By Sue Kim A great game was definitely played at Walnut High School on Saturday night. The Knights went up against the Walnut High School faculty Mustangs; a game to benefit the Walnut High School choirs. Jesse Metcalfe entered the court first to warm up with ball in hand with the rest of the Knights following soon after. Th efaculty Mustangs made an impressive entrance jogging in single file around the practicing Knights and then making their way to the other half of the court to do a little warming up. The man himself, Michael Mirisch, kicked things into with the introductions. Tonight’s pre-game introductions were for Jesse Metcalfe, Dejai of Power 106’s Goodfellas, Bumper Robinson, Thad Luckinbill, Kiko Ellsworth, Anthony Harrell, David Nicoll (who did an elaborate flip alongside his introduction, which definitely got the attention of the crowd), Cylk Cozart, Josh Henderson, Alisa Reyes, and Ashlee Simpson. Mustang introductions were next with team members representing every Department of Walnut High School; from the athletic coaching staff to the computer department. The up and coming Asian American group “At Last” did the honors of singing the National Anthem at tonight’s game. After a little pep talk from Knights coach Andre Smith to the Knights, it was time to do what everyone came to play and watch – basketball. Cylk, Thad, Bumper, Josh, and Jesse were on the court, as the board was set for 10 minutes in the first period. It was Josh and Mustang assistant coach Stan Tolliver for the tipoff. Cylk caught the ball for the Knights but a member of the faculty soon knocked it out of bounds. Josh with the ball passed to Cylk who shotto put the Knights on the board first. The faculty wasn’t too far behind with faculty member Robert Sandoval making a shot for the Mustangs and history teacher Jerry Knox soon following. Ramon Dandrige lost possession of the ball giving Bumper the opportunity to shoot and score. With six minutes left in the first period, a time out was called and Andrew Walker made his way onto the court. There was a foul on Kiko by Drew Johansen sending Kiko to shoot his free throw. Unfortunately he missed both shots. Chris and DJ Speed were out mingling with the fans in the stands and passing out free stuff and noise-making clappers. Tonight it was DJ D33zam on the ones and twos. With 1:43 remaining in the first quarter, Mustang Mike James went in for a shot and made it. Aaron Cornell of the faculty attempted to make a shot as the buzzer sounded to end the first period but missed. At the end of the first quarter the score was 14-11 with the faculty leading. The Mustangs had possession of the ball at the beginning of the second quarter. Mustang Aaron Cornell made a shot at 8:33 and at 7:57, Mustang Joey Davis made two successful free throws. Towards the end of the second period, Dion Basco arrived on the court and Mustang Drew Johansen made a shot with 26 seconds remaining. Cylk slid in a couple of last points for the Knights at 7 seconds in the second period. With a score of 35-33, faculty, it was the end of the second period. For half time, there were two performances to get the crowd moving. As David Nicoll performed “Nonya,” the crowd slowly made their way to form somewhat of a line for the upcoming autograph session. At Last was out on the court for the second time that night performing a cover of “Killing Me Softly” and singing the song from the same titled album, “Driven.” By this time, almost all the crowd had made their way down the bleachers and onto the court. Michael gave the crowd a heads up to come and get their autographs and pictures and whatever hints of a line there were, had disappeared and it was a mad dash to the autograph tables. Thad, Josh, Kiko, Bumper, and Andrew were up first in the third quarter. Josh stole the ball from Jerry Knox and went in for a shot and missed but Kiko went for the rebound and made the shot. At the end of the third period, the score was in favor of the Mustangs, 44-39. It was anyone’s game going into the fourth quarter although the faculty was up. For most of the period, the Mustangs led by only a couple ofpoints. With the clock ticking down, Jesse, Cylk, and Bumper made shot to keep on the tails of the Mustangs. The game got pretty intense and the crowd was on their feet, anxiously awaiting what would happen in the last couple of minutes of the exciting game. With four seconds left in the fourth quarter, faculty member Aaron Cornell was at the free throw line and as the buzzer sounded to end the game, the Mustang faculty broke the Knights two game winning streak with a final score of 59-55. Although the Knights lost tonight, they were still in high spirits. Cylk commended the Mustang faculty saying that they are “Gentlemen. They play hard and they gave it all they got. They deserved to win.” Walnut High School’s athletic director Jerry Person said that he participated in tonight’s game because he wanted, “To get involved and get into the spirit.” He also added that he joined in so that he could, “Beat the Hollywood Knights.” Mission accomplished. At the after party, choir members and a few lucky fans gota last chance to snap a couple of pictures and get autographs while everyone ate food provided by the choir and their sponsors for the night. Michael Mirisch thanked Walnut High School for having the Knights and for a great game. With a five-minute warning called to board the tour bus, Walnut High said their good byes to the Knights. Don’t miss the next game, you might miss out on something exciting! It’s Wednesday, November 6th at San Dimas High School. See you there!

By Jeanne Flores Saturday, November 2, 2002, the Hollywood Knights engaged in their most rigorous game of the season (even though it’s only been three games) as they squared off against the Walnut High School faculty Mustangs. Once all the Knights set foot on the court, the Mustangs jogged into the gym in a single-filed line and circled the Knights before forming lines for their warm-up. Again, Michael Mirisch did the honors for introducing the Hollywood Knights; Dejai, Bumper Robinson, Thad Luckinbill, Kiko Ellsworth, Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Cylk Cozart, Anthony Harrell, David Nicoll (who did cartwheels and backflips during his introduction), and Ashlee Simpson were all in attendance for the game (Andrew Walker and Dion Basco joined the group on the courts during the first half of the game). The Mustangs included Danny Kim (science), Rod Ulrich (computers), Jerry Knox (history) who excited the crowd with his break dancing moves, Robert Sandoval (history), Drew Johannsen (history), Mike James (p.e.), Shawn Kramer (science), Stan Talliver (assistant boys basketball varsity coach), Neil Jacoby (business), Jerry Person (athletic director), Darren Hoff (baseball coach), Ramon Danridge (custodial staff), Aron Cornell (history), Joey Davis (technology), Mike O’Shields (art), Will Mynster (history). After all the introductions, singing sensation At Last displayed their talents by doing the honors of singing the National Anthem. Hollywood Knights coach, Andre Smith, gave his last instructions before the game while Cylk, Dejai, Jesse, Josh and the rest of the team were bobbing their heads to the blazing music, courtesy of Power 106. Both teams met at center court to wish each other a good game, and the game was on its way with Josh tipping off against Mr. Talliver. Cylk started off the game with a three point shot, but Mr. Sandoval responded with a three point shot from downtown too. Throughout the first quarter, both teams hustled up and down the court struggling to make a basket. At one point in the game, Cylk was able to find Jesse at the three point line where he drove through the Mustang’s defense to make a lay up. Both teams substituted a whole new line up on the courts and during the game, Andrew walked up to Jesse, who was on the bench, and jokingly told him that he should be taking notes on the game. At the end of the first quarter the score was 14-11 Mustangs lead. Josh, Bumper, Thad, Jesse and Cylk kicked off the second quarter for the Knights with Mr. Davis, Mr. Mynster. Mr. Jacoby, Mr Kramer, and Mr.Cornell for the Mustangs. In attempt to breakdown the Mustang offense, the Knights began to double team the faculty team. The Mustangs continued to stabilize a lead over the Knights as the Knights struggled to drive through the Mustang defense and shoot from down town, but weren’t successful. Mr. Cornell was successful on intercepting the ball every chance he got. The Mustangs held onto their lead at the end of the first half with the score at 35-33. While fans rushed to the courts to talk to the Mustang faculty and take pictures with the Knights, I got the opportunity to ask some of the Mustang faculty about their thoughts on the Hollywood Knights as an organization, a team, and the game itself. “They’re a great organization,” began Mr. Danridge, “I’m so glad that they would come out here and do this for my school. They are better than I thought they would be. I thought they were just going to be some actors, but they can actually play ball.” Mr. Sandoval answered, “Well to tell you the truth, I’m not too familiar with the Hollywood Knights as an organization, but so far I’m pretty impressed. As for the players and the actors, I think they are quality people, and they are quality entertainers on and off the court as I could see. As far as the game, it’s 35-33, I don’t think the fans can ask for anything better than that.” For the half time performance, David Nicoll crooned the crowd with his gyrating dancing moves, which made girls scream, as he sang his sing “Nonya.” Excitement ran through every girl’s body as he interacted with the crowd by dancing with them. Next, At Last graced the court and wowed the crowd,yet again, with their acapella rendition of “Killing Me Softly.” Fans were bobbing their heads and dancing while Mike was beat boxing. Then they performed their single “Driven” off their album Driven, which is available on their official website (www.atlastmusic.com). The autograph session came around, and fans flooded towards the tables to see their favorite “hotties.” “I’m here to see Josh!” exclaimed Jennifer Wang, 9th grade. “Jesse is really cute,” answered Melissa Voorhees, 10th grade. Finally the second half was on it’s way and the Knights continued to push themselves to take the lead of this exciting game, but with people like Mr. Sandoval making a three point shot, it wasn’t going to be easy. During the fourth quarter, Coach Smith finally instructed the Knights to play man-to-man because the score was now at 44-39, Mustangs lead. The Knights began to rush themselves to make their baskets once the fourth quarter began to wind down. Cylk was successful on making his three free throws when he was fouled behind the three-point line. The score was finally tied when Mr. Cornell got the rebound after Dejai’s attempt from down town and hustled to the Mustang end of the court when he ran into David Nicoll and a foul was called on Nicoll. The Mustang’s gained a two point lead over the Knights, with nineteen seconds left in the game, because Cornell made both his free throws. The whole gym was on it’s feet watching if the Knights would loose their first game of the season. Anticipation grew when the Mustangs called a time out once the Knights gained possession of the ball. Dejai in bounded the ball and found Cylk in the corner, and Cylk attempted to shoot a three pointer to win the game, but wasn’t successful and the Mustangs rebounded the ball and a foul was called on the Knights. The crowd erupted with cheers knowing that the home team won. Mr. Cornell sealed the win over the Knights by making both of his free throws. The final score was 59-55. The Mustangs won. Walnut High fans expressed their thoughts of the game as they stepped on the court to talk to both teams. “It was a great game, very exciting!” expressed Garett Takyama, Senior. Brian Sherman, Junior, said “I thought it was good for the Walnut faculty to play with the Hollywood Knights.” “I thought the game was great,” Tanya Tiyarac, Junior, gushed, ”The guys are hot, and we did a good job because we won!” Tiyrarac also expressed her favorite highlight of the game, “When Mr. Knox came out on the floor and was break dancing. That was cool.” Michelle Sucmia, Junior, added, “When At Last sang because they touched my hand!” “The game was tight,” began Christian Llanes, freshman, “Seeing Mr. Cornell play and all. [He’s] a tight-ass player.” “I think the game was pretty cool. We got to play with Hollywood stars. My favorite highlight of the game was making those last two points at the very end of the game,” Ryan Alvarez, freshman answered. The after party was held in the multipurpose room where everyone who participated in the game mingled with one another and filled their stomachs with pizza, and I was able to ask the Knights some of their thoughts on the game: Me: What did it feel like when you made that three point shot to lessen the gap in the fourth quarter? Jesse: “It felt good, but I wish I was in the game towards the end. I don’t think it even counted. I don’t know why.” Me: How much pressure did you feel that was on you towards the end of the game? Cylk: ”I felt a little bit, but not from the other team. I felt pressure from within our team, that we were hurrying up when we didn’t need to hurry it up. When that happens, we don’t have a balance for a good team and we are weak.” Me: And what do you think of the Walnut faculty? Cylk: “They play very aggressive. Um, they definitely know where each other is going to be, so you can tell they’ve played with each other, and the know each other. They’re gentlemen and not dirty ball players. They ran hard, they played with all they got, and they deserved to win.” Me: Did it hurt when you hustled down the court and slid on the floor trying to steal the ball? Josh: “No. no. Nah uh. Ashlee said the same thing, and I didn’t even have a mark on my leg.” Me: What was your favorite highlight of the game? Josh: “Um, I honestly don’t think there even was one. I didn’t even score any points in that. I had a horrible game, and we lost so that’s no fun.” Me: Did you feel any pressure to make a point towards the end of the game because I found you having to drive in a lot and make your lay ups? Dion: “Oh no. I was just trying to help out the team. I think I should have gone to the free throw line because I was trying to shoot the ball. But, um, I hurt my arm during the first play, so one of the teachers had to wrap me up and it hurt my shooting arm. It hurts right now, but I’m not trying to give you any excuses. I should’ve made the lay up.” Me: Why did you arrive late? Dion: Because I’m a very busy man and I got many things to do, and I’m trying to fit this into my schedule. Nah. It’s because I was trying to make it out. [Walnut] is far. I did not know where this school was, and it was far.” Me: What do you like more? Performing in front of a small crowd such as high schools or in big arenas? David: Bigger crowds are always better because you get more energy out of it. As long as you’re doing well and they like you, you will be hyped up. Me: Are you going to have an album coming out soon? David: I have about seven songs... Dion (jokingly): He’s a liar! He’s a liar! Me: Did you feel pressured to make any shots throughout the game? David: No, I’m a defensive player. If I get a shot. it’s all good, but I’m a defensive player. Dion: He made a good play. See that rebound he got? He kept the drive alive. David: I got four rebounds, little me. Me: What do you prefer better? Playing basketball or performing in front of crowds? David: I love playing basketball really. I mean, I love performing, but I love basketball. It’s not as stressful. You know performing is stressful because you don’t want to mess up. In basketball game, you got five guys out there; yourself you only have one voice and it’s yours. You have to worry about if the speakers are going to work, you don’t even know if the microphone is going to work [...] and you got to compensate with it as a performer.

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