The accomplishments of Valley athletes who have achieved success in baseball and football beyond high school have been well-publicized. What is less well-known is the fraternity of basketball players who have risen to prominence after playing their high school basketball in the Valley
Consulting with veteran Valley basketball coaches Phil Grant, Steve Evangelist, Kerry Legarra, Marty Zwart and Jeff Deyo, I have comprised a starting five of the all-time best basketball players based on the totality of their careers.
Let’s begin at the top with the coaches’ unanimous choice as the best ever: 1971 Central graduate Carlos Mina. Legarra, who played with Mina at Central, called him the “greatest high school basketball player from the Valley.” Central’s ’71 team made it to the CIF-Southern Section championship game, losing to Sonora High School.
Mina stood 6-foot-8 and earned the DVL MVP award his senior year. He earned a scholarship to USC following high school playing one season before transferring to Long Beach State, where he played for legendary coach Lute Olsen his junior season. His senior season in ’75, Mina earned first-team all-conference. In between his transfer to Long Beach, he played for the Mexican National Team in 1973, traveling to Moscow to play in the Olympic prelims.
Following college, Mina would spend 10 years playing in the Italian professional basketball league, retiring in 1988.
Another unanimous selection for the all-time team was Joe Lavender. While Lavender would be more noted for spending 10 years in the NFL, his first love was basketball. Lavender graduated from Central in 1967 and played alongside Steve Evangelist on the Spartan basketball team. Lavender spent two seasons at IVC, playing basketball well enough to earn a basketball scholarship to San Diego State. Ironically, Lavender dismissed Evangelist’s overtures to join him on the gridiron while both were at IVC.
After playing two seasons of basketball in ’70 and ’71 for the Aztecs, Lavender was recruited by Coach Don Coryell to give football a try and the rest, as they say, is history.
The coaches also all agreed on Omar Lopez as a lock for the team. The 1998 Central graduate played under Deyo and would earn the DVL MVP award in senior year.
The 6-foot-9 Lopez would then attend IVC, playing for Deyo his first year and Zwart his sophomore season. Deyo said it was at IVC where Lopez improved his game and became a force on the court. Following his time at IVC, Lopez’s improved talents earned him a scholarship to Cal Baptist, where he started at center for two seasons.
Following his collegiate career Lopez would play professionally in Mexico, where he has played for the last 10 seasons.
Imperial High School graduate Danny Jones earned a consensus for the fourth spot on the team. Jones graduated in 2004 and played for David Milan. Jones stood 6-foot-5 and was a four-year letterman for the Tigers leading them in scoring and earning Desert League first-team honors from his sophomore season on.
Jones would earn a scholarship to Biola University and become a dominant player at the NAIA school. Jones would earn all-league honors his junior and senior seasons as well as being selected to the NAIA basketball All-American team his senior year in 2008.
The consensus for the last spot goes to ’94 Brawley high graduate John Cabanilla. Cabanilla was coached by Phil Grant, who called him the “best pure shooter to ever play Valley high school basketball.” Cabanilla earned all-league honors his junior and senior season and was selected DVL Co-MVP his junior season.
Cabanilla would spend two seasons at IVC under the tutelage of Deyo his freshman season and Zwart his sophomore year, earning all-league first-team honors both seasons.
Following IVC, Cabanilla would play at Oakland City University, a D-II school in Indiana. In his senior season, Cabanilla led the nation in D-II for 3-point shooting percentage at 54.1 percent.
While not achieving the same stature of baseball or football, Valley basketball has had its own list of distinguished players represent its sport over the years.
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