Sutton Works Hard to Reach New Heights

It’s hard to believe that 6-foot-10 senior Terron Sutton of Los Angeles Price was once laughed at because he couldn’t dunk.

“In eighth grade, I was the biggest kid in school,” he said. “They’d have this competition, who could touch the rim. I got a lot of ridicule.”

The laughter continued in high school. He was 6-5 and growing but struggled to reach the rim. Basketball Coach Michael Lynch knew the solution: better conditioning and stronger leg muscles.

But there were complications. Sutton had asthma so severe that he needed an inhaler.

“There were times he’d be laying out in practice literally trying to gather himself,” Lynch said.

Determined to improve his stamina and make himself a better player, Sutton kept practicing and running harder and harder. The asthma problems vanished last year.

“He conditions like the guards,” Lynch said. “There’s nothing he can’t do.”

He was an all-star youth baseball pitcher and all-star youth football player before turning to basketball when he became so tall. But basketball was new to him, and he had to start from scratch. The progress he has made might startle those who remember him from his early high school days.

As for dunking, he likes to send a thunderous message.

“When I dunk now, it’s to strike fear in my opponent,” he said. “It means to get out of the way.”

Sutton helped Price win its record-breaking eighth Southern Section Division V-A championship last week. He has accepted a scholarship to Loyola Marymount.

“It was a pleasure to watch him blossom, and this year all the laughs disappeared,” Lynch said.

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Another player with much to prove is 6-7 Drew Smith of Moreno Valley Calvary Chapel.

He has been dealing with a lifelong speech impediment, stuttering.

He’s more comfortable trying to make a free throw in front of hundreds of screaming fans than speaking in front of five people.

In the Southern Section Division V-AA final, he went to the free-throw line with six-tenths of a second remaining and made both free throws to give Calvary Chapel a 64-63 victory over Los Angeles Ribet Academy. He finished with 30 points.

Then he came into the media room for interviews carrying a yellow legal pad prepared to write answers to questions.

He started for three years at Riverside King before transferring this year to Calvary Chapel, which has only 180 students and allows him to play with his best friend, Jeff Stovall.

“He looks so comfortable and he’s having a lot of fun,” Stovall said.

King Coach Tim Sweeney said it was a “good decision” for Smith to switch schools.

“I never like to lose a kid, but it was for a good reason,” Sweeney said.

Smith had been home-schooled for five years before coming to King, which has close to 3,000 students.

“It was so big,” Smith said. “I didn’t really fit in.”

He has continued to work on his stuttering problem.

“It’s about the same as it’s always been,” he said.

Most intriguing is that Smith has been working on a novel for more than a year about his life. He has handwritten more than 100 pages.

“I think I’ll finish it by the end of the year,” he said.

He hasn’t thought of a title for the book. Stovall suggests, “The Unspoken Warrior.”

Calvary Chapel Coach Sholan Forbes said Smith has been talking “a lot more.”

“My goal is by the end of the year for him to make a short speech at graduation,” Forbes said.

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Saturday was a day for championships in basketball and soccer, but one of the most dramatic athletic events of the year turned out to be the boys’ volleyball match between Los Angeles Loyola and Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.

It lasted more than 2 1/2 hours before Mira Costa finally prevailed in five games, 18-25, 25-20, 18-25, 26-24, 25-23.

Loyola is the three-time defending Southern Section Division I champion. Mira Costa lost to the Cubs in last year’s final. The match, shown live by FSN West 2, was of such high quality and drama that it could inspire others to come out for the sport.

“It was the first match of the year, but in 37 years of coaching, I’ve never seen anything more exciting,” Mira Costa Coach Mike Cook said. “It was a fantastic step up for boys’ volleyball. What great exposure for our sport.”