle's older sister, Cassie, is attending Cal State-East Bay in Hayward where she plays basketball and volleyball after starring for dad at El Camino.

"Its great to get personal recognition like this but without having the kind of team we did and getting as far as we did, it would never have happened," said Baxter, who plans on studying business management with an eye on possibly being involved with managing a pro sports franchise. "One of dad's friend's sons is the manager of ARCO Arena and that's the kind of thing I'm interested in doing," said the multi-sport athlete who has played baseball, soccer and volleyball for the Eagles and who also competes in track and field in the long jump and triple jump, where he made the section finals last year.

It would have been nice to make another trip to Arco on March 8 for the D3 NorCal title game but is wasn't to be. "If only we could have kept him in there," bemoaned the elder Baxter. "We would have won."

El Camino may have lost the game but they have a winner in Kyle Baxter and there are certainly some college programs who agree and now have him on the radar screen.

PETER SMITH - ESCONDIDO

Now that basketball is over, Smith has had time to reflect on a senior year that almost wasn't.

“Everything happens for a reason,” said Smith, who began the season ineligible as a fifth-year senior but later was cleared to play in the second semester. “Being able to stay positive and keep positive people around you who are in your corner (helped).”

Among those people, Smith said, were Escondido Athletic Director Steve Bridges and coach Paul Baldwin, as well as his mother Angela Smith, who has supported her son athletically and academically.

Peter Smith is ranked fourth in his class and scored a 1,890 on the SAT.

An avid fisherman and lover of poetry, Smith spends his free time tutoring classmates and working in basketball camps. After averaging 30.6 points a game as a senior, he is hoping to continue his basketball career at the Division I level and has offers to play at Division II schools.

Regardless, the son of the late NBA All-Star Phil Smith knows he would have made his father proud.

“This year has been a wonderful ride,” Peter Smith said. “I have been really blessed.”

RANCHO BERNARDO ---- Peter Smith enjoyed one of his finer performances in a prep basketball finale that almost didn't include him.

The Escondido High point guard, who was removed from then re-inserted onto the North squad's roster, hit five 3-pointers en route to scoring 25 points in the CIF San Diego Section's third annual Senior All-Star Game on Friday night at Rancho Bernardo High. Smith's efforts help the North beat the South 108-93.

"This makes everything I went through to get here make this night even sweeter," said Smith, who was declared a fifth-year senior and had to fight the section first to be eligible to play this season and most recently to play in Friday's game.

"You only get to play with the best players in the county one time, and I'm very grateful to have been given that chance. With so many good players on the court, the defense couldn't gang up on anyone."

"This was the best feeling ever because the basket looked much bigger than it normally does."

Smith made 10 of his 19 shots from the field and led a 61-point charge in the second half as the North won for the first time in this series.

Torrey Pines guard James Rahon was right behind Smith with 22 points, while Mission Hills center Taylor Darby had 16 points and six rebounds. El Camino center Nelson Rosario added 14 points and 13 rebounds.

The South got close 74-70 with 9:20 to go, but couldn't sustain the offense in the face of Smith and Rahon.

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Santa Clara Players Transfer

Three men's basketball players, all of whom were on scholarship, have requested and been granted transfers from Santa Clara.

Head Coach Kerry Keating confirmed on Wednesday that sophomores Jonathan Gunderson, Cedric Latimer and Zac Tiedeman will be eligible to transfer from the university. All three players have two years of eligibility remaining.

"Johnathan, Cedric and Zac have expressed an interest in pursuing other academic and athletic options," Keating said in a statement. "Everybody at Santa Clara appreciates their hard work and dedication in the classroom and on the court, and we wish them all the best in the future."

Tiedeman, who was originally scheduled to have a meeting with Keating, made the decision to transfer after speaking with Gunderson and Latimer, despite not meeting with any coaches.

"It was a big ordeal, but it was pretty much my decision when it came down to it," said Tiedeman. "Coach was having meetings with players and he was just telling them that they might not play as much and that he was bringing in some more people. I just wanted to find a new place where I could fit in a little better because I never was really recruited by Coach Keating."

According to Tiedeman, in the meetings with Gunderson and Latimer, Keating told them that they were not going to be receiving as much playing time with the new recruits coming in. Knowing this, Tiedeman made the decision to transfer.

Tiedeman, who transferred to Santa Clara this year after spending one year at Santa Rosa Junior College, said he decided leave Santa Clara for more playing time.

"You spend so much time playing basketball when you are in college, and if I wasn't going to play as much, and I wasn't really sure where I was going to be in the next two years, then I wanted to go somewhere where I am going to play and have fun," said Tiedeman.

He will be playing at Humboldt State next year, a Division II program.

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EDAllen and I saw Tiedeman play at CR last season, and he was BY FAR the best player on the court. We were saying, "Man, wouldn't he look nice in green."

Well, he will!

Tiedeman's Santa Clara profile

From what I can find on the web, it looks like Kyle Baxtor signed his LOI on Wednesday and it appears that Elliot Babcock-Krenk has committed.

I'm curious to see who they sign. Tiedeman will be an able replacement for Shuefelt. Krenk is a shooting guard and Baxtor is a very thin post player that can shot threes.

Of the recruits that have been mentioned on this post, I think Peter Smith, David Howard and Donald Johnson would be the most important ones to get.

Brian Morris is intriguing, but he crapped out of SMU and has already been to three schools. He obviously has talent, based on his rating out of high school, but I wonder about his commitment and academics.

I would love to see Smith play here. He seemed the most interested in academics. It appears that he wants to be a biology major. Johnson also talked about academics, wanting to study architecture, which I do not believe is available at HSU.

He went to JC and things didn't go well there...most likely because the Brian was a 19-year-old kid that, a year prior, had the world "by the balls," and everything seemed to be unraveling around him at that point. At least that's my take after talking to him and reading about him.

Bill Baxter always wanted his son, Kyle, to play basketball for someone like his college coach, Bob Hamilton.

Wonder if Hamilton was slow with a so-so jumper.

One thing is for sure: Hamilton was a winner who wanted his players to succeed beyond the court. The former 26-year head coach of the UC Davis men's basketball team captured seven league titles, five of which came during the 1970s, and graduated all of his four-year players except two.

Baxter must see the same things in Tom Wood, because Kyle, a 6-foot-7 forward for El Camino High (Sacramento), is having a party today where he will sign a letter of intent to play for Humboldt State next year.

And Baxter would be an expert judge. He played under both Hamilton and Wood while he was at UC Davis. He even got a chance to check out Wood during his playing days in the 1960s.

”He was a very good point guard because he understood the game so well,” said Baxter, who transferred to Davis the year after Wood graduated, which was the first year Wood served as a graduate assistant. “He wasn't necessarily fast and didn't shoot that well, but he got the job done.

”He's doing the same thing as a coach.”

Which is another reason he liked the idea of Kyle becoming a Jack. He see's Kyle, who has guard skills and can score from the post or the perimeter, fitting into a new era of HSU basketball, one that could include a run at a national championship.

He also liked the way HSU fit in with the community.

”We loved the atmosphere of the gym and the crowd there,” Baxter said. “I know next year they'll have a new gym. The atmosphere and support they give to the program is outrageous to us. The chance to compete for an NCAA title over the next four years is tremendous, it's exciting.”

With Ernie Spada as an exception, freshmen don't usually start for HSU. It's too early to tell if Kyle will step in as a starter, but the Jacks lost four players to graduation and will need someone to assume the lead scoring and rebounding duties next year.

Kyle averaged 13.5 points and 6 rebounds per game. He was also 40 percent from 3 (24-for-60).

Wood could not comment on Kyle or any other potential recruits because he hadn't received signed letters yet. He won't know who's actually going to the program until he has the letters in-hand. That said, he may receive another letter soon from transfer point guard Zac Tiedeman.

Tiedeman is a 6-2 playmaker who played against College of the Redwoods in Eureka in a postseason game two years ago while he was with Santa Rosa Junior College. He went to Division-I Santa Clara last year and left amid a coaching change, according to the SCU school paper.

His family said he should have sent off the signed letter last week, and Tiedeman left a message with the Times-Standard on Saturday, but did not specify if he was going to HSU.

Tiedeman averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds in one season at Santa Rosa. He started seven games for Santa Clara and played in 18, but averaged 12.7 minutes per game.

I have to mention here that while it is fun to speculate as to who will be HSU's new players, Coach Wood can never confirm or deny signings (NCAA rules) until the letters are in hand. Journalists who jump the gun and publish signing information jeopardize the program and its reputation by soliciting quotes. And its difficult enough to recruit to Humboldt without having reporters calling and harassing recruits and their families at home. It's always better to wait, follow protocol, and be accurate even if it means sacrificing being first.

One other player I'd LOVE to land is Donald Johnson from Antelope Valley. He reminds me a lot of Kevin Johnson. He's an athletic marvel and has a tremendous upside. I remember when KJ started playing after his redshirt year he was extremely raw and his movements were almost robotic in nature. He was trying to do what the coaches were asking him to do, but it didn't seem natural at the time. Four years later, well, you know the story.

With Elliot Babcock-Krenk, from what I'm reading, you getting a defensive specalist which I see is something that was missing in certain instances last season. You got to have someone who can lock down the opponents' top exterior threat night in, night out. Looks like mission accomplish on that signing.

Right now, I'm going to be very patience in regards to the rest of the signings. I rather get the word from Humboldt State themselves on the signings before I discuss the impact it will have on the program. I know it's like Christmas Day over and over again as we wait for news on new signings, but there are a lot of crazy rules out there in the NCAA world and there is no point to do anything that may be a problem in the future.

If I was looking at some needs that are left to address in the recruiting here are a couple of areas to keep an eye in the next few weeks:

I think Humboldt got the athleticism in the forward position. I think there is a lot of potential in the guards. The one thing that Humboldt needs to address is to find someone to play at center. Humboldt needs to find a couple of 6'9" and/or 6'10" players to fill in the size that is needed on the frontline. If there is a 6'11" or taller out there, that would be a steal because I think most of those players will be a Division I product.

Let's see what happens in the next few weeks and we can get a better idea on the 2008-09 team.

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Go Jacks!!!

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But who will do the dishes?
Sean Quincey - The Times-Standard

Ernie Spada will soon be without the luxury of an empty spare room. In August, the Humboldt State freshman will lose some square footage, but he'll gain a friend.

And the Jacks will gain a tough player.

Elliot Babcock-Krenk, a 6-foot-3 swingman who played with Spada at Lake Oswego High (Ore.), in the past week signed his letter of intent to play for the Jacks next year. Two other capable freshmen also signed, which should help HSU ease the hangover of graduating four starters from a year ago.

A pair of 6-7 forwards, David Howard out of Army-Navy Academy and Kyle Baxter from El Camino High in Sacramento, got their letters back in to HSU on Tuesday, and HSU head coach Tom Wood feels like their additions will help the Jacks continue down the road of success.

”We're losing four all-league caliber players, and recruiting good players was an important task,” Wood said in a press release. “We feel like we've done well in identifying student-athletes who can help keep our string of success going. We feel good about our recruiting class thus far, but we're not done yet.”

For the former teammates, a reunion is not only welcomed, it was the best thing for all parties involved.

”I talked to Ernie the whole time (during the recruiting process),” said Babcock-Krenk, whose other option was to attend Gonzaga University, where he probably wouldn't have had a chance to see the court. “He was positive the whole time. He didn't push me either way. Obviously he would have liked me to come down, but he said to do what's best for me.”

And it could be the best thing for HSU as well. A big piece of the puzzle at Lake Oswego, where Spada and Babcock-Krenk teamed with former UCLA star Kevin Love to win the Oregon Class 6A championship, the incoming freshman could fill a need for the Jacks. Last year, he averaged 15.8 points per game and two steals.

”He's a really tough kid, and that comes in to play a lot, especially when it comes to college basketball,” Spada said. “He's really strong and really gifted. He knows the game extremely well and that will make the transition to college easier...He does a lot of the intangibles and he's a good shooter...He can pretty much defend any position on the floor, especially the guard position.”

As far as Spada losing a room, it shouldn't put a strain on anything.

”That's one of my best friends from back home. I'm excited about him coming here,” Spada said.

Who's got dish duty, now that's where they might run into a problem.