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Sports

West L.A. Men's Hoops Off to Fast Start

The Wildcats are 2-0 in the WSC heading into Wednesday's game at Valley College.

One of the surprises of the California Community College basketball season so far is the fast start of the West Los Angeles College men's squad.  

With victories over Canyons and Bakersfield, the Wildcats are 7-7 overall but are 2-0 in the Western State Conference and tied with perennial powerhouse Citrus atop the WSC South Division. It’s early, but after a 4-19 record last season, it’s a big step in the right direction.

Leading the way for the Wildcats is a trio of freshman guards. DeAndre Davis, from Pontiac, Michigan, is averaging 22.2 points and 5.4 assists per game. He had 24 points in West L.A.’s 91-67 win over Canyons last week and is currently second in the state in scoring.

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Local products Chris Wyms (King-Drew High) and Savion Udeh (Fremont) are having excellent seasons as well. Wyms averages 16.3 points per game while connecting on more than 60 percent of his three-point attempts, while Udeh is averaging 12.4 points per game and making 49 percent of his three-pointers.  

A fourth freshman guard, Anthony Cannon, is also averaging double figures in scoring at 10.3 points per game.  The 6' 3" wing is known by his teammates as “LeBron” for his striking physical resemblance to the NBA superstar who joined the Miami Heat in the offseason.

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Although the result hasn’t been quite as dramatic as the “other” LeBron’s new team, the improvement of the West L.A. program has been nearly as impressive.  The Wildcats are now at .500 and have already equaled last season’s total of conference wins.

Up front are shot-blocking specialists Mouhamed Diop and Christian Beecham (another Detroit native), who are averaging more than seven blocks per game between them. Local Forwards Alex Huerta (Los Angeles High) and Michael Sullivan (Fremont) round out the rotation.

Coach Ron McClurkin is in his second year at West L.A. after a long run as coach at Oxnard College. That included some standout seasons in the early part of the decade behind another top player from Detroit, forward Jeremiah Massey, who shared Southern California Player of the Year honors in 2003 before heading to Kansas State; he now plays professionally in Russia.  

The WSC schedule gets a little more challenging for the Wildcats this week, beginning with L.A. Valley on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Van Nuys. Then they return home to play Santa Monica on Saturday. Tip-off is 5 p.m. at West L.A. College.

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