Van Nuys Reacts to Narrow Losses by Becoming Team With No Names

After two close losses, the Van Nuys High boys’ basketball team has reaffirmed its unity in hopes of turning the season around.

One of the first steps taken by the Wolves was voting against submitting regional statistical leaders published weekly by The Times’ Valley Edition.

The three senior captains, who do not want their names published, told Coach Kevin Kanemura last week the team no longer wanted individual players singled out in the newspaper.

“They’re setting their goals and everything is team-oriented,” Kanemura said. “If they’re gonna get recognized, they’re gonna get recognized as a group.”

The decision came about, Kanemura said, after the Wolves lost consecutive games to Granada Hills, 48-46, and Grant, 39-36. Perhaps it helped. On Friday, Anonymous Guy made a three-foot shot with eight seconds left to give Van Nuys a 70-69 victory over North Hollywood.

“They wanted to avoid the big-head syndrome,” Kanemura said. “Not that anyone is playing well enough to get a big head, but . . .”

Van Nuys, the defending City Section 3-A Division champion, is 6-8.

Locker legends: Antelope Valley was designated a visiting team in the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Classic, but the Antelopes were treated like the home team.

The Antelopes had use of the UCLA locker room at Pauley Pavilion while preparing for their game against Long Beach Poly. They dressed in the same stalls used by Bruin players.

“We broke the video camera out,” said Antelope Valley center Le’Tre Kelly. “I took J.R. Henderson’s spot.”

Night of stars: Among those watching the evening session of the King Holiday Classic, which included Harvard-Westlake’s game against Fairfax, were actors Denzel Washington and Dustin Hoffman, New York Jets receiver and former USC star Keyshawn Johnson, and former UCLA basketball standout Mike Warren. College coaches in attendance included Steve Lavin of UCLA and Rick Majerus of Utah. Hoffman’s and Warren’s sons play for Crossroads, which beat Inglewood in the tournament.

Crying Wolf: Rio Mesa (12-3) enters tonight’s Channel League boys’ basketball game against visiting Santa Barbara with a 6-0 league record. Yet Spartan Coach Steve Wolf claims he wasn’t bluffing when he tabbed his team as the third- or fourth-best in the league.

“We don’t have any real dominating players like we’ve had in the past,” Wolf said of his team, which has four returning starters. “We have to play hard and on top of our game every game or we’re in trouble. I don’t feel any kind of security being 6-0.”

Buena Coach Glen Hannah said he’s not surprised that the Spartans are in first place, but he didn’t expect them to be undefeated in league at this stage.

A big kick: Sunday was a heady day for the Agoura boys’ soccer team.

The Chargers watched the U.S.--Mexico U.S. Cup match at the Rose Bowl, then were treated to an audience with U.S. players including Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas and Joe Max-Moore.

The meeting, at the U.S. team’s hotel, was arranged by first-year Agoura Coach Michael Williams, 35, who coached Wynalda and Jones at Westlake High in the mid-1980s.

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Girls Basketball Top 10

Rankings of regional high schools by sportswriters of The Times:

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RK LW TEAM (League) REC. 1 1 Buena (Channel) 13-2 2 2 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 17-2 3 3 Palmdale (Golden) 16-3 4 4 Quartz Hill (Golden) 11-1 5 5 Bell-Jeff (Camino Real) 17-1 6 7 Alemany (Mission) 14-2 7 8 No. Hollywood (Valley Pac-8) 13-3 8 9 Kennedy (Northwest Valley) 14-3 9 10 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 14-6 10 NR Nordhoff (Frontier) 15-3

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Boys Basketball Top 10

Rankings of regional high schools by sportswriters of The Times:

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RK LW TEAM (League) REC. 1 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 21-1 2 2 Simi Valley (Marmonte) 15-1 3 3 Antelope Valley (Golden) 14-6 4 4 Cleveland (Northwest Valley) 14-3 5 NR Rio Mesa (Channel) 12-3 6 8 Channel Islands (Marmonte) 13-3 7 7 Royal (Marmonte) 11-7 8 NR Hart (Foothill) 15-5 9 9 L.A. Baptist (Alpha) 16-1 10 10 Chaminade (Mission) 12-5

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