STATE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Southern California Regional Division I Boys Semifinals : Fairfax Gets a Scare Before Winning

The Fairfax High School basketball team won its way into Saturday’s Division I title game of the Southern California Regionals with a victory Thursday night, pretty much as expected.

Sean Higgins (25 points), Chris Mills (21) and J.D. Green (20) led the way in the Lions’ 83-65 romp over Santa Monica at Cal State Dominguez, as expected. Yes, just another day at the races for the City 4-A champions and No. 1 team in the state.

But for a while there . . .

At halftime, Santa Monica had the lead, 35-33, and the momentum, thanks to a 16-4 streak in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter. The Vikings, the Southern Section 4-A winners, were still playing the nation’s second-ranked team even midway through the third, 41-41.

Could it be that a long-awaited showdown between the top two teams in the state--Fairfax vs. Santa Ana Mater Dei--would be dashed by a team that had lost six straight games earlier this season and started league play at 4-8? Could it be that Santa Monica would be one win away from going to Oakland to play for the title?

Things were so quiet on the Fairfax side of the gym at times that you could hear a ranking drop.

“We came back and gave them a scare,” said Cliff Hunter, Santa Monica coach.

Fairfax, obviously agreeing, finally did something about it, putting together a 10-0 run over 1:48 to turn a deadlock into a 55-47 cushion by the start of the fourth quarter, just the jump start they were looking for.

Higgins hit two straight long-range jumpers--just like Reggie Miller at UCLA--and Fairfax (26-0) converted a steal and consecutive traveling calls against Santa Monica into three more unanswered baskets. Soon, the Lions’ lead grew to 11, then 15 and finally 17 at 66-49, with a little over four minutes left in the game.

“For a stretch there,” Hunter said, “Sean kind of took the game over and J.D. followed him.”

Higgins finished 8 of 11 from the field and 9 of 10 on free throws, while Green connected on his last five attempts. All four of his baskets in the fourth quarter came on dunks.

“When Mills and Green and Higgins get going, what are you supposed to do,” Hunter said. “They have too many horses.”

Guard Danny Price scored 18 points and Keith Neal added 13 to lead Santa Monica (18-10).