Boys Basketball / Seamount League Preview -- Odd Duo Meshes At Last -- Alderete, Dixon Of Rams Learn To Be Teammates

DES MOINES - Daniel Alderete and Randy Dixon loved playing against each other in middle school. But at times last season, it looked as though they hated playing with each other at Mount Rainier.

During one game at Kennedy, the junior guards argued on the court. They downplayed their apparent dislike for one another, but Coach Rod Wallis wasn't fooled.

"There was a time, all through spring and into the fall, where they wouldn't even say, `Hi,' to each other in the halls," Wallis said.

Today, Alderete and Dixon do more than say, `Hi.' They talk together, laugh together, sometimes even hang out together. Most important, they play together - with the emphasis on together. They might not be best friends, but they are no longer enemies.

"We sat down as a team and discussed what we needed to do to win this year, and we decided we needed to get along as a team and work together," Alderete said. "And since we're the two all-league players, or whatever, if we're not working together, it can bring the whole team down."

The two had been rivals playing at opposing middle schools and even their first two years of high school. After his parents divorced, Dixon moved to Renton and played on the varsity as a freshman. Then he attended Kennedy and started as a sophomore. He and his mother moved back to Des Moines and Dixon enrolled at Mount Rainier last year, leaving Kennedy for financial reasons, he said.

Alderete and Dixon live just two minutes apart but were miles away on the court.

"We used to be rivals in middle school," Alderete said. "Everybody used to talk about us being the best two players in the (middle school) league. Last year was the first year we'd played together, and we really didn't get along."

Alderete, a true point guard with outstanding ballhandling skills, grew up in a more rigid program. Dixon, who can light it up from three-point land, was more of a free spirit on the court. He'd run and gun, then get shunned by Alderete.

Dixon wound up third in the Seamount in scoring with an 18.9 average and earned first-team honors in the all-league voting. Alderete, who was eighth on the scoring list (13.2), landed on the second team.

But their individual success didn't translate into team success. After finishing fourth in the Seamount during the regular season, the Rams didn't make it out of the league tournament, failing to make it to district for the first time in 16 years. At 10-12, it also was their first losing season during the span.

Wallis, a former assistant who took over for longtime coach Karl Cordes last season, took his talented backcourt tandem aside.

"I told them a team is like being a family," he said, "and sometimes family members don't like each other, but family members always support each other, and that's the most important thing, and try to get a basis of respect. That was the other thing, they needed to respect each other and their abilities. I think you'll see that this season."

They talk about one another with respect.

"I love playing with Randy, dishing him the ball so he can shoot," Alderete said. "His shooting is his strength, and he can handle the ball."

But not as well as Alderete, Dixon admits.

"The thing that stands out to me about his game is his ballhandling," Dixon said. "I've never seen him scared with the ball."

That's because a basketball is nearly his constant companion. Alderete carried one around school until teachers put a stop to it last year. After school, he can usually be found on a court somewhere.

Dixon doesn't share that obsession, but regularly works to improve his game, too.

But what has improved most for these two is their relationship. And that should translate into an improved season for the Rams.

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Seamount League boys basketball forecast

Predicted order of finish for the 1998-99 boys basketball race in the Seamount League, based on a survey of Seamount coaches. Voting based on 7 points for first, 6 for second, etc. (first-place votes in parentheses).

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Pts .

. 1. Kennedy (4) 38 .

. 2. Hazen (1) 34 .

. 3. Renton (2) 32 .

. 4. Mount Rainier 31 .

. 5. Evergreen 25 .

. 6. Highline 17 .

. 7. Lindbergh 12 .

. 8. Tyee 7 .

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. (Note: As a first-year coach in the league, Evergreen's John Burnley declined to participate) .