Regional Playoff Developing a Following : Prep basketball: Outstanding matchups have helped spur growth of boys’ Division I final.

When the CIF decided to revise its state basketball tournament in 1981, the Southern Regional playoffs were not greeted with much enthusiasm by Southern California teams. To many, winning a City or Southern Section championship was good enough, and the thought of an extended season did not appeal.

Since then, however, the Southern Regional boys’ Division I championship game has become the game for Southern California teams, despite a history that includes domination by City teams--which have won six of the nine finals--small crowds, controversial finishes and a Southern Section boycott in 1985.

Representing the South in the state finals, where teams from the Southland have won for nine consecutive years, has turned the regional final into a marquee event. But what has really helped the growth of the finals have been the games themselves. Remember:

--1986, when Crenshaw, with Stephen Thompson and Dion Brown, ended Santa Ana Mater Dei’s 59-game winning streak in overtime?

--1987, when LeRon Ellis led Mater Dei to an upset over an undefeated Fairfax team led by Sean Higgins and Chris Mills?

--1988, when Manual Arts shocked an undefeated Crenshaw team in overtime?

--1990, when Jason Quinn’s desperation three-point basket lifted Mater Dei over Long Beach Poly?

“I’ve seen a change over the last few years in the enthusiasm for the game,” said Fremont Coach Sam Sullivan, whose Pathfinders will play Santa Barbara in this season’s Division I final tonight at 9 in the Sports Arena. “I know that especially this season, we’ve been looking forward to the state tournament to get a chance and prove how good a team we are.”

Winning a City or Southern Section title no longer carries the prestige it once did. In recent years, divisional championships have become less important, what with the Southern Section expanding to 10 boys’ and girls’ divisions and the City final being dominated by the same teams.

Those factors, along with several outstanding championship matchups, have spurred the growth of the regional boys’ Division I final.

Even though the modern state tournament format began in 1981, there was not a Southern California representative in the boys’ Division I state final that year because no qualifying playoffs were held. Two Northern California teams played in the first revised final, with Oakland Bishop O’Dowd defeating Oakland Castlemont at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

“Before they went to their current format, we used to go up north and play in the Tournament of Champions,” said Crenshaw Coach Willie West, whose Cougars have played in six regional finals. “That tournament was more or less considered the state finals and we went up there in 1978 and ‘79, when they allowed City teams to leave. When they really started playing the Southern regionals, people did not understand and did not think it was important.”

Although Crenshaw has been the dominant team in the regional over the years, the Cougars did not win the first one. In 1982, Carson, with Eldridge Hudson, won the first Southern Regional final by defeating archrival Wilmington Banning at the Long Beach Arena, 88-79. Hudson, who went on to play at Nevada Las Vegas, scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against the Pilots. Carson then defeated San Francisco Washington for the state title.

The next season, Southern Section coaches voiced their disapproval of playing in the regional, with Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight leading the way. After the Monarchs’ Southern Section 4-A title victory over Long Beach Poly, McKnight said: “I wish I didn’t have to play next week. I’d just as soon take the 4-A championship and go home.”

McKnight might have known something. Mater Dei lost to Crenshaw, which had qualified as an at-large team, in the semifinals. The victory earned West his first of four consecutive appearances in the regional championship game and his Cougars defeated Long Beach Poly at the Long Beach Arena, 62-53.

Crenshaw, which was led by junior John Williams--who went on to star at Louisiana State and the Washington Bullets--defeated Bishop O’Dowd for the state championship in the only state title game played at the Sports Arena.

In 1984, Long Beach Poly and Coach Ron Palmer avenged their loss to Crenshaw the previous year, defeating Williams and the Cougars in the regional final at the Sports Arena, 58-54. Ron Sandle, the Southern Section player of the year, led the Jackrabbits, who then defeated San Francisco St. Ignatius for the State title, with 25 points.

Controversy followed in 1985, when the Southern Section voted against playing in the state playoffs. The expected showdown between Mater Dei, which was led by Tom Lewis and Mike Mitchell, and Crenshaw never happened and the Cougars crushed Fresno Edison in the regional final, 100-62.

Crenshaw, which defeated Union City James Logan in the state final, later earned the title of world champions that season by winning a high school tournament in Denmark.

In 1986, the Southern Section returned to the state playoffs and Mater Dei and its 59-game winning streak met Crenshaw in the regional final before a Sports Arena crowd of 12,390, the largest ever for a Southern Regional final.

From the start, this game was different, since the first half was mistakenly played with a smaller girls’ ball. The game took 2 1/2 hours to complete, with 53 fouls, 107 free throws attempted, 67 missed, four technical fouls and one coach, McKnight, ejected.

Final score: Crenshaw 59, Mater Dei 57, in overtime, with Thompson, who went on to play at Syracuse, leading the way with 18 points. Crenshaw then beat Bishop O’Dowd in the state final.

There were not any problems in 1987, as Mater Dei won its first Southern Regional title by defeating Fairfax, 46-42. Fairfax went into the game undefeated and as the state’s top-ranked team, but Ellis, who is now at Syracuse, scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half in leading the Monarchs’ upset. Mater Dei defeated Concord Ygnacio Valley for the state title.

In 1988, Crenshaw steamrollered its competition in winning 26 consecutive games before meeting Manual Arts in the regional final. Crenshaw had defeated the Toilers twice during the season, once in the City 4-A Division championship game a week earlier, but Manual Arts upset its City rival, 89-82, in overtime. In Coach Reggie Morris’ final season at Manual Arts, the Toilers defeated Bishop O’Dowd in the state final.

West won his fourth regional title in 1989, as Crenshaw defeated Manual Arts, 84-72. The Cougars, who had also defeated Manual Arts for the City title, ended the Toilers’ hope of repeating as state champions by outscoring them in the final minute, 14-2. Crenshaw then beat Oakland Skyline for the state title.

Last year, Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly met in the first all-Southern Section regional final. The City Section was shut out when Manual Arts lost to the Monarchs in the semifinals. McKnight earned his second championship when O’Quinn made a wild 20-foot jump shot with 1.8 seconds remaining for a 46-45 victory. Mater Dei defeated San Francisco Riordan in the state final.

“The Southern Regional finals are bigger now,” West said. “It did not get a good response when it first came because people did not understand the difference, so the City finals were always bigger. Now, the impact of the state finals has hit and the fans’ interest has followed. It’s only going to get bigger.”