Dorsey in Familiar Role for Basketball Playoffs

The City Section boys’ basketball playoffs begin Friday, and once again, an underdog Dorsey team will be making a run at the title.

For the last two seasons, Dorsey has begun the Division 4-A playoffs as an unseeded team and advanced to the championship game. It lost to Crenshaw both times.

The Dons have struggled to a 13-9 record this season, partly because of injuries and eligibility problems. Even so, they twice beat Crenshaw in Pacific League play, most recently in overtime last Friday, 80-77. That was only Crenshaw’s fifth home loss in the last 25 years.

Dorsey is not seeded this year and travels to Pacific Palisades for its opening game. If it wins, it will probably have to get by such talented teams as Fairfax, Fremont and Chatsworth to reach the final.

“Right now, my only objective is to meet our goal of winning the City title,” Dorsey Coach Kevin Gibson said. “If we get eliminated early, then our Crenshaw victories will be a highlight. But we’re not thinking about that just yet.”

Gibson, in his fifth year, said this season’s team is similar to the others in that it appears to be peaking at the right time. The Dons started slowly when starting guard Jason Howzell missed two weeks for personal reasons. Willie O’Neal, a starting guard-forward, sat out two games for disciplinary reasons. Guards Lamont Frazier and Mike McCluster have had knee injuries.

Although McCluster might be sidelined for the playoffs, the other players have put their problems behind them.

“We’ve got to stop playing up and down,” said Gibson, whose team lost to Carson at home last week before upsetting Crenshaw. “We can’t just get up for our rivals.”

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For the first time, schools from the City Section’s Magnet Conference are included in the playoffs.

The boys’ and girls’ conference champions were placed in Division 3-A. The conference is made up of schools whose students receive specialized training in certain subjects.

Previously, magnet schools had their own championship, section officials saying their enrollments were too small to compete with the regular public schools.

“The magnet schools feel they can be very competitive in 3-A, and this year they will finally be given the opportunity,” said Barbara Fiege, City Section commissioner.

The boys’ team representing Bravo-Westside Alternative was seeded 16th, the same as the girls’ team from Bravo.

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For the second consecutive year, the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoff pairings have drawn criticism from coaches.

The pairings, which were released Sunday, include several first-round games scheduled today instead of the traditional Friday. The section ruled last year that any division with byes should begin the first round on Tuesday and the second round on Friday.

Coaches who were unaware of the change did not like the short preparation time.

“We’re accommodating teams that get a bye so they won’t have to have a long layoff,” said Dean Crowley, Southern Section commissioner, in defense of the rule. “It’s not fair to hold teams out for 10 or 11 days.”

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Oxnard Santa Clara’s 91-game Frontier League winning streak in boys’ basketball ended last Tuesday when host Santa Paula (21-2) beat the Saints, 52-49.

“We’re just going to have to start a new streak,” Santa Clara Coach Lou Cvijanovich said.

Santa Clara (15-7) had last lost in conference play to Ojai Nordhoff in 1985. The 91 games were seven short of the Southern Section record set by Banning from 1983-91.

Tuesday’s victory was Santa Paula’s first over the Saints since 1972.

Prep notes

Belmont girls’ soccer Coach Neil La Sala watched his team suffer through an 11-0 loss to Van Nuys Grant last Tuesday, but this time he did not pull his team off the field in protest. Two weeks ago, La Sala told his team to stop playing after 15 minutes because he felt Grant was running up the score when it took a 5-0 lead. Belmont forfeited the game, and La Sala was reprimanded by school and district officials. The Sentinels played no better in the rematch, and the referee called the game nine minutes early because of the score. . . . The City Section will release the boys’ and girls’ soccer playoff pairings Wednesday. The boys begin the first round Friday and the girls on Feb. 22.

Mike Bartee, boys’ basketball coach at Riverside North, recently won his 300th game at the school, a 70-51 victory over Riverside Arlington. North has won five consecutive Ivy League titles and is on a 54-game league winning streak. . . . The National Federation of State High School Assns. recently released its 1995 national sports record book. The 296-page book lists records in 15 sports for boys and girls. The books are $4.95 and may be ordered by calling (816) 464-5400, Ext. 241.

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Times’ Polls

The Times’ top 20 high school basketball polls, with teams from the City and Southern Sections.

BOYS

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Mater Dei SS I-A 28-1 1 2. Dominguez SS II-A 24-2 2 3. Inglewood SS II-A 23-3 3 4. Tustin SS II-A 24-1 4 5. Cres. Valley SS II-AA 24-1 5 6. Westchester City 4-A 23-6 6 7. Fairfax City 4-A 20-5 7 8. JW North SS II-AA 20-3 8 9. Fremont City 4-A 25-3 11 10. Artesia SS III-AA 22-3 10 11. Nogales SS I-A 23-3 13 12. Harvard-Westlake SS III-A 23-2 12 13. Crenshaw City 4-A 20-5 9 14. Glendora SS I-A 23-3 15 15. Sonora SS III-AA 23-3 16 16. Santa Margarita SS II-A 23-2 14 17. Pasadena SS II-AA 20-6 20 18. Westlake SS I-AA 18-4 NR 19. Lynwood SS I-AA 18-8 19 20. Washington City 4-A 19-6 18

*GIRLS

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Woodbridge SS II-AA 25-1 1 2. Newbury Park SS III-AA 24-1 2 3. Buena SS I-A 20-2 3 4. Mater Dei SS I-A 21-1 4 5. Brea-Olinda SS II-A 24-2 5 6. Crenshaw City 4-A 23-0 6 7. JW North SS II-AA 23-1 7 8. Peninsula SS I-AA 21-4 8 9. Alemany SS II-AA 19-4 9 10. Diamond Bar SS I-AA 23-2 10 11. B. Montgomery SS III-AA 20-4 12 12. Lynwood SS I-AA 18-5 13 13. Fountain Valley SS I-A 21-6 11 14. LB Poly SS I-AA 21-4 14 15. Muir SS II-A 21-2 15 16. Chino SS I-A 21-4 16 17. Simi Valley SS I-AA 22-4 18 18. San Bernardino SS II-A 22-3 19 19. Downey SS I-A 20-5 NR 20. Marina SS II-AA 18-6 NR