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Saturday, March 11, 2000

West Oso proves naysayers wrong

Team fulfils its own lofty expectations with 28-win season, return to state

By George Vondracek
Caller-Times

AUSTIN - Even as the lead grew for Waco La Vega High School in the Class 3A boys basketball semifinals Thursday, West Oso's Bears always believed they could come back.
   It is a mindset they have gotten used to over the last couple of seasons.
   Shorter than your average team, the Bears heard the can't-dos all year, and for much of the 1998-99 season as well. All West Oso did, however, was compile back-to-back 28-win seasons and earn two trips to Austin.
   "We always expect to get back here," West Oso coach Floyd Campbell said. "Why start something if you don't have goals and high standards? We set high goals and standards."
   Those goals and standards make for fond memories, although those recollections would be much fonder had there been a large piece of hardware to bring home from the state capital.
   "Hey, there's a lot of good memories about this year," said Campbell, who finished his 16th year as the Bears' coach. "I don't know if I could single one out. The kids are definitely first. I'm gonna remember each and every one. I'm going to remember the ones coming back.
   "We're going to have good memories because we could have been one of the 300 schools that didn't make it here."
   Despite earning a trip to state last season, there were many who questioned whether the Bears could return.
   "Early in the season, I don't think so," West Oso junior Richard Gonzalez said of people's low expectations of the Bears. "They probably thought that we weren't the same team as last year. It just took a while to get together and get on a run."
   No run in Austin
   That run never materialized against La Vega, which faces Gainesville in today's 3A championship game. The Pirates raced to a 20-3 lead and never let the Bears get closer than seven points in the second half.
   That West Oso did not succeed in the school's seventh trip to Austin was not for lack of effort. The Bears played the same aggressive style they had in the previous 35 games, although they may not have been as sharp in doing so against the Pirates.
   The Bears attempted to get its inside game going, which it had previously done successfully despite the height disadvantage. They fired shots from the outside. But neither proved to be effective.
   "We were trying. You have to expect it to be there," Campbell said. "You can look at it the other way. You can't hold back and save it for another day."
   Neutralized attack
   La Vega was a poised first-time entrant. The swifter Pirates neutralized West Oso's attack. The Pirates made nearly 61 percent of their shots while the Bears floundered at 42.4 percent, including making only two of 13 3-point attempts.
   Senior DeAndre Fillmore, whose 20 points led all scorers in the game, scored a basket to bring West Oso within 39-32 with 6 minutes, 21 seconds to play in the third quarter. With 2:47 remaining, Gonzalez hit two free throws to cut La Vega's lead to 62-55.
   West Oso never came closer than on those two occasions.
   "We had a feeling we were going to come back," West Oso senior center Kevin Simmons said. "But eventually, they just pulled away from us."
   That left the Bears looking back at the season - and ahead to the next one. West Oso will return three starters - Gonzalez, Lydell Anthony and Chris Williams - and lose just three seniors of the 13 players who made it to state.
   "We came to state back-to-back. They'll be back next year even though I'm not going to be here," Simmons said.
   "We'll be back," Gonzalez said.
  
  

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Staff Writer George Vondracek can be reached at 886-3731 or by e-mail at vondracekg@caller.com

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