1999 Kings of court

CORONA DEL MAR — Though relatively younger and fitter than their final opponent, members of the Class of 1999 team in the Jack Errion Memorial Corona del Mar High Alumni Basketball Tournament Saturday have, admittedly, lost some of the quickness and athleticism that seeps daily from every former competitive athlete.

But what the victorious 1999 squad lacked in mobility, it made up for with cohesiveness, as it topped a team made primarily of 1987 graduates, 37-28, to claim its first alumni tournament title.

And, as quickly became apparent during the postgame celebration, the sarcasm flowing from members of the winning team was a sharp as their day-long display of unselfish passing.

“Dennis [Alshuler, an All-CIF Southern Section standout who anchored the Sea Kings on their way to the section Division III-A title game in 1999, losing to Chaminade at what then was the Arrowhead Pond] was the X Factor,” quipped Class of 1999 player Jim Davenport.

Davenport’s comment, which quickly prompted some good-natured piling on by some teammates, was a reference to Alshuler not playing in the tournament for the first time in years. Alshuler, who went on to play volleyball at Princeton and was attending a wedding Saturday, had, his classmates theorized in jest, managed to slow them down in past years.

“We were a lot quicker [Saturday] without him,” said Nate Lemmerman, known more for his exploits in football and baseball than basketball at CdM.

But while the 1999 unit lacked Alshuler, as well as former star Kevin Hansen, who will be playing for the U.S. men’s volleyball team at the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, China, the tournament champions received plenty of leadership from Brandon Crosby, who was arguably the tournament’s best player.

Crosby, who played football at Saddleback College and at NAIA member Baker University in Kansas after not playing varsity football at CdM, was a consistent force in the backcourt for the 1999 squad. He scored 19 points in the title game, mostly on slashing drives or converting layups after steals.

His scoring prowess in other games prompted one team to use a box-and-one defensive scheme on him.

“I was shooting really well earlier in the day,” said Crosby, who cited chemistry as a big reason for his team’s success. Crosby, who plays in an organized league once a week, said he and his teammates had also been brushing up their skills prior to the event.

“We’ve all been playing more this year,” said Crosby, who served as receivers coach for the CdM football team in 2006. “We were pretty amateurish in this tournament in past years. We just had good chemistry today. It seemed like no one was worried about how many shots they got. We all put our egos aside.”

Another key was the team’s ability to knock opposing bodies aside in the paint, a task most frequently performed by Justin Shea. Shea, a former defensive lineman at Saddleback and Colorado State, was a football star at CdM. He also played basketball, but with springtime duty as a shot putter and discus thrower, he had little time to polish many post moves.

“In high school, I pretty much just rebounded, because we had Hansen and other guys who could score,” said Shea, who had never before played in the alumni tournament. Shea recently moved back to Orange County from Hawaii.

“Shea played well,” Crosby said after the sizable Shea scored six points in the final.

Jeff Fracalosy scored four points in the title game, in which the 1999 unit held a 20-12 lead after the first 15-minute half. Fracalosy noted he now had an alumni tournament title to match that won by his older brother Brian. Brian’s team, in fact, defeated the 1999 team in the latter’s only other final appearance in 2005.

Other contributors for the winners, made up exclusively of 1999 graduates, included Scott Ankley, Geoff Hunt, Mike Jackson and Sam Shamardi.

The runner-up 1987 squad, including seven 1987 graduates as well as two from 1986 and one each from 1998 and 1985, featured Jeff Fryer (Class of ’86), Geoff Probst (Class of ’88) and tournament director Rob Hess.

Fryer, who went on to play at Loyola Marymount and in Europe, scored eight points in the title game, including a four-point play after being fouled while making one of his patented three-pointers.

Hess also scored eight points in the final, in which Brendan Gallagher added five points.

The roster of the runners-up, who won the tournament last year, included Mark Shoemaker, Darren Morris, Chris Hook, Chris Barnes, Chris McGlaughlin, Stan Frazier and Steve Morris.

A team of graduates from the 1970s, as well as one featuring primarily 2004 graduates, were eliminated in the semifinals.

The 1970s squad included former USC standout Casey Jones, Tom Mitchell, Steve Erlinger, Mike Flamson, Kevin Murphy and Cory Adler.

The 2004 squad included 2004 graduates Pancho Seaborn, Jay Northridge and Reid Watanabe, Eric Glass and Luis Najar (both Class of 2002), Chad Watanabe (Class of 2005) and Brandon Sherrick-Odom (Class of 2003).

Hess said 14 teams, down from a high of 16, competed in the event, which celebrated its 20th year.

“We had a couple teams here that have not played in a long time,” Hess said. “We had a team from the Class of 1984 organized by Sean Yeager, who started an e-mail campaign from Idaho in February. “It’s a great event and a great reunion and, being the 20th year, this one was special.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].