Jazz Have Plenty in Reserve With Former Inglewood Standout : NBA: When all-star John Stockton needs a rest, Utah turns to Jay Humphries, who helped lead Inglewood to a major-division title in the 1979-80 season.

Jay Humphries answered the telephone in his Seattle hotel room. The caller had a few questions and a message from Humphries’ high school coach, Vince Combs: “Tell him to shoot more.”

“He always made his point,” Humphries said, laughing.

Evidently Combs still does. That night, Humphries scored a season-high 20 points on nine-of-13 shooting to lead the Utah Jazz to a 101-96 victory over the Seattle Supersonics.

Humphries, 30, is playing his first season for the Jazz after being traded last summer, along with Larry Krystkowiak, from the Milwaukee Bucks for guards Eric Murdock, Blue Edwards and a first-round draft choice. This season, Humphries is averaging 8.6 points and 3.5 assists a game backing up all-star John Stockton at point guard. Utah (33-20) is Humphries’ third team since being drafted by the Phoenix Suns as a first-round pick (13th overall) in 1984.

Still, through 8 1/2 seasons in the NBA, Humphries has never had the success he enjoyed during his senior season at Inglewood High in the 1979-80 season.

That team, with Humphries as the starting shooting guard, went 29-0 and won the Southern Section major-division title, beating Long Beach Poly in the championship game. There were no national prep rankings then, but many considered Inglewood the mythical national champion.

“It was very satisfying to win a championship and get all your expectations accomplished,” Humphries said.

Inglewood’s talented team featured point guard Ralph Jackson, who played at UCLA. Forward Vince Kelley and Humphries went on to play at the University of Colorado.

Jackson, the 1980 Southern Section 4-A Division player of the year, received most of the publicity in high school. But it was Humphries who went on to have a standout collegiate career. At Colorado, the 6-foot-3 point guard set 16 school records, including assists (562) and steals (309), and was named to the All-Big Eight first team as a senior.

Humphries said he made the right decision by leaving Los Angeles and playing at Colorado.

“It was my top choice,” he said. “A lot of schools recruited Ralph, but Colorado had been with me from day one.”

Since Humphries had always played shooting guard at Inglewood, Colorado assumed he would continue at that position in college. During Humphries’ sophomore season, first-year coach Tom Apke decided to move him to the point to make better use of his abilities.

“I tried to play him my first year as a two guard, since he was our best athlete,” said Apke, in his seventh year as coach at Appalachian State. “But he was so darn unselfish. He was more comfortable passing, so I moved him to the one-guard spot. He was the leader for all three years I was there.”

Humphries hasn’t always been a leader. Combs, who coached at Inglewood from 1977-80 and again from 1988-90, said Humphries was undisciplined and selfish early in his career.

“He was the sixth man his junior year and I thought he was a little out of control,” said Combs, 51, an Inglewood physical education teacher. “He had tremendous ability, but I wanted him to understand it wasn’t an individual game. It was a team game.

“When Jay finally decided to listen to me, that cemented our team. He was really the key when he grew up a little bit. He realized the old coach was right.”

Humphries credits Combs for helping him grow, on and off the court.

“He matured us as young men,” Humphries said. “He made sure we got good grades. He would even visit the teachers himself.”

Humphries grew up in a house on 104th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard in Inglewood. His father, John, 65, still lives there. His mother, Clara, died during his sophomore year at college.

Humphries said his father encouraged him to compete in athletics and study.

“My father had always been involved with me when it came to sports and school,” he said. “He brought me to my basketball and football games. He’d make it a point of coming to the games. My mother was the same way.

“My father was an engineer with Rockwell International and then moved over to aerospace. My mother was a nurse. They were professional people. There was no ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that.’ They let me make my own decisions.”

Humphries remains close to his coach and teammates from high school. Darrell Watkins, a member of the 1979 team, runs a barber shop in Inglewood that doubles as a communications center for former team members.

Every few months, without fail, players call Watkins at the barber shop to find out what is happening with former teammates. And although he is often on the road with the Jazz, Humphries calls too.

“I’m proud of him,” Watkins said of Humphries. “It’s good to see somebody from our (neighborhood) get out there. When I’m out with him and people ask him for his autograph, I used to laugh. He’s still just Jay.”

Said Humphries: “You can go through the barber shop and see all your high school teammates. Those guys are very important to me. We’ve stuck together.”

When they do see each other, they often reminisce about the heated games that took place, especially against rival Morningside.

“All the games were like Laker-Boston games,” Watkins said. “We battled seriously.”

Was it that way for Morningside’s players?

“Oh yeah, very much so,” said Laker guard Byron Scott, who graduated from Morningside in 1979. “Neither team liked each other, even though we were almost in the same neighborhood. It was a rivalry that always seemed to break out into a fight because you’re young and have those hot heads.

“But you had a very unique friendship even though you were rivals. Once the game was over, you were still very close. Jay and I have been friends for the longest time and I always wish him the best. It’s real good to see guys out of the neighborhood do well.”

Humphries lives in Highlands Ranch, Colo., with Carla, his wife of eight years, and their two daughters, Courtni, 6, and Britni, 4.

Humphries said he plans to play three more seasons. So far, Utah is happy with its acquisition.

“We were looking for a solid point guard who could back up Stockton,” Jazz President Frank Layden said. “What if Stockton went down and we had to hand the ball to a Humphries or a Murdock for the playoffs? We’d rather hand it to Humphries.”

And Humphries will be happy to take it. But he’d better keep shooting, or he’s sure to hear about it.