Patterson Family Jewels : Grant Standouts Prove Skeptical Relatives Wrong While Leading Lancers to Valley Pac-8 Championship

VAN NUYS —  Grant High teammates Ronald and Donald Patterson are determined to silence their doubters.

There have been many skeptics, including family members, who didn’t believe the pair would succeed at basketball.

“ ‘Oh, you guys are just like your dad, and you won’t amount to anything,’ ” said Donald, mimicking his uncles and cousins.

The Pattersons were not raised by their father but by their mother and the older boys at the basketball courts of Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park.

Ronald, 17, is 6 feet 1. Donald, 16, is 6-2. Both weigh about 150 pounds. For years they were knocked around, even kicked out of games at the park for being too small. But they learned to survive--and to win.

And as the Pattersons have found success, so has an undersized, less-talented Grant team. The Lancers figured to finish third in the Valley Pac-8 Conference this season but finished first and are seeded eighth in the City Section playoffs, which begin on Friday.

Ronald leads the conference at 23.4 points a game. Donald, the team’s leading rebounder, has a season average of 14.5 points but averaged 22.2 points during a crucial five-game stretch in conference play.

“There’s no question we wouldn’t be where we were without them,” Coach Howard Levine said.

A fresh scar above Ronald Patterson’s left eye tells much.

It is a souvenir of a violent collision 11 days ago in the second overtime of the biggest victory of the season for Grant.

Ronald and North Hollywood’s Arthur Lee, the premier guard in the conference, banged heads while diving for a loose ball. Lee suffered a concussion. Ronald received a deep gash. With the score tied, 49-49, both left the game.

“(Ronald) said, ‘I’m playing; I gotta go,’ ” Levine said. “I said, ‘No way. You’re not going back in.’

“But I found out a minute later that the cut closed up, that he remarkably stopped bleeding.”

Lee returned but couldn’t make a shot. Ronald came back with a large bandage above his eye and made three free throws that led to a 56-51 upset of the Huskies and put Grant in a first-place tie with Monroe.

One week later, and one day after his stitches were removed, Ronald scored 28 points in a victory over Monroe that clinched the championship--with 13 of his points coming in a 25-1 run in the third quarter that wiped out a 10-point deficit.

But Ronald gave all the credit to his brothr. After picking up three quick fouls that kept him on the bench during the second quarter, Donald finished with five points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

“It’s not the same without Donald in there,” Ronald said.

Seemingly, one cannot be without the other.

Since the two boys were 5 and 6, they’ve made it an almost-daily routine to play basketball at the park until sundown.

They played no organized sports until high school, but now appear destined to play in college. Donald is a good student and his basketball skills should blossom further next season.

Said Levine, “If he grows a couple more inches, look out. He’s going to be a major talent.”

Northern Arizona has been recruiting Ronald, who is working hard on his studies and still needs to take the Scholastic Assessment Test. He thinks he can play Division I ball.

Their success has surprised their uncle, Milton Donald Patterson, twin brother of their father, Milton Ronald. Father and uncle played at Jefferson High.

Uncle Donald has seen two Grant games this season--a victory over Van Nuys in which Ronald scored 31 points and a victory over Reseda, in which Donald scored 25 and made all 10 of his shots.

“He was shocked and surprised,” Donald said. “But everybody on the Pattersons’ side was saying that we wouldn’t amount to anything. It was a lack of confidence. My brother and I kept quiet and said, ‘We’ll see.’ ”

Enter Levine and the Grant basketball program.

Levine saw raw talent but a lack of confidence and maturity when Ronald was a sophomore.

“But I came up to him and said, ‘You’re my guy,’ ” Levine said. “And I’ve seen both of them just thriving on competition.”

Donald was initially pegged for junior varsity duty last year as a sophomore. But Levine put him with the varsity in preseason practice because he displayed an unusual composure and the ability to learn quickly.

By midseason, both were in the starting lineup and creating magic.

In an earlier game against Monroe, Ronald stunned the crowd by saving a loose ball and making a no-look pass to Donald. It was a court-long throw headed out of bounds, and Ronald had no way of seeing his brother when he made the save--and an assist on a layup.

“I flicked it behind my back and it went to my brother,” Ronald said. “It’s kind of like we know where each other’s going to be at all times.

“My main focus is to always know where Donald is, and his main focus is to always know where I am. It’s a lot of fun playing with him.”

Levine knew he would need a lot from the determined Pattersons this season for the Lancers to be successful.

Said Donald, “He tells the team all the time, ‘You just gotta play hard. Don’t worry about what everyone says. You have a job to do.’

“My brother and I take it among ourselves as it being directed toward us.”