Kaluz, Caldwell sparkle

BASKETBALL: Kaluz takes MVP honors as South falls to North in OC All-Star game Saturday.

By Soraya Nadia McDonald

HUNTINGTON BEACH � If Kyle Caldwell decided to exercise the option he�s been given to walk on to the UCLA basketball team, he�d be relieved to be playing with Jerime Anderson, not against him.

The Newport Harbor High senior, who already has a volleyball scholarship from the Bruins, was facing the Canyon standout Saturday night at Ocean View High, where they were playing on opposite teams in the 43rd annual Kiwanis/PlyoCity Orange County All-Star game.

Caldwell had 11 points and eight rebounds for the South, which lost to Anderson�s North squad, 124-105.

Even though the All-Star game was tantamount to an exhibition, Caldwell said Anderson � who finished with 35 points � brought the same skills that led to Canyon�s 72-48 victory over Newport Harbor in the December Irvine World News tournament.

�He�s full-bore all the time,� Caldwell said. �He�s a good player. He gives it all he can.�

But seeing Caldwell in Bruins basketball shorts is a long shot at best. The men�s volleyball and basketball seasons overlap, and Caldwell is one of the hottest volleyball players in the nation.

Either way, Caldwell and Anderson will be sharing a school, if not a team.

�They said I could walk on, it�d be no problem, but scholarship-wise, it�s hard to turn [volleyball] down,� Caldwell said.

Anderson, along with Corona del Mar senior Stefan Kaluz, was one of the game�s five Most Valuable Players. Kaluz finished with 19 points and five rebounds.

Kaluz has immersed himself in off-season training as he prepares for his college career at Brown. He has no plans to switch schools, despite the departure of Coach Craig Robinson, who recruited him, and his top assistant, Doug Stewart.

After coaching the Bears to a school-record 19 wins and second place in the Ivy League, Robinson accepted the head job at Oregon State.

�He was really disappointed that both the coaches left and you really choose the school, a lot of the time, because of the coaches,� said Ryan Schachter, head coach at CdM and coach of this year�s South team. �But he has no plans to leave or try to find another school. His choices are so limited in where he would want to go.�

CdM senior Joe Eberhard, who had 10 points, two rebounds, and one assist is still holding out for offers and has yet to pick a school. He can walk on at UC Irvine if he chooses.

�We�re looking at some schools that he can walk on at,� Schachter said. �We�ve been in contact with some Pac-10 schools and some West Coast Conference schools. We�re trying to get him to go down and play with him. At this point, mainly coaches need to go down and see him play with their guys. It�s still really up in the air.�

Michelle Figueroa of Costa Mesa scored four points in the girls� big schools game. Sage Hill�s Katie McKeon and Jordan Hidalgo played in the girls� small schools game, coached by their own Lou Silverman. McKeon had eight points and Hidalgo two. Sage senior Preston Oklejas had 11 points in the boys� small schools game.



SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at [email protected].