By Jeanne Flores Saturday, February 1, 2003 was a rigorous game as the Knights squared off against the Ocean View High School faculty Seahawks to help raise money for the basketball team and World Vision Charities. The Knights included Jesse Metcalfe, Arlen Escarpeta, Tha Goodfellas, Kiko Ellsworth, Thad Luckinbill, Josh Henderson, Lil J, Sammy Lopez, Dion Basco, Andrew Walker, Cylk Cozart, and guests Krystal, TJ Fantini, Chrystee Pharris, Mischa Mandel, and Teck Money. Krystal started the night with ten seconds of silence and then singing the National Anthem in remembrance for the fallen astronauts of the spaceship Columbia who died previously that morning. The game was on! The Seahawks took a steady lead during the first half while DJ Speed and company hyped up the fans by giving away Power 106 hats and t-shirts. Students and parents stood on their feet and waved their hands in the air in hopes of getting the DJ’s attention. Half time had fans waiting anxiously at the sidelines. Lil J was first out of the two performances as he sang to “I Didn’t Know” and had the crowd boppin’ their heads. The dancing didn’t stop there. TJ Fantini took the floor with his danceable, yet funky, beats to “Come Get Funky” and “Betta Watch Your Girl.” TJ ran through the stands to help encourage the onlookers to ‘get funky.’ The autograph session came along with girls squealing after getting signatures from their favorite Knights including Josh and Jesse. While the students ran around the gym, 6’ 10” Kevin Hanson, assistant boys varsity basketball coach, expressed his thoughts about playing against the Knights, “It’s kind of fun. I see these guys on TV. They are all kind of small compared to me, but its fun to play against these guys. I saw Cylk when he was on ‘White Man Can’t Jump’ and I grew up watching him when I was like twelve. It’s kind of cool playing against these guys.” Freshmen basketball coach, Christopher Melton, thought the Knights were “pretty good. They can’t hang with us though.” Melton continued to give some advice for the Knights for their next game, “Work on [your] jump shot.” The second half had Knights fans rooting for their team in hopes that they would outscore the Seahawks while the student body continued to chant, “defense!” Unfortunately for the Knights, the Seahawks didn’t slow down one bit and very seldom did the Knights take the lead. While the game continued, Teck was on the one’s and two’s spinning to Missy Elliot’s “Work it” and Beanie Man f. Janet Jackson’s “Feel it Boy.” DJ Speed continued to give away goodies, and once had two fans arm-wrestle for a pair of shoes courtesy of Axion Footwear. Suddenly, fans rushed to Speed’s side when he announced that he would give away a skateboard to whoever knew the lyrics to the Flintstones theme song. Jeremy Wischmejer, freshman, was the lucky winner of the board…however the only words he knew where “Flintstones, meet the Flintstones…” By the end of the game, everyone was on their feet. The game concluded with the Seahawks edging out the Knights by several crucial baskets in mere seconds. Kevin Chow, freshman Cardinal basketball coach, said this about the outcome of the game, “It feels pretty good [to win]. It was a hard fought game, and I think everyone is pretty proud of their experience here. We loved it!” The after party had the Knights and Seahawks congratulating each other on a good game. Cylk and another faculty member laughed as they shared how worthy each other were as competitors. Other Knights chowed down on sandwiches while taking pictures with those who participated and help coordinate that night. Finally, Michael Mirisch announced the bus’ departure and that marked the end of a very successful night at Huntington Beach. One on One What have you been doing since your last album? Krystal: I have been going through a lot of transitions. There are a lot of new people around me, and a lot of old people who aren’t around me anymore. What I have been doing stuff wise, I am on a show called “The It Factor” on the Bravo channel. I was being documented for 8 months of my life as an actor. I just recently did an episode of “Touched By An Angel” which will air February 22, where I play the lead in that, and I am also recording my new album. What’s the difference between this album and your last one? Krystal: The difference style wise is much more me. It’s more on the R&B urban front than the other album was. What kind of memories does coming to these high schools bring up for you? Chrystee Pharris: I just remember having such fun. Just hanging out with friends and not having to worry about paying for rent and paying for utilities and buying my own food. But it just reminds me all the kinds of fun I had when I grew up. What characteristics does your character “Simone” uphold that reflect onto you? Chrystee: Well, there are always going to be similarities because I’m an actress, and you always have to take from your own experiences. There are also going to be a lot that are going to be different. I’ve had my heart broken before, but I don’t know if I would ever go crazy on my sister like that. But I do think that Simone is a good girl. Because she’s sixteen and she’s so young, you create things in your mind and you fantasize that a relationship is there. I hope that she realizes one day the reality that they [edit: the Chrystee’s character of Simone Russel and Charles Divins character of Chad Harris] will never be together…or maybe they will be together? I would love to have him in my life! As a movie surfer, do you get to travel a lot? Mischa Mandel: Yes. All the time, we get to go on location. Can you name some of these places? Mischa: We went to Hawaii for Lilo & Stitch and I got to go to New York to Interview Joseph Gordon-Levitt from “Third Rock from the Sun.” And what are you currently working on? Mischa: I just got done working on Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp. It’s going to be great. I noticed that all of the songs from your album “Classified” were either co-written or written by you. Did any of them come from personal experiences? TJ Fantini: Actually there is one song on there that comes from a very personal experience. It’s a ballad and I wrote it about a girl that uh…I can’t say. I don’t wan’t to talk ‘cause, shhhh! I wrote it about a girl that was very special to me one time. Your album is definitely very funky feel to it. Who were your influences in the creation of this album? TJ: I think James Brown; Prince was a big influence on me. I like Michael Jackson, but mainly James Brown and Prince; I think they’re pretty bad. Describe your role in Biker Boyz? Dion Basco: Uh, me and my brother [Dante Basco] play the Filipino representation in the movie. We play the two Asian Biker Boys. We’re the first to join up with Derek Luke and the three main guys. We come up and we’re rolling on quads. We’re the first Biker Boyz to join up to make the movie bigger and stronger. We’re just the comedy relief in the whole thing. What is it like to share the screen with your brother? Dion: Aw man, I love it! We’ve done a few projects together, we produced one projects and we’re producing some more. As far as co-stars, we give and take very easily. From the Fans Do you have trouble keeping up with the younger generation? (Kim Kuntz, senior) Cylk: No! Why would I have trouble keeping up with the younger generation? How old do you think I am? I was wondering, as long as I can still walk than I figured…you know. What do you think of our school? (Kieu Nguyen, freshmen) Josh: The crowd was good. I like the gym, and the food was the best we’ve had all year. They had really, really cool food and desserts and stuff. What do you look for in a girl? (Asiya Haksan, sophomore) Dion: If it’s something in her eyes…man, I’ll know something. The way she looks at me. Beautiful, sense of humor, umm…I don’t know. Just someone that would treat me well and I would treat her well. I treat every girl I go out with a princess. Anyone who is willing to go through that treatment, then you know…there you go. What is your most memorable moment playing basketball at a high school? (Ali Ansary, senior) Dion: There was this one game I guess, I stole the ball…I had two steals in a row and I layed it up. I can’t remember what school it was at. I think we won that game, I don’t know. Quote of the Knight: "I was really devastated when I heard the news. I remember when the shuttle in ’86 went down. I do remember that time, and it’s a really devastating thing. I feel really bad and my heart goes out to the families. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a loved one, especially when you are excited for their return. But I pray that, you know, that their mission does not go in vain. I hope that we keep moving on and continue keep experiencing and discovering new things. I hope we can learn from it and make sure that it doesn’t happen again, and not be afraid to live life and going on adventures. My heart goes out to them." – Chrystee Pharris on unfortunate incident with the Columbia space shuttle

By Sue Kim A gym full of fans filled the Ocean View High School gymnasium to support Ocean View High School’s basketball team and World Vision Charities Saturday night. Hoping to start that winning streak up again, the festivities were soon under way. After taking a little break from the Knights, singing sensation Krystal was back on tonight’s celebrity line-up to sing the National Anthem. With the news of the seven astronauts killed in the Columbia space shuttle earlier, tonight’s National Anthem went out to them. Ocean View High School went the extra mile tonight to make the Knights feel at home by providing Hollywood Knights cheerleaders. With introductions made, it was twelve minutes on the clock and the start of the first quarter. Seahawk number 24 and Kiko were ready for the jump ball while Arlen, Romeo, Thad, and Cylk were eager to gain first possession of the ball. The Knights did indeed gain possession of the ball first but the Seahawks soon stole it. Seahawk faculty member number 1 scored the first shot of the game with a 3-point basket. After a time out the first, the faculty came in with possession of the ball. Seahawk number 24 made a pass to fellow teammate 12 which eventually resulted in a 2-point shot. Arlen was fouled late in the first period and put another two points on the board for the Knights as he made both his free throws. With the end of the first period, the Knights were down; 31-17. As the game entered the second quarter Teck and Dion entered the game and Arlen, Thad, Romeo, Dejai, and Cylk took the court to try and catch up to the Seahawks. Arlen scored the first points for the Knights in this quarter with a 2-point shot. Seahawk number 1 and Dejai were on the floor as both tried to gain control of the ball. Seahawk number 5 saved the ball from going out of bounds but instead of landing in the hands of a fellow Seahawk, the ball went to Cylk for the Knights. Seahawk number 20 and Josh were both struggling on the floor for the ball and in the end it was Josh that passed the ball to Arlen. As the clock slowly approached the end of the first half, Josh tried to get a last three point shot in but was unsuccessful in his attempt. Going into halftime, the Seahawks still led with a score of 46-36. After halftime, which consisted of performances from Lil’ J and TJ Fantini, the Knights got into a huddle before they went out to play the third quarter. Sammy came just in time to add to the Knights spirit and hopefully help the Knights win tonight’s game. Thad scored for the Knights early in the quarter with a clean three point shot. Seahawk number 50 tired to make a pass to one of his teammates but the pass was out of bounds. Kiko, Thad, and Arlen tried their best to score one for the team as all three tried to get the ball into the basket but the ball ended up out of bounds rather than in the basket. Seahawk faculty member number 50 definitely wouldn’t be labeled as vertically challenged as he towered over the rest of the Knights as he got the rebound and made a slam-dunk. A foul was called in favor of the Knights that sent Sammy to the free throw line. After a time out that was called in the last seconds of the third quarter, Seahawk number 50 had a traveling violation called on him by the refs. The Knights were still down with the end of the third quarter with a score of 65-57 but they still had one more quarter to try and catch up to the Seahawks. In the fourth Sammy, Lil’ J, Arlen, and Thad all contributed to the points racked up for the Knights before Cylk tied up the score at 72 at about 7 minutes left in the quarter. The Knights looking on from bench were even on their feet in anticipation. The tie didn’t last very long as Seahawk number 30 broke the tie with a two point shot. The Knights didn’t let that lead last very long either as Romeo made a pass to Arlen who made a two point shot. Romeo is to thank for putting the Knights in control of the board for the first time tonight by making a two-point basket and putting the score at 74-76. With the last couple of minutes of the game left, both teams were on top of things as they both shot points consecutively. Kiko was at the free throw line with just seconds left in the game and the pressure mounting. The Seahawks were victorious tonight with a final score of 91-88 -- but nothing to be sore about since a good and exciting game was definitely played. The remedy to winning all the games in the second half of the season: more HK fans!…. You guys have two chances coming up this week as the Knights play back-to-back games at St. John Bosco High School on Thursday and Moreno Valley High School on Saturday.

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