If pre-season tournament results are any indication, Point Loma High’s boys basketball team is going to be playing beyond its youthful years this season. Fielding only two seniors, a group of younger players have propelled the Pointers to a 5-3 record in holiday tournaments at Sweetwater and Montgomery High Schools in the South Bay as they prepared for their Central League opener Jan. 3 at University City High School. New varsity head coach Josh Aros will have a strange victory to look back on as his first career win when Gompers Prep Academy forfeited its scheduled match for a 2-0 Pointer victory in the Sweetwater tournament. But just 24 hours later, his team produced a 62-39 blowout win over host Sweetwater to provide his first full-game triumph. The Pointers mounted a five-game winning streak that brought them to the semifinals of the Montgomery tourney where they took a strong Valhalla High team (entering the game with a 14-2 record) to the final buzzer in a 47-46 loss. Despite periods of poor shot selection and offensive rebounding, the Pointers showed they belong on the same court with the county’s better teams. Ironically, the Norsemen then went on to play Ramona for the championship, a team the Pointers defeated two days earlier in a 70-69 overtime thriller. Statistics show quick improvement by the Pointers in areas such as turnovers. Opening the season with a too-high total of 23, the team cut that number to 10 in a 76-56 win over San Ysidro. The current average is down to 14 turnovers per game with four players compiling double digit totals through seven games. The team is averaging 43 percent on three-point shots and 50 percent from the floor overall, both numbers that would please many college coaches. Leading three-point shooters are sophomore Riley Wagstaff (50 percent), Gharram (48 percent), freshman Dakarai Allen (45 percent), senior Darnell Johnson and junior Kyle Johnson with 38 percent each. Individually, Gharram leads the team with 20.8 points per game. Two others also average in double figures, with D. Johnson turning in 16.5 and K. Johnson adding 11. K. Johnson is leading the team with 12.3 rebounds per game, meaning he is averaging a double-double (points and rebounds per game). Junior Carlos Amarrillaz is averaging 10.5 boards. Allen has dished out 61 assists, followed by Gharram (42), D. Johnson (17) and K. Johnson (13). Defensively, D. Johnson (12), K. Johnson (11) and Amarrillaz (10) lead the team in blocked shots. Allen (22), Gharram (16) and Darnell Johnson (14) lead in steals. An interesting new statistic converts every players’ numbers to assume they played every minute of a full 32-minute game. Based on this, D. Johnson is scoring 24.4 points per full game followed by Gharram (24.1), Wagstaff (22.7), K. Johnson (15.6), Allen (10.9) and Amarrillaz (10.5). A revamping of the Pointers’ Central League has taken place with San Diego and University City High Schools added to previous members Christian, Coronado and Clairemont. Gone are Kearny and Madison. The Pointers continue to compete in San Diego CIF Div. III. The Pointers open the home portion of their league schedule Jan. 10 with a 5:00 p.m. tipoff against Christian in Lee Trepanier Gym on campus. EXTRA POINTS: – The Pointer boys soccer team, defending CIF Div. II champions, are off to a 5-1 start, outscoring opponents by a 13-1 margin under head coach Elliott Savitz as they begin Western League play.
– In girls soccer, the Pointers have compiled a 4-3-1 record in advance of Western League play.
– The Pointers girls basketball team stands at 1-4 after its first win over Mission Viejo 36-28. They opened Eastern League play this week.
– Girls water polo record is 3-5 heading into Eastern League play.