High School Notebook : Moorpark Holds Extension Course

Robert Hernandez had no idea what he was getting into when he tried out for the basketball team at Moorpark High.

For the second consecutive season, the Musketeers are holding a 36-hour marathon practice in an attempt to improve on their 1-6 record.

“When I first heard about it I thought I didn’t want to waste 36 hours,” said Hernandez, a junior. “But I’m having a better time than I would watching television.”

Nine of the 12 players on the team started practice at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will play or participate in drills for at least 18 hours. The remainder of the time is devoted to watching movies (the team saw “Hoosiers” last year; “Robocop” and “Dreamscape” are this year’s selections), playing Trivial Pursuit and ordering out for pizza.

The team also has to contend with no heat or hot water because of a broken boiler at the school.

“My fiancee thinks I’m crazy for doing this,” Coach Rick Kent said.

He gives a hoot: Moments after Cleveland disposed of Chaparral of Las Vegas, 97-56, in the first round of the Holiday tournament at Nevada Las Vegas on Monday, Cavalier senior guard Adonis Jordan was back in the stands watching a game between Inglewood and Garfield of Seattle.

More specifically, he was razzing Inglewood’s 6-5 forward, senior Harold Miner.

Every time Miner, one of the most highly regarded players in the West, touched the ball in Jordan’s vicinity, Jordan teasingly chanted “USC, USC.”

“He was supposed to go to Kansas with me,” said Jordan, who will join the Jayhawks next season.

Instead, Miner opted for USC and George Raveling. Asked why he didn’t choose Kansas, Miner said, “I almost did. It was close.”

Wrinkle-free press: Cleveland made 47% of its field-goal attempts against Chaparral, a respectable percentage for a team that had not played in 13 days.

More telling, however, was that the Cavaliers attempted nearly twice as many shots, 85-45, as Chaparral. Cleveland earned the extra attempts with its press, forcing 46 turnovers.

“They’re well-schooled in how to run it and have the athletes to back it up,” Chaparral Coach Rod Vollan said of the press.

Not impressed: Kentucky is renowned as a national hotbed for high school and college basketball, and Fairdale, which finished 23-4 in 1987-88 and has 4 returning starters this season, is regarded as one of its best teams.

After El Camino Real rallied to within 2 points in the first round of the Las Vegas Holiday tournament before falling, 60-48, there were a few skeptics in the house.

“If they’re one of the top teams in Kentucky, then that state is in trouble,” El Camino Real assistant Jeff Davis said. “They didn’t show a heckuva lot.”

El Camino Real nearly pulled off the upset despite shooting only 33.9% (18 of 53). Fairdale made 23 of 50 (46%) but had 17 turnovers.

Injury update: Montclair Prep guard Craig Handschu, who sprained his left knee last week against Salesian and missed 1 1/2 games, is expected back in time for the Mounties’ next game Jan. 4, according to co-Coach Bob Webb. Handschu is averaging 28 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds a game.

Beauer power: Clint Beauer, who suffered pulled ligaments in his left ankle during football season, is expected to return to the Canyon boys’ basketball team this week in the Hart tournament.

“We need him,” said Canyon Coach Greg Hayes, whose team is 2-5 and has lost 5 in a row. “He’s still not 100%, but he’s getting there.”

Beauer, who caught 51 passes for 823 yards and 6 touchdowns, is a junior forward.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Steven Fleischman, Vince Kowalick and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.

BASKETBALL TOP 10

Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Cleveland North Valley 7-2 2 3 Taft North Valley 8-1 3 2 Rio Mesa Channel 5-2 4 5 Granada Hills North Valley 6-1 5 6 Grant East Valley 6-2 6 4 El Camino Real West Valley 3-3 7 7 Bell-Jeff S.F. Valley 8-1 8 9 Kennedy North Valley 6-3 9 NR Camarillo Marmonte 6-2 10 NR Newbury Park Marmonte 7-1