1989 Los Angeles Times ALL-STARS : Kings and Queens of the Court : Westchester’s Mason Named for 3rd Year

There are not a lot of big-name players on this year’s Times All-Westside high school boys basketball team.

Only Zan Mason of Westchester has developed the reputation accorded to such all-stars of the recent past as Chris Mills and Sean Higgins of Fairfax High and former St. Monica players Jason Matthews, Earl Duncan and Brian Williams.

Mason, named All-Westside for the third straight year, is headed for UCLA. Mills is playing for Kentucky, Higgins at Michigan and Matthews at Pittsburgh. Duncan started out at Syracuse and is now at Rutgers. Williams played a year at Maryland and was a redshirt this season at Arizona.

But all of this year’s all-stars probably can play in college.

The stars include Eric Clark of University, Adam Clayton of Bel-Air Prep, Chris Cotton of St. Monica and Sam Crawford of Westchester. Others are Fred Dardashti of Beverly Hills, Jason Edwards of Palisades, Norman Francis of Fairfax, Cleveland Jackson of St. Monica and Michael Moore of Beverly Hills.

Mason and Crawford are repeaters from last year. Moore was named to The Times’ 1988 All-Westside football team at wide receiver and received a football scholarship to UCLA.

Capsule descriptions of each player:

Clark--Also a top tennis player, he averaged 17.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a game and was the top nominee of University Coach Jim Nakabara.

Clayton--He sparked Bel-Air to the Division V Southern California regional championship. He averaged 18.8 points, 8.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds.

Cotton--He was outstanding for St. Monica, one of the best teams at the highest level (5-AA) in the CIF-Southern Section. He averaged 15.1 points, 5.5 assists and nearly four rebounds.

Crawford--The ignition system for strong Westchester teams of the last three years, he averaged 17 points and eight assists this season.

Dardashti--An All-Bay League guard, he averaged 13.2 points and 7.1 assists and gave a lift to a scrappy Beverly Hills team.

Edwards--He shot 51% from the field and 88% from the foul line and averaged 18.1 points, 7.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds.

Francis--A two-year starter, he was named All-Metro League after averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds.

Jackson--A star at forward and center, Jackson averaged team-high marks of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Mason--One of the nation’s outstanding inside players, he averaged 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Moore--An All-Bay League selection and an all-around athlete who also stars in baseball, he averaged 20 points and 6.5 rebounds.

Honorable mention:

Bel-Air--Jason Plazola, Zaid Al-Hakim.

Culver City--Tunde Jefferson.

Fairfax--Estevan Johnson.

Hamilton--Dwayne Lewis, Carlos Ginyard, Steve Rothman.

Hollywood--Edmund Walker Jr.

Palisades--Earic Peters, Ijumaa Armstrong, Mikael Bloodworth.

St. Monica--John McFarland.

University--Greg Vernon.

Westchester--Booker Waugh.

1989 ALL-STARS The all-star boys and girls teams, each consisting of 10 members, their coaches and parents will be guests of The Times at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 2, at the annual Times High School Basketball Awards Brunch where all-stars teams from 12 circulation areas will be honored at the Anaheim Hilton. The featured speaker will be George Yardley, a former All-American at Stanford University, who went on to become the first player ever to score more than 2,000 points in an NBA season. The players and the coaches of the year from each area will be announced.

The teams were chosen on the basis of a poll of area coaches, who are asked to fill out ballots nominating their own players and opponents, plus the observations of college scouts and sportswriters. Each player will recieve the traditional Times golden basketball plaque and award certificate.

BOYS PREP TEAM Name: Sam Crawford School: Westchester Year: Senior Height: 5-9 Average: 17.0 Name: Zan Mason School: Westchester Year: Senior Height: 6-7 Average: 22.0 Name: Cleveland Jackson School: St. Monica Year: Junior Height: 6-5 Average: 17.5 Name: Chris Cotton School: St. Monica Year: Senior Height: 6-0 Average: 15.1 Name: Michael Moore School: Beverly Hills Year: Senior Height: 6-4 Average: 19.6 Name: Fred Dardashti School: Beverly Hills Year: Senior Height: 5-11 Average: 13.2 Name: Norman Francis Jr. School: Fairfax Year: Senior Height: 6-5 Average: 13.5 Name: Ahmad Clayton School: Bel-Air Prep Year: Junior Height: 5-11 Average: 18.8 Name: Jason Edwards School: Palisades Year: Senior Height: 6-1 Average: 17.1 Name: Eric Clark School: University Year: Senior Height: 6-2 Average: 17.1