Harbor Brings Pierce’s House Crashing Down, 80-66

Imagine trying to rebuild a demolished house after an earthquake. Imagine having all the walls up and when you put the roof on, the house collapses again.

Now you can understand Pierce Coach Larry Lessett’s predicament.

He took over a demolished Pierce basketball program. He put up some of the best talent from Southern California high schools, and just when it looked as if the program might get off the ground, it came crumbling down. Hard.

Still looking for its first conference win in two years, the Brahmas dropped yet another, 80-66, to Harbor College at Pierce on Friday night.

The loss gave Pierce a 0-2 Metropolitan Conference record and a 4-13 overall mark. Last season, Pierce won only two games. It’s hard to believe that Pierce won two consecutive conference championships in 1983 and 1984.

Said Lessett: “The game isn’t played on the court. From this level up to the pros, it’s played up here, in the head.”

Excuse Lessett if he bangs that head against a wall.

“I’m frustrated,” he said.

Pierce didn’t seem to know what it wanted to do on the court. After jumping out to a six-point lead, the Brahmas looked as if they were hypnotized. Harbor bounced back and led at halftime, 25-24.

The Brahmas probably wished that the game had ended then. The Seahawks took control of the ball, the tempo, and everything else. At one point, Harbor led by 23.

Another thing Pierce lacks, besides wins, is a leader on the court.

“That is definitely a problem,” Lessett said.

Pierce took poor shots with players in the open, and when those shots missed, nobody was underneath to grab a rebound. The lack of a leader showed against Harbor, but another problem may be off the court. Although Lessett wasn’t willing to elaborate, he did hint that, as a team, Pierce’s biggest problem is in the heads of his players.

“I’ll accept the 4-13 record, that’s my responsibility,” he said. “But people still come up and ask me how we can be 4-13 when we have so much talent.”

One reason may be that the talent isn’t being used effectively.

“I made too many substitutions too early,” Lessett said.

Whatever Pierce’s problems are, they persist. And there is still a long road ahead in the conference.

“I’m not giving up on this team, no way,” Lessett said. “But I am thinking about next year.”

Next year, Tony Thomas may return to the team, which would be good news if the team fails to make any noise by the end of this season. Thomas was the game’s leading scorer with 25 points. Sophomore Duane Newton scored 16 for the Brahmas.

Pierce was no match for Harbor, which had 10 different players score, three of them in double-figures. Kelvin Tyes, a 6-7 freshman, scored a team-high 21 points for the Seahawks, while teammates Kyle Lundy and Craig Johnson score 15 and 12, respectively. Harbor improved its overall record to 11-6 while it evened its conference mark at 1-1.

“It’s really low right now,” Lessett said. “We’ve made some mistakes, I’ve made some mistakes and I’m paying the price for it right now with the record.

Asked what he could do to remedy the problem, Lessett said: “I really don’t know. Maybe I’ll know after I talk with the team, but I really don’t know.”

Pierce travels to Bakersfield Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. game.

HARBOR--Tyes 21; Lundy 15; Johnson 12; Frazier 8; Naulls 7; Gold 6; Fairbanks 5; Cole 3; Cuerton 2; Kazan 2.

PIERCE--Thomas 25; Newton 16; Italia 8; Purry 6; Goodall 3; Jercha 3; Young 2; Warner 2.