Playoffs Leave Da Costa, Donahue Battered and Bruised

Leo Da Costa was in tears Friday night, about the same time Brian Donahue was in stitches--32, to be exact.

Da Costa and Donahue, point guards at Harvard-Westlake and Moorpark, were hurting, Da Costa with a sprained right ankle, Donahue with a gruesome gash above his right eye. But the pain of confronting the end of their seasons was far greater than the physical discomfort either endured.

Da Costa, a 6-foot-1 junior, wept on the bench after being injured in the opening minutes of Friday night’s Southern Section Division III-A semifinal against Duarte. It marked the third time in as many seasons that Da Costa had been injured, and the second time he had injured his right ankle.

“Everything was running through my mind,” Da Costa said. “ ‘The season’s over. Why me? I’ve worked so hard to be able to play and the team is doing so well.’ I was panicking.”

For Da Costa, pain ultimately included gain. Harvard (25-2) polished off Duarte, 82-56, to earn a matchup with Morningside for the division title Saturday at The Pond in Anaheim. Da Costa, after learning Saturday that X-rays of his ankle were negative, said he expects to play.

For Donahue, injury added to more injury. Moorpark (19-11) was eliminated by Bishop Montgomery, 58-41, in a Division III-AA semifinal, leaving Donahue, who departed during the third quarter of a tight contest, to nurse a list of nagging injuries.

“It always hurts,” Donahue said. “But you just enjoy playing too much to stop playing.”

Donahue, a 6-foot senior, has played every minute--32, to be precise--of several games this season, despite escalating soreness in his right elbow, right ankle and right hand. His hand has ached so much at times, Donahue said, that he has shunned pregame handshakes with teammates and opponents.

Friday night, Donahue went down while attempting to take a charge near the basket. He is uncertain whether he was struck by an elbow or a shoulder.

“It was a pool of blood on the floor,” Moorpark Coach Tim Bednar said. “They called paramedics while the game was going on. He was lying down by the bench.”

Donahue was transported to a hospital, where a plastic surgeon was summoned to help close the wound.

“[The cut] starts in my eye socket and goes to the forehead,” Donahue said. “They did three layers of stitches. They wouldn’t let me see it. It was pretty scary.”

As for his ailing extremities, Donahue is scheduled to have X-rays of each--something he had been putting off while the Musketeers were winning.

Saturday morning, the realization that his high school basketball career was over pained Donahue the most. While Harvard is making its second consecutive trip to the final, Moorpark had never advanced to the semifinals.

“This year was just the best,” Donahue said. “During a game, you can’t really think about pain, and that’s good. But last night I really felt it.”

Bednar said the injury was “bound to happen,” considering Donahue’s intensity and propensity to position himself in harm’s way.

“He’s been injured the whole season,” Bednar said. “This was kind of the final thing. It’s a tough way to have to end it, driving off to a hospital instead of being in the locker room.”

Da Costa, who has never played more than eight games in a season, said he considers himself “probable” for Saturday’s final.

“In basketball, you get injuries all the time--twisted ankles, jammed fingers,” Da Costa said. “But you overcome that.”

Bumps and bruises have piled up among Harvard players during a long, arduous schedule that has included trips in December for tournaments in Florida and Delaware. Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said the time has come to decrease the intensity and duration of workouts.

“It’s gotten to the point they need an every-other-day practice schedule: hard-easy, hard-easy,” Hilliard said. “They all talk about the aches. I know how hard these guys have worked.”

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Frank Lawton’s first task as boys’ basketball coach at tiny Antelope Valley Christian was to get his players to start thinking big.

“I told the kids, ‘We’re a small school and we’re going to have to live with that, but when everyone else is out [of the playoffs], we’ll start to get some exposure,’ ” said Lawton, in his second season as coach.

Indeed, while the number of postseason participants dwindles, big things are happening for Antelope Valley Christian, which improved to 24-0 Friday with an 81-57 victory over Heritage Christian in a Southern Section Division V-A quarterfinal. Next up for the Eagles is a semifinal matchup with Pilgrim on Tuesday night at Quartz Hill High.

Antelope Valley Christian, which launched its basketball program in 1987, this season breezed to its first Agape League title and recorded its first victory over rival Apple Valley Christian.

“We’re starting to get some P.R. [The local paper] has discovered us,” Lawton said.

The Lancaster school isn’t hard to overlook. The facility has 62 students, 30 of them boys, 15 of whom are on the basketball team.

The school does not have a gym and the Eagles play their home games at a church. But who needs seating when nearly half the student body is on the floor?

“You know everyone and everyone knows you,” Lawton said. “It’s great here.”