Coach and Son Make for a Winning Team

By Dan Arritt

Dec. 15, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Times are good for Jim Harris. As he nears his 500th career victory as coach at Huntington Beach Ocean View High, he has never enjoyed his drive to work more than he does now.

He has a talented team with just the right mix of experience, size and versatility, a string of six consecutive Golden West League titles and 25 consecutive trips to the Southern Section playoffs.

Best of all, Harris gets to spend nearly every day with his son, Jimmy, who is in his second year as co-coach of the Seahawks and third year as a teacher at the school.

“He’s just two doors down,” said Jim Harris. “It has been fun to work with him.”

Together, they have guided the Seahawks to a 6-3 record against a schedule that’s as tough as any in the Southland.

Ocean View, ranked No. 9 by The Times, finished third Saturday in its own Tournament of Champions by defeating No. 10 Long Beach Poly, 59-55. The Seahawks have also lost to No. 2 Santa Ana Mater Dei and No. 4 Compton Dominguez.

The team appears to embody the hard-nosed spirit of Jimmy Harris, who averaged 18 points and 10 assists during his senior year at Ocean View in 1993. He later played a year at Loyola Marymount.

Matt Sargeant, a 6-4 senior guard who plans to continue playing at Princeton, carries much of the offensive load for Ocean View. If he’s on, as he was when he scored 29 points against Long Beach Poly, the Seahawks are usually successful. When he’s off, as he was when he made four of 23 shots in an 85-49 loss to Mater Dei a day earlier, Ocean View can struggle.

The Seahawks also returned Greg Okwudibonye in the backcourt and Bear Wurts up front.

Ocean View has two other players who, like Jimmy Harris, can truly say they were born to shoot a basketball.

Senior forward John Impelman is the great-grandson of John Wooden, the former basketball coach at UCLA.

Freshman Clint Amberry, a 6-9 freshman, is the grandson of Tom Amberry, who in 1993 made 2,750 consecutive free throws, at the age of 72, to set a world record.

“We have some very unique and special relationships on this team,” said Harris, who is five victories shy of 500.

Henry Lobo hasn’t had many big men in his 13 years as boys’ basketball coach at Oxnard High.

In fact, the tallest center he ever had was Jacob Rogers, now a 6-6, 305-pound All-American offensive lineman for USC.

Such is the case again this season, as the Yellowjackets must rely on 6-foot-3, 200-pound center Henry Patterson, who proved again Thursday night that size disadvantage can be neutralized through hard work and clever play.

Despite competing against a North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake front line that mostly rotated players between 6-6 and 6-9, Patterson had 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead Oxnard to a 70-48 victory over the No. 4 Wolverines in a pool-play game at the Thousand Oaks tournament. “Everybody was taller than Henry except the point guard,” Lobo said. “But he goes right at the big boys. He uses his quickness and his body.”

Patterson continued his heroics Friday night, scoring 16 points and making a layup with 3:06 remaining to give the Yellowjackets their first lead in a 62-58 victory over Westlake Village Westlake.

He had 22 points and 10 rebounds Saturday in a 49-45 victory over Thousand Oaks in the championship game, earning the honor as the tournament’s most valuable player.

The Yellowjackets (8-0), ranked No. 18, also received notable contributions against Harvard-Westlake from Alan Lottinville, a 5-9 shooting guard who made five of seven three-point attempts and scored 19 points.

Cody Nash, who switched from forward to point guard to fill the shoes of last season’s starter, Martin Merricks, who is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his foot, had 10 points and five assists.

“Cody is leading the troops,” Lobo said.

Ken Henson was fired last week as Montebello Cantwell Sacred Heart coach after a verbal altercation with another coach after a game at the Pico Rivera El Rancho tournament.

Whittier Pioneer Coach Joey Mata, whose school was one of three that hosted early round games, said that after Cantwell’s loss to Long Beach Millikan in a pool-play game Tuesday night, he was approached by Henson, who inquired about the starting time of the Cardinals’ next game.

When Mata replied that he did not know at the moment, he said Henson gradually became enraged and then physically threatened him.

“I’m a little guy,” said Mata. “I think he tried to intimidate me.”

Mata said he reported the incident to Cantwell administrators the next day. Cantwell Principal David Chambers confirmed that Henson was “replaced” Wednesday.

“I called the school just to let them know what happened,” Mata said. “Right now, I feel so bad that the gentleman had to get fired.”

Henson, in his first season after coming over from Cerritos Whitney, did not return calls.

Frank Lopez, 28, a graduate of Cantwell and previously the assistant coach, has replaced Henson.