NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Fairfax Has Found a New Hero in Gardiner

Point guard Robert Foster may get the publicity, but teammate Lawrence Gardiner is getting the job done at Fairfax High.

Gardiner scored a game-high 23 points Friday and inspired Fairfax with two dunks as the Lions beat Manual Arts, 74-67, in a game matching undefeated Coastal Conference teams.

Gardiner’s two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter woke up a lethargic Fairfax team. The 6-foot-5 forward made a steal and was intentionally fouled while making a thunderous dunk. He made one of two free throws as Fairfax took its biggest lead, 64-51.

Gardiner has a 3.0 grade-point average but has not taken the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Colorado State is the only NCAA Division I school that has contacted him. Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani said Gardiner might be too small to play forward at Division I.

“He is not fast enough to be a guard and not tall enough to be a forward,” Kitani said. “(But) he really has improved his game since the beginning of the season. I think a lot of Division II schools will be knocking at his door.”

Foster, who signed early with Indiana, was pulled in the second quarter after the ball was stolen from him for the second time. He returned late in the third quarter and finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Kitani said it was not one of Foster’s better games.

“We have to learn to play hard for the whole 32 minutes and not just parts of the game,” Kitani said.

Baseball season: Santa Monica College opens its 1993 baseball season Friday in the four-team Imperial Valley College tournament.

The Corsairs will play tournament host Imperial Valley at 2 p.m.

The Corsairs were 17-22 last season and finished with less than 20 wins for the first time in nine years. But Coach Marty Berson believes he has a championship-caliber team in 1993.

“This could be one of our best teams in a heck of a long time,” Berson said. “We have never won an (outright) conference championship in the history of school.”

Santa Monica, which had only eight home runs last season, will again depend on speed. Last season, the Corsairs had 160 stolen bases.

Berson is optimistic about his team’s chances after two players transferred to Santa Monica from Division I programs. Former Beverly Hills standout Greg Holmes has returned to the Westside after playing one season at Cal State Long Beach and will start in left field. Freshman Matt Gorman, a Chatsworth graduate, left Fresno State before the season started and will start at catcher.

Other top newcomers are freshman shortstop Ed Gillis (Agoura) and freshman Dean Davidson (Culver City).

Berson believes Richard Armendariz is one of the best returning pitchers in the Western State Conference. The former Santa Monica High standout had a 2-5 record and a 2.80 earned-run average with 32 strikeouts.

Outfielder Mark Walker, who had a .288 batting average with 26 stolen bases, is the top returning batter.

A bouncing baby boy: Beverly Hills Coach Jason Newman and his wife, Karyn, celebrated the birth of their son Joshua Jan. 16 at Cedars Sinai Hospital. Joshua weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces.

“He was born after we beat Santa Monica,” Newman said. “People associated births with different things. I associated it with a win over Santa Monica.”

It has been an exciting season for Newman, who replaced Jack Dyck as Norman coach. Beverly Hills has won two games with last-second shots by guard Brian Fitusi, who made a 23-foot jump shot to beat Torrance Jan. 5, and a 25-foot jump shot Jan. 22 against Ocean League rival Culver City.

The Normans are in a four-way battle for second place and a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. They were 11-10 and 2-3 in league play entering Tuesday’s game against Morningside (20-4, 6-0) on Tuesday, 79-70.

Beverly Hills is led by forward-center Luke Buffum, who is averaging 25.5 points and eight rebounds a game. Buffum is the Normans’ most accurate scorer, making 64% of his shots from the field and 75% of his free throws. Mel Moultry, a 6-2 forward, has been playing well as of late, averaging nearly 15 points and nine rebounds a game.

The Normans, however, suffered a setback when point guard Robby Soofer turned his left ankle in Friday’s loss to Mira Costa. The 5-9 senior point guard is expected to miss at least two games.

Down to the wire: The Crossroads boys’ basketball team played another exciting homecoming game Saturday against Brentwood. Travon Dugar scored five points in overtime as Brentwood beat Crossroads, 53-43. The Roadrunners had a chance to win in regulation, but guard Bakir Allen missed a layup as time expired.

Dugar made a three-point shot to begin overtime and added two free throws as the Roadrunners outscored Brentwood, 10-0. Allen led Crossroads with 18 points and 6-10 center Austin Croshere had 12 points and 20 rebounds.

In last season’s homecoming game, the Roadrunners had a 20-point lead at halftime but needed triple overtime to defeat Brentwood, 73-71. In that game, Allen made two free throws to tie the score in the second overtime.

Tennis honors: Nancy Kwon was among nine girls’ tennis players from Palisades honored by the City Section.

Kwon was selected to the singles first team, and teammates Torri Ellman and Melissa Cherin were picked for the doubles first team. Other Dolphins honored were Heather Zand (singles, second team), Bentleigh Borgeson (singles, third team), Carolyn Lee and Jennie Wilson (doubles, second team) and Priya Bahl and Alison Fischer (doubles, third team).

Kasie Frazier and Deon Roberson of Westchester were selected to doubles third team and Selena Jong of University was selected to the singles third team.