PREPS / CAP CAREY : He’s Become the Dean of Area Shooting Guards : PREPS / CAP CAREY

Torrance High’s Michael Dean has responded well to a preseason position switch from point guard to shooting guard. In fact, he has been scoring like another Michael.

“He’s Michael Jordan to us,” said first-year Torrance basketball Coach George Tachibana. “This year I recognized right away that he was our main scorer and moved him to shooting guard. We run our offense around him now, and we didn’t do that in the past.”

Dean, a 6-foot senior, scored 54 points on 18-for-29 shooting Tuesday to lead Torrance (5-4) to a 107-106 victory over defending Division III state champion Morningside. On Dec. 16, Dean scored 45 in a 92-88 loss to Redondo.

“He was killing us,” Morningside Coach Carl Franklin said. “We tried to slow him down, but he did a lot of spin moves and we couldn’t find a solution.”

Statistically, Dean’s list reads 38.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 6.1 steals a game.

Dean also ranked among South Bay leaders the past two seasons. He was sixth in area scoring in 1991-92 with a 21.4 average after averaging 17.4 as a sophomore.

The Morningside game gave Dean a chance to prove himself. Before last season, Dean pulled a hamstring muscle in a scrimmage against Morningside and missed Torrance’s first 15 games. When he returned, he dislocated his shoulder in his first game against Morningside, forcing him to miss three more games.

Despite having a high scoring average, Dean heard criticism that he could play well only against “chumps.” So Morningside represented a chance to show what he could do against top-notch competition.

“I wanted to make it a point to take it to them and play hard,” Dean said. “People had been saying that I’m not for real and all I do is shoot. That just took my heart away.”

Dean was guarded for much of the game by Morningside standout Stais Boseman.

“I don’t know how many times he shot, but he worked real hard,” Boseman said. “My hat’s off to him. Toward the end, it started getting frustrating.”

Although he scored 54 points, Dean came away with respect for Boseman’s defensive skills.

“He was real tough to get around,” Dean said. “He was tougher than some games where two guys guard me.”

Torrance plays host to Narbonne at 7:30 Monday night in the first round of the Torrance Christmas Classic.

Three South Bay teams that won major championships last year have experienced problems recently:

* The Torrance girls’ soccer team, defending Southern Section 3-A Division champion, lost twice on Dec. 19 to end a 49-game winning streak.

* The Morningside boys’ basketball team, defending Division III state champion, was upset twice in the past two weeks by Inglewood and Torrance.

* The Peninsula girls’ basketball team, last season’s Division I state champion and mythical national titlist, has struggled because of injuries Senior guard Jill Kennedy, who signed early with Pepperdine, is out indefinitely with a leg injury and the Panthers are only 3-4.

Torrance (7-2) won two Southern Section soccer titles during its 49-game winning streak, which ended with a 2-1 loss to Pasadena Poly in the quarterfinals of the South Torrance Holiday Tournament. The Tartars then lost their next game to Bishop Montgomery on penalty kicks after ending regulation tied, 1-1.

Torrance lost its best player, Kim Blankinship, against Pasadena Poly when she collided with a Poly player while trying to head a ball. Blankinship was cut above the eye, an injury that required stitches. She might return to the lineup Monday when Torrance begins play in the Hart tournament in Newhall.

Two other Torrance starters are sidelined because of injuries. Forward Jenny Yokoyama is out with a knee injury and hopes to return early next month. Forward Lisa Liebenau is scheduled to have knee surgery and could be out for the season.

Torrance Coach Karen Jackson said the injuries have added to the disappointment of having the winning streak end.

“I think there was quite a bit of disappointment among the players on last year’s team,” Jackson said. “We realize that we didn’t put out our best effort.”

Franklin, the Morningside basketball coach, said the Monarchs (7-2) are not blowing out opponents the way they did last season.

“We’re a different team right now, people can play with us,” Franklin said. “It’s not like in the (1992) playoffs, where we beat up on people. Hopefully it will make us better in the clutch situations.

“There is a little more parity. There are no easy games. The teams in the South Bay know us quite well and they’ve come in with some decent game plans.”

Inglewood ended Morningside’s 22-game winning streak with a 69-67 victory in the first round of the Tournament of Champions in Huntington Beach on Dec. 14. For Boseman, it was the second time this year he has lost to the rival Sentinels. He played quarterback when Inglewood beat the Monarchs, 20-19, in the teams’ football opener in September.

“I’m getting fed up with (losing to Inglewood),” Boseman said. “(The basketball team) came out a little flat, but we still get to play them in our house.”

Morningside will play host to Inglewood on Jan. 22. The Monarchs opened play Saturday in the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic.

Peninsula girls’ basketball Coach Wendell Yoshida has scheduled a difficult nonleague schedule for the Panthers, who have played several highly ranked teams.

“When you face teams like Poway, Thousand Oaks and Clovis West, you can only get better,” Yoshida said. “We didn’t stay around (the South Bay) for that very reason.”

Peninsula went 2-2 in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last week. The Panthers lost to Poway, 63-56, in overtime Tuesday in the third-place game.

Three Peninsula starters are injured. Yoshida said Kennedy’s leg injury could keep her out of the lineup for several weeks. Forward Joanna Whitley has a knee injury that might require surgery, and forward Mimi McKinney, the only returning starter from last season’s 33-0 team, has been bothered by a sore arch.