Friendship a big strength for Temescal Canyon boys basketball team

LAKE ELSINORE — The Temescal Canyon boys basketball team’s starting five is a unique group in more ways than one.

The five starters — seniors Koa Apana, Trevor Clark, Thomas Siroky, Lucas Villarreal and Grant Wayne — are friends who grew up in the community and have been teammates since their middle school days.

All five play multiple sports at Temescal Canyon, as well. This is a group of players that bucks the growing trends of transfers and specialization in high school sports.

Temescal Canyon coach Ed Thomas said the chemistry that exists between the starting five is one of the reasons the program is enjoying its most successful campaign in several years. The Titans won the Sunkist League championship, the program’s first league title in five seasons, and ended the regular season with a 21-5 record.

Temescal Canyon will open the CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Yorba Linda (17-11).

“Team sports like basketball rely heavily on trust, and you really see the trust these kids have with one anther from being friends and teammates for so long,” Thomas said. “Having a group of neighborhood kids who care about one another really is a match made in heaven for a coach. It’s been easy to coach a team like this one because we’re all speaking the same language.”

Apana and Villarreal have known each other the longest, since first grade, although that friendship did have a rocky moment.

“Me and another kid ‘unfriended’ Koa for a couple of days,” Villarreal said with a laugh. “The mothers had to get involved, but a few days later everything was all good and we were all friends again. It’s a story that we all remember and like to tell everyone.”

The quintet was split in elementary school, with some attending Cottonwood Canyon and the others enrolled at Tuscany Hills. All five players ended up at Canyon Lake Middle School and played on a basketball team coached by Apana’s father.

“We were all little kids learning the game back then, and a lot of other teams just beat us down,” Wayne recalled. “Now we’re back together again, winning games and league titles. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come together.”

Added Apana: “I know it’s a special feeling for my father to see all the kids he coached still playing together in high school.”

Apana has been on the varsity team since his freshman season. Siroky joined Apana on varsity the following season, and Clark and Villarreal came on board last season. Wayne completed this group by making the varsity team this season.

“We finally got the band back together,” Thomas said with a smile.

Villarreal said the friendship and bonds he has with his teammates are keys to the team’s success this season.

“I have so much love for them, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t want to be out there with them,” Villarreal said. “The chemistry is insane. I know I can trust all of them on the court, and they can trust me.”

The basketball court is not the only place these five athletes have been or are teammates. Apana was the starting quarterback on the football team for four years. Wayne was a star receiver on the football team and also is a starting outfielder on the baseball team. Clark and Siroky are standouts on the boys volleyball team, and Villarreal also is on the baseball team.

“The coaches on campus are very supportive of kids playing multiple sports and helping the school out whatever way they can,” Thomas said. “There are things in football that we can’t replicate on the basketball court. And it’s the same things with baseball, volleyball or any other sport. All of the other sports teach kids about athleticism and competing that you don’t always get from playing just one sport. I really enjoy coaching multi-sport athletes.”

Added Wayne: “No matter what season it is or what sport I’m playing, my other coaches are always out there supporting me.”

Thomas also has been impressed with the leadership this group has displayed on and off the court. Temescal Canyon’s athletic department has a leadership council with athletes from all sports, and Thomas nominated all five players.

“I figured if they didn’t make it for one sport, they could for another,” he said. “All five are on that council.”

Temescal Canyon was No. 5 in the final Division 3A basketball rankings, and Apana believes the Titans can make a deep playoff run.

“We haven’t been able to put the pieces together in the past,” he said. “The pieces are finally all together now.”