THE PREPS : 4-A Boys’ Basketball : Championship Game : Capistrano Valley Finds Aguilar Work Ethic Pays

While most of his teammates were sleeping this morning, Frank Aguilar, a Capistrano Valley High School forward, was to begin his usual weekend routine by reporting to work at 6:30 at the Dana Point Harbor, where he works for county maintenance.

It didn’t matter that Capistrano Valley is scheduled to meet Simi Valley at 7 p.m. for the Southern Section’s 4-A basketball championship in the Los Angeles Sports Arena. In fact, Aguilar was looking forward to going to work.

“It will help take my mind off the game,” he said. “I’ll work until noon, come home and have some lunch, and then come down to school to catch the team bus for the game.

“I get real nervous before a game, and my work will relax me. I was especially nervous before the Diamond Bar game because I had heard so much about (center Brian) Hendrick.

“It usually takes a couple of minutes into the game before I calm down. I tried listening to some mellow tapes on the bus ride to the Diamond Bar game, but it didn’t help much.”

If Aguilar’s nerves have been shaky in the postseason playoffs, it has been difficult to detect. The senior scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds in the Cougars’ 82-75 victory over Santa Barbara on Wednesday night in the semifinals.

Aguilar has developed into the Cougars’ most aggressive defensive player despite being benched early in the season when teammates Randy Stark and Todd Marinovich joined the team after the football season.

He opened the season by being named the most valuable player in the Laguna Beach tournament, in which he led the Cougars to the championship, but lost his starting position to Stark the next week.

“I was the most surprised player in the gym when they announced that I was the MVP,” he said. “I was waiting to go home, and all of a sudden they’re handing me the MVP trophy.

“It was the first game my father (Emilio) had ever seen me play, so I gave the trophy to him. My whole family was really happy. My brothers (Hector and Mike) were at the game. Both of them played basketball in high school, so I was proud to win the award with them watching.”

A week later, Aguilar went to the bench, but he said he understood the demotion and accepted his new role as the team’s sixth man.

“In the beginning, I didn’t feel I was a starter, but then I thought I had earned it,” he said. “I was upset at first going to the bench, but then I understood and tried to help as much as I could.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win. I found that coming off the bench gave me a chance to see how the other team was playing. There wasn’t any pressure. But it does take a little longer to get into the flow of the game.”

Aguilar regained his starting position midway through South Coast League play when Stark was sick and unable to play. Aguilar has remained in the starting lineup for the past 10 games and has established himself as the top rebounder on the team.

“Frank has done whatever we’ve asked him to do,” said Mark Thornton, Capistrano Valley coach. “He’s a super kid who comes from a super family. His parents come to the games with his brothers and really support the team. Just a neat family.”

Aguilar said he patterns his defensive play after his older brother, Mike, who played for the Cougars four years ago when they advanced to the 4-A semifinals before losing to Estancia.

“I always admired Mike’s defense,” Aguilar said. “I felt that if I could play defense like him, it would be great. I watched my brother play at the Sports Arena and told myself that I wanted to go there someday and play.

“Now Mike and Hector are coming to watch me play, and hopefully we’ll win. I’ve got 18 family members and friends coming to watch me play, so I don’t plan on losing.”

Aguilar had played club soccer since he was 7 before he decided to try basketball at Old Mission School in San Juan Capistrano as an eighth-grader.

“I burned out playing soccer all year for all those years,” Aguilar said. “Basketball was the only sport offered at Old Mission, so I went out for the sport and started as an off-guard in my first season. I never played soccer again.”

SIMI VALLEY vs. CAPISTRANO VALLEY

RECORDS--Simi Valley 26-3, Capistrano Valley 26-4.

SITE--Sports Arena, 7 p.m.

SIMI VALLEY UPDATE--The top-seeded Pioneers have compiled a 79-8 record over the past three years with center Don MacLean and forward Shawn DeLaittre in the lineup. MacLean (6-feet 10-inches) averages 33 points and 12.8 rebounds per game and has a single-game high of 52 points this season. DeLaittre (6-5) averages 21.6 points and 8.2 rebounds and has a single-game high of 33 points. Point guard Butch Hawking, son of Coach Bob Hawking, averages 8.6 assists per game. The Pioneers handed Mark Thornton, Capistrano Valley coach, the worst loss of his seven-year career two years ago in the playoffs, romping to a 97-69 win at Pepperdine University. MacLean and DeLaittre both scored 30 points in the win, and DeLaittre is expecting a similar performance. “They are a lot like they were two years ago,” he said. “They’ve got a 7-foot center and they’re slow. They’re pretty easy to go around.”

CAPISTRANO VALLEY UPDATE--The third-seeded Cougars have beaten four playoff teams by an average margin of 18.8 points per game. Sophomore forward Scott McCorkle has averaged 20 points in the playoffs and scored a career-high 35 points against Santa Barbara in the semifinals. But the Cougars’ 7-foot center, Jim Waikle, has virtually disappeared in postseason play, scoring only two points in his last two games. “Jim hasn’t given us anything in our last two games,” Capistrano Valley coach Mark Thornton said. “He’s the key to this ballgame. He has to play well against MacLean if we hope to win. He doesn’t have to score, just play good defense.” The Cougars had problems executing against Santa Barbara’s full-court press, and Thornton said he expects Simi Valley to use the same pressing tactics.

KEY TO THE GAME--Simi Valley is essentially a two-man team, and if MacLean or DeLaittre gets into foul trouble, the Pioneers are in deep trouble. Also, some suggest that the Pioneers have played a weak schedule and the lack of quality competition could hurt them. Capistrano Valley must get more production from Waikle or it could be a long evening. Bob Purdy, Santa Barbara coach, played both teams and picked Simi Valley for an easy win because of the advantage MacLean has over Waikle. But he also said not to discount Capistrano Valley because of its fine shooting.

CONSENSUS--Granted, Capistrano Valley can shoot as well as any team in the Southern Section, but the Cougars won’t be able to contain either MacLean or DeLaittre. It won’t be close. Simi Valley will win the 4-A title in convincing fashion.