Terrance Harris (right) has won over 200 games at Mission Prep. By Owen Main

Terrance Harris. At the age of 17, he was a one-man press break for Mission Prep. With his older brother Darnell his his head coach, Terrance led the Royals He’s still one of the fastest high school basketball players I’ve ever seen with that ball. Whether they played their home games at St. Patrick’s in Arroyo Grande or at Mott Gym, Terrance always made the Royals dangerous as a player.

As an aside, Terrance would have been a damn good football wide receiver or running back had he continued that sport and his defensive ability as a center fielder in the Mission outfield was pretty solid as well.

Fast-forward 16 or 17 years. Last Wednesday, Harris won his 200th game as the Royals’ head coach and Mission Prep continues to be the class of San Luis Obispo County high school basketball. On Friday night, MCP honored Harris with a pregame ceremony.

After a slow start to the game Friday against Atascadero, Harris’ Royals jumped in front and stayed there, winning 68-53. Kyle Colvin, Kyle Stewart, and Max Basile all had solid games for Mission, which stayed within striking distance of the Pac-8’s first-place team, St. Joseph.

Photos by Owen Main

In Mission Prep’s inaugural Pac-8 regular season games, the Royals split the varsity girls and boys basketball games with Arroyo Grande.

In the girls game, Ashlyn Herlihy scored 14 points to pace the Eagles, who are now 10-2 on the season. Arroyo Grande built a 39-15 lead at the end of the third quarter before being outscored 12-11 in the final frame.

Taylor Neal scored eight points for Mission Prep. The Royals record now stands at 7-4.

Photos by Owen Main. To purchase a photo, click on it or click here.

In the boys game, Mission Prep earned a 55-42 victory. The two teams were within one point at halftime before a big third quarter blew the game open for the Royals. Mission was led by Quinton Adlesh’s 29 points while Cobe Williams dropped-in 17 for the Eagles.

Photos by Owen Main. To purchase a photo, click on it or click here. 

And when it was over, there was always the pool.

Yep, basketball camp in San Luis Obispo was an enduring memory from my childhood and I know I’m not alone.

Recently, one of the coaches from that camp finally retired. Coach Scott Larson stepped down as the Paso Robles High School basketball coach after over 30 years on the bench in North County.

To be a coach for that long at any level takes patience, perseverance, and adaptation. But what struck me about the article in the Tribune was the coach Larson’s love of practice and getting better. Larson took joy in the little things.

At SLO Camp, a coach was chosen every year to talk about proper shooting form in front of the whole group prior to station breakdowns. Coach Larson’s display was the most memorable by far. As one of his sons rebounded for him, he would describe and model proper form, draining jumper after jumper. His words would echo in my mind whenever I practiced shooting.

When I spent some time in the high-school coaching world, I always admired coach Larson’s demeanor on the sidelines. Even during games, he kept his instructions to players simple and direct, teaching the whole time. His belief in fundamentals like defensive positioning and rebounding showed in his players’ success. It was clear coach Larson never stopped teaching the game whether he was in the middle of a practice or in the 4th quarter of a close game.

I applaud Coach Larson for the time he has spent and impact he has surely had on hundreds of young people. Congratulations Coach!

RECENTLY, I saw an early episode of Tosh.0 I’d never seen before. It included a great breakdown of the dunk below. I thought it worth reposting. There’s a great Sasha Vujacic joke and I laughed out loud in the hotel room every time I watched it.

BASEBALL season has officially started. Saturday’s Dodgers headline talked about the crappy game the Boys in Blue had. But the notable detail in the article was the lack of fans. As I watched the game, I felt the same way. After a 2-0 start against the hated Giants, it seems Dodger fans would have been out in droves on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

But it was not to be. I’ll be interested to see two things as the season goes on:

1) Is this a sign of lack of confidence the city has in the ownership and team? If this continues, it will be a clear vote by the city of “no confidence” in the organization and the perceived lack of leadership.

2) How will this “story” be covered as the year goes on. If lack of attendance made the LA Times game recap for game three of the season, what will the story be if they are 12 games back before the all-star break and struggling to break 30,000 fans for a weekend game?

Keep an eye on the situation — Fansmanship.com will be.

THE NCAA FINAL IS SET. Connecticut and Butler are both deserving teams. They both have experienced players who have got better over time and used their experience to get them to the final.

I look forward to see the impact that the coaching difference has on the game. Can the young Brad Stevens keep up with wily old Jim Calhoun?

Kentucky put up a great second-half fight against the Huskies, but had to expend so much energy catching UCONN that they couldn’t make the final push. Terrance Jones was really impressive for the Wildcats in the loss. If he works hard at polishing his game, he could become a very good NBA player. The comparisons to Lamar Odom are really easy and seem apt at this point in his career.

Butler winning the title would be really cool for lots of reasons, but none more than it gives low and mid-major teams hope that they can build a program good-enough to compete nationally. In the shadow of the Big 10 and Indiana basketball, Butler has established themselves as a consistent contender. Good for them.