PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : City Boys : Crenshaw Will Try to Continue Trend of Sports Arena Blowouts

A quick timeout during the high school basketball season for a history lesson while wondering if Crenshaw, with an offensive weapon such as John Staggers coming off the bench, has the two best teams in the City:

The top-seeded Cougars (25-0) will play second-seeded Manual Arts (23-2) tonight at about 9:15 for the 4-A title at the Sports Arena. Of course.

There have been an unusual number of blowouts in high school title games at the Sports Arena in recent years. That’s not a prediction of the fate that awaits Manual Arts, just something worth keeping in mind, along with the fact that Crenshaw has outscored its opponents by more than 25 points a game and has already defeated the Toilers, 101-90, this season.

The ugly memories:

--Fairfax beat Cleveland of Reseda by 28 for the 1987 title, 86-58.

--Crenshaw beat Cleveland by 16 for the 1986 title, 95-79.

--Crenshaw beat Manual Arts by 11 for the 1985 title, 73-62.

--Crenshaw beat Westchester by 53 for the 1984 title, 112-59.

You have to go back five years to find a close game, to Mark Wade and Curtis Moore and Wilmington Banning’s upset of John Williams and Crenshaw, 62-61, in ’83.

Manual Arts should have some pretty good memories of its times there, though. Most recently, the Toilers were supposed to get routed by Crenshaw in the ’85 title game, but they kept it close much of the way before losing by 11.

For matchups, Crenshaw-Manual Arts is as close as anyone is going to come to a dream game this season. Westchester gave Crenshaw its two toughest games of the season, but the Comets lost to Manual Arts twice, once last week in the semifinals, so that says a lot about the Toilers’ qualifications.

“They press, they have aggressive guards and they shoot well from the outside,” Crenshaw Coach Willie West said of Manual Arts. “They did it before, and they can do all that again.”

But then, so can Crenshaw. Doug Meekins plays strong inside, Cornelius Holden blocks shots, Staggers goes for a state record for longest time in the doghouse--can a player make All-City without even starting?--while averaging 23 points a game, and guards Damon Hill, Charlie Hill and David Holloway continue to be more than solid.

It all adds up to 25-0 and the Cougars being the No. 1 team in the state. Their playoff victories have been by 29 points over Palisades, 21 over Washington and 24 over Fremont.

Manual Arts, located a half-mile from the Sports Arena, went undefeated in winning the Marine League title, and its only two losses, to Crenshaw and Cleveland, were hardly blunders. Reggie Morris, one of the best coaches in the City, has won with a 6-foot 5-inch center-forward and four guards, and his team is averaging 95 points a game in the process.

“I don’t know how much Crenshaw has improved since we played them,” Morris said. “They were already very good in December, so I don’t know if they’ve kept going or if they reached a plateau. I know for sure we have improved a lot since then.”

The Toilers have scored 100 points or more 10 times this season and have exceeded 90 on four other occasions with six players averaging in double figures: Chris Small, 20 points a game; Develle Walker, 17 with 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 assists; three-year starter Wayne Williams, 17 and 7 assists; Thurman Watson, 12; forward Kent Bennett, 11 and 10 rebounds; and Sandy Brown, 10. They also averaged 22 steals a game, which was evident in the Westchester game.

3-A

Tonight’s 7:30 game at the Sports Arena matches two unexpected finalists: Grant of Van Nuys (20-3) and Jordan (18-6).

Neither team was seeded for the playoffs.

Jordan is making its first appearance in the championship game since 1982, when the Bulldogs lost to a very good Cleveland team led by Kevin Holmes and Keith Morrison. They finished third in the tough Pac-6 League behind University and Los Angeles High, but came back to beat Lincoln, San Fernando and Los Angeles to reach the final.

Stephon Davis, who averaged 20.5 points a game last season and was the only sophomore named All-City 3-A, scored 22 points in leading Jordan in the semifinal victory over Los Angeles.

Grant tied North Hollywood for the East Valley League title, but lost a coin flip and entered the playoffs as the No. 2 team. The Lancers haven’t lost a thing since, knocking off defending champion Granada Hills in the first round, then L.A. Wilson, and then top-seeded University in overtime in the semifinals to reach the title game.