DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:
Sea Kings� Eberhard unveils new attack
BASKETBALL:
Senior, who dealt with broken nose in off-season, has elevated his game,
scoring about six more points per contest.
By David Carrillo Pe�aloza
Before Joe Eberhard revealed the
new Joe Eberhard, a mask stopped him from doing so.
This mask wasn�t to hide his identity from the Corona del Mar High boys�
basketball team like some comic book superhero.
It was to protect Eberhard�s nose. As clear as the
mask was, so was the fact that his nose was broken.
The only cover-up, making sure his mother, Tanya, believed he wore the mask on
the court. Every time Tanya checked with Coach Ryan Schachter
this summer, Schachter gave the phone to Eberhard.
�She�d always call me, �Did Joe wear his mask?� � Schachter
said. �He used to tell me, �Yeah, yeah, tell her!� I would tell her, �I don�t
know. You have to talk to Joe about that.�
�I know mom wasn�t too happy about him not wearing the mask.�
Eberhard got away with it, never once getting his
nose in a jam since breaking it during an AAU practice in March. Only
afterward, when he had to face his mom one-on-one at home and listen to her
concerns.
�She was on me,� he said. �You know how moms are.�
She made sense. Surgery wasn�t until August. Still, he ignored her.
But without the mask Eberhard�s game soared in the
summer. Unmasked, the 6-foot-6 small forward emerged as fast as Spider-Man
arriving on a scene needing his assistance.
As for Eberhard, his calling on the court was to
shoot more. He�s following through in his senior year by averaging 15.8 points
per game, up almost six points from last year, to go with 7.4 rebounds.
CdM is reaping the benefits as it is 14-5 and 3-0 in
the Pacific Coast League, a vast majority of those wins against stout
competition. Eberhard showed last week in three wins
that with him, and a deep team, the Sea Kings are in the process of making
their second straight league and CIF Southern Section Division III-A title
runs.
Credit can go to Eberhard not wearing that mask. He�s
a different player, a fearless one, evident from the career-high 35 points he
dropped on
�I�m a lot more aggressive,� Eberhard said. �I was
just kind of a little timid [with the mask]. I wasn�t really supposed to be
playing without a mask. It was annoying because I wouldn�t be able to look
around [as easily], it was tight. It was just an embarrassing thing, I thought.
You don�t see too many high school kids wearing masks. No one from CdM ever really saw me wear it. These guys, I know they�d
give me a lot [guff].�
Most of the key returning players, like 6-foot-9 senior center Stefan Kaluz, already had been on Eberhard�s
case since last season.
�We�ve always been on Joe to shoot more,� said Kaluz,
who�s headed for
The team began harassing Eberhard again at the start
of summer ball, not because of the crooked nose, but because of his
passiveness.
Everyone knew Kaluz was the go-to-guy earning the
Division III-A Player of the Year award after averaging 21 points, 12 rebounds
and 2.3 blocks per game last year. But the Sea Kings prodded Eberhard to attack, even with a deviated septum.
Early on, it got so bad that the coaching staff had enough during the first
weekend of games.
�We told him, �If you don�t take 10 shots by halftime you�re not playing in the
second half,� � Schachter said.
The Sea Kings began force feeding Eberhard. Kaluz actually helped the process by not being around as he
was at AAU tournaments, giving Eberhard no excuses
not to shoot.
�We starting playing good competition and then he started dominating, scoring
30 on Pasadena, 45 or something on Chino Hills, a very athletic team,� Schachter said. �I think the green light came on when he
realized, �I can score on anybody.�
�He wants to play in college and we talked to him about what it would take for
him to play at that college level. A Division I [program] to me is not out of
the realm. I think he can play at that level. He�s got to develop that Division
I mentality. As the season progresses I think his opportunities are going to
open more.�
The way Eberhard sees it he�s playing on the next
level next year. There�s no concealing his confidence, not even a mask.