Westchester Boys Remain the Area City Team to Beat

Westchester High has only one starter, guard Jason Sanders, returning from last season’s 28-3 team that won the City 4-A Division basketball title.

But as teams prepare for the start of conference play Wednesday, the Comets (11-5) appear to be the class of the area’s City teams.

“We’re a young team and we’re still learning a lot about how to play,” Coach Ed Azzam said. “But I still think we rank with the best teams in the City. We’ve played a very tough schedule and I think we’re going to be all right when it comes to league play.”

The Comets have survived a schedule that has included losses to Fremont, Mater Dei, Riverside North and Long Beach Poly and wins over Washington, Pasadena and Serra. Westchester gave Washington (13-1) its only loss of the season, 80-66, Dec. 10.

“I think people wrote us off at the start of the season,” Azzam said. “They thought, ‘Oh, they lost everybody and they don’t have anyone coming back.’ I don’t think we’ve gotten any recognition. But I wouldn’t write us off.”

Azzam gives much of the credit to the play of Sanders, the team’s leading scorer, and guard Danny Walker and swingmen Damon Smith and Ben Sanders--Jason’s brother.

Azzam believes the Comets can contend for the Metro League title with Fairfax.

“I’m hoping it will be between us and Fairfax,” Azzam said. “Based on depth and experience, I’d have to give them the edge, but hopefully we’ll give them a good run.”

Another South Bay team with a legitimate shot at a title is Banning in the 3-A Pacific League. The Pilots (8-7) have the same record they had last season entering league play.

But Coach Marc Paez said this season’s team is better. The Pilots have won six of eight games and held opponents to fewer than 50 points six times during that stretch.

“We’re playing a lot better than last year, particularly on defense,” he said. “Our improvement on defense and our recent victories are no coincidence.”

Banning has benefited from the addition of junior guard Jason Pickett, a transfer from Dominguez, who is averaging 18.8 points and 4.3 assists. He has complemented the inside play of center Bryan Hill.

The Pilots’ title chances should also be improved because Carson has been moved to the Southern League. With San Pedro and Narbonne struggling, Banning could have a clear path to the title.

Although Carson has won six of nine nonleague games, the Colts will be pressed to finish ahead of either top-ranked Washington or perennial power Crenshaw (10-2) in the Southern League.

In one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, Morningside boys’ basketball team meets Artesia at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Gahr High in Cerritos.

Artesia won the state Division II championship last season and Morningside won the Division III title.

Artesia (12-2), which is ranked third in the state by Cal-Hi Sports News, is led by 6-foot-7 forward Charles O’Bannon and 6-11 center Avondre Jones. O’Bannon, whose brother plays at UCLA, was a consensus prep All-America selection. Jones is regarded as one of the top centers in Southern California.

Morningside (13-4) has three players who have signed national letters of intent with NCAA Division I schools: guards Stais Boseman and Donminic Ellison, and center Corey Saffold. Boseman has signed with USC, Ellison with Washington State and Saffold with Oklahoma.

Boseman has a vested interest in playing well against Jones because Jones has also been recruited by USC.

“I might be playing with Avondre Jones next year, so I don’t want to hear about him beating me in this game all year long,” Boseman said.

He is also looking forward to playing against O’Bannon.

“He’s spectacular and very unselfish,” Boseman said of O’Bannon. “And he’s more mobile than he used to be.”

Morningside, which competes in Division III, is the only school from the Southern Section that has its boys’ and girls’ basketball teams ranked No. 1 in their division.

The Monarch boys are 14-4 and the girls are 14-2.

Two other area teams are also ranked in the boys’ Division III top 10. Bishop Montgomery is No. 5 and South Torrance No. 7. In addition, Serra is ranked No. 4 in Division IV and Chadwick is No. 10 in Division V.

Besides Morningside, the only area girls’ teams that are ranked are North Torrance at No. 9 in Division II, Bishop Montgomery at No. 8 in Division III and St. Bernard at No. 4 in Division IV.

The Bishop Montgomery boys’ basketball team is ranked 17th in the first state poll of the season by Cal-Hi Sports News. Morningside is 18th and Mira Costa is 20th.

Bishop Montgomery is also ranked No. 1 in the state Division III poll and Morningside is second. Mira Costa is ranked fifth in Division II and Serra is fourth in Division IV.

Morningside is the only South Bay team listed in the girls’ Super 20 at No. 11. The Monarchs are ranked second in Division III behind San Leandro. St. Bernard is third in Division IV.

The fortunes of the Torrance girls’ basketball team have taken a turn for the worse with the loss of forward Tiffany Fujimoto for at least two weeks because of strained knee ligaments.

Fujimoto, a 5-7 senior who has been an All-Southern Section Division II and a Times’ South Bay selection the past two seasons, suffered the injury when a Los Alamitos player fell on her knee during the final of the Artesia High tournament.

The Tartars (10-5) are expected to be one of the teams to beat for the Pioneer League title, but Coach Ric Momohara said the loss of Fujimoto will make the task more difficult.

“It hurts our depth more than anything else,” Momohara said. “I’ll have to play three girls to take her spot.”

With a healthy Fujimoto, Momohara thinks his team will be in the running for the league title along with Torrance rivals North, South and West.

“It’s a pretty balanced league,” he said. “North has the speed, South has the height and we’re in between. We have a little speed and a little height.”

Add Hawthorne sprinter Corey McCoy to the list of South Bay athletes who have been entered in the high school division of the Sunkist Invitational indoor track meet Feb. 20 at the L.A. Sports Arena.

McCoy, who was a standout at running back for the Hawthorne football team before suffering an ankle injury in the ninth game last season, is apparently healthy and will run in the boys’ 50-meter dash.

Among other additions to the meet are high jumper Kim Blankinship of Torrance, Ed Turner of Morningside in the 500-meter run, Kamara Mayberry of St. Bernard in the girls’ 880-yard run, Morris Giddens of Gardena in the mile, Jaime Artzner of Peninsula in the girls’ mile and Dan Minami of Peninsula in the two mile.

Turner, who was already entered in the long jump, joins a 500 field that includes Damon Oliver of Hawthorne and Northern California standout Jimmy Johnson of San Jose Mission. Blankinship will join teammate Suzanne Radcliffe in the high jump.

Notes

Former Hawthorne High player Reggie Bell is making an impact at the NCAA Division II level with Quincy College of Illinois. Bell, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, leads the Hawks with averages of 17.9 points and 8.9 rebounds and has made 63% of his field goals. Bell, who played for College of the Canyons in Newhall the previous two seasons and was Western State Conference player of the year last season, scored 44 points during Quincy’s three-game trip to Southern California.

Three girls’ soccer teams from the South Bay are ranked in the Division I top 10 selected by the Southern California High School Soccer Coaches Assn. Torrance (11-2-1) leads the list at No. 5, followed by Peninsula (10-5-1) at No. 6 and South Torrance (10-4-1) at No. 9. Torrance secured its place in the rankings with a 5-1 nonleague victory Saturday over Peninsula. In other divisions, Bishop Montgomery is ranked No. 4 in Division II and Chadwick is No. 5 in Division V.

The Peninsula boys’ soccer team earned its 10th shutout of the season with a 3-0 win Saturday over Torrance. The Panthers, who are ranked fourth in Division I, are 10-3-2. The only other South Bay team listed in the Southern Section rankings is Chadwick at No. 10 in Division V. . . . Mira Costa has placed goalie Eric Hess and field player David Happy on the All-Southern Section Division III first team. The Mustangs also landed field player James Fujikake on the second team and field player Jason May on the third team. Peninsula also placed field player Chris Murin on the second team.

South Bay Boys’ Basketball Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Through Tuesday’s Games Rank, School, League: Record 1 Bishop Montgomery (Mission): 12-1 2 Mira Costa (Ocean): 14-2 3 Morningside (Ocean): 14-4 4 Peninsula (Bay): 10-5 5 Serra (Camino Real): 9-7 6 South Torrance (Pioneer): 13-2 7 Westchester (Metro): 11-5 8 Carson (Southern): 6-3 9 Inglewood (Bay): 8-8 10 Redondo (Ocean): 10-6