The stage is set, but is Palisades ready for its close-up?

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Palisades will have its first chance to prove it is one of the elite boys’ basketball teams in the City Section when it hosts defending state champion Fairfax in a Western League showdown Friday night. Palisades enters the game ranked No. 24 by The Times while Fairfax is No. 7.

The Dolphins (17-2, 1-0) routed host Hamilton, 83-41, to open league play with their fourth consecutive victory and could be catching Fairfax at just the right time. The Lions (11-2, 1-0) are bound to be rusty and perhaps a tad less confident having not played since suffering a 55-54 setback to Santa Margarita on Dec. 29.

The teams that take the court Friday will look vastly different from those that met in the semifinals of the Watts Games over the summer. Fairfax, which won that game by six points, had yet to acquire 6-foot-10 junior center Renardo Sidney (a transfer from Artesia) and both benches were absent several key players.

Both of Palisades’ losses are to opponents currently in The Times’ top 25 poll -- No. 5 Campbell Hall and No. 23 Corona del Mar. Similarly, Fairfax has lost only to No. 4 Dominguez and No. 6 Santa Margarita.

Leading the Dolphins’ balanced attack are seniors Aaron Hawk-Harris, Irvin Kintaudi and Josh Gilmore. The big question will be whether Palisades can neutralize the size of Sidney and 6-6 forwards Shelton Boykin and Solomon Hill enough to pull off the upset.

Tip-off time is 7 p.m. Friday at Palisades High, where the sunset meets the sea.

-- Steve Galluzzo, guest blogger

-- Image from Gifart.com