“I don’t play if I don’t get good grades,” junior guard Greg Griffin said.
Griffin was academically ineligible last season at Marshall. He came to Bernstein, and a commitment was made to change what was happening in the classroom.
“I’m on him, his mom is on him. We’re holding him accountable,” Smyth said. “If he misses an assignment, I know about it. If he’s late for class, I know about it.”
So far, so good on and off the court for Bernstein, which improved to 7-0 on Monday with a 66-23 win over Robert Kennedy. Bernstein, a City Section Division IV team, is 5-0 in the Central League. It has three guards who can shoot and score in Griffin, Troy Agtang, a senior transfer from Downtown Business Magnet, and sophomore Carlos Cordero.
Agtang has scored 43, 27 and 19 points in his three games this season. Griffin is averaging more than 25.5 points. Cordero scored 16 points against Kennedy.
Smyth, whose day job is working as a dean at a South Los Angeles charter school, is sticking with the approach that his players need to take care of things in the classroom before fun time on the court.
“I like it,” Griffin said.
St. John Bosco 79, Gahr 35: Jack Turner finished with 20 points for the No. 1-ranked Braves (4-0).
Edison 79, Sage Hill 44: The Chargers (7-0) received 21 points from Kaz Hampton.
JSerra 75, Heritage Christian 55: The Lions improved to 8-0. Sebastian Rancik had 23 points and Aidan Fowler 21. They combined to make 10 threes.
Mater Dei 96, Godinez 28: Brannon Martinsen scored 22 points and Blake Davidson had 19 points for the 4-0 Monarchs.
Mira Costa 76, Esperanza 41: Preston Ezewiro had 12 points for 5-2 Mira Costa.
Sun Valley Poly 65, Arleta 63: JD Wyatt scored 30 points for the Parrots.
Wiseburn Da Vinci 50, Birmingham 47: The Patriots received 14 points from Andre Smith.
Westchester 59, Palisades 50: Kevin Lemle had 13 points for the Comets in a Western League opener.
Girls’ basketball
Westchester 64, Palisades 56: Mariah Blake scored 34 points for Westchester in a Western League showdown.
Birmingham 68, Calabasas 49: Lili Martinez had 18 points for 4-0 Birmingham.