Westchester Plays Fairfax at Home

The Southland’s top boys’ basketball teams square off at 7:30 tonight when Westchester, ranked No. 1 by The Times, plays host to No. 2 Los Angeles Fairfax in a Western League game.

Westchester is coming off losses on and off the court. The Comets lost to the nation’s top-ranked team, Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, 77-62, Saturday during the Nike Extravaganza at Loyola Marymount, then learned Monday that penalties imposed by the City Section, including a ban from postseason play, were upheld by an appeals committee.

The penalties stem from an alleged recruiting violation involving a Westchester assistant and Amir Johnson, a 6-foot-9 junior center who was banned from practice and interscholastic play for one year for allegedly giving false testimony at a hearing last month.

Despite their setbacks, the Comets (15-2, 4-0 in league) have lived up to their lofty ranking this season. Westchester has played only one other team ranked by The Times, defeating No. 9 Woodland Hills Taft on Dec. 6, but has proved itself against some of the nation’s best at tournaments in Florida and Delaware.

“It’s definitely a playoff-type game,” said Coach Harvey Kitani, whose Fairfax (16-2, 4-0) team should also be inspired to turn in a better performance after needing two overtimes to defeat No. 19 Huntington Beach Ocean View, 84-73, at the Nike Extravaganza.

Without having to face an inside presence such as Johnson, the Lions can rely on 6-7 junior Jamal Boykin to be more aggressive, relieving UCLA-bound senior Josh Shipp of some of the scoring responsibilities.

“They have a lot of good players,” Kitani said. “It wasn’t that difficult to try and formulate a game plan. They are nine deep anyway.”

In tonight’s other top matchups:

* Third-ranked Santa Ana Mater Dei and No. 22 Santa Margarita play a Serra League game at Santa Ana College.

* Los Angeles Loyola, ranked No. 23, travels to No. 15 North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake for a Mission League game.

* Lake Forest El Toro, ranked No. 17, plays host to No. 13 Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley in a South Coast League contest.

Junior point guard Mike Gerrity has rejoined the Mater Dei team after sitting out Saturday’s game against Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, Coach Gary McKnight said.

“Mike and I talked,” McKnight said. “There was a little lack of communication on our parts. He’s back with the team, and everything is resolved.”

McKnight declined to go into details, but some close to the program said there was an exchange between McKnight and Gerrity during the second half of a victory over Bellflower St. John Bosco on Friday.

Gerrity, a three-year starter, began last week averaging 14.8 points and 6.7 assists.

-- Dan Arritt

Girls’ Soccer

Santa Ana Mater Dei (12-4-2) is one of the teams that benefits most from No. 5 Santa Margarita’s 1-0 loss to Torrance Bishop Montgomery on Thursday.

The Monarchs, 2-0-2 in Serra League play after a scoreless tie with Fullerton Rosary on Tuesday, are in prime position to take the league title away from the defending champion Eagles (14-4-4, 2-1-1).

The teams meet Tuesday at Mater Dei.

Their first meeting, on Jan. 15, resulted in a 1-1 tie. Senior forward Katy Dowling scored for the Monarchs in that game. She leads the team with 15 goals and has seven assists, almost doubling her point total from last season.

Senior defender Kyle Felts has anchored the backfield while scoring eight goals and totaling four assists. The two will be Pacific 10 Conference rivals next season -- Dowling heads to Washington, and Felts will attend Arizona State. Senior midfielder Andrea Pagnanelli has five goals and leads Mater Dei with 11 assists.

Mater Dei was 2-1 on a late December trip to Hawaii and had won four in a row before the game Tuesday at Rosary (6-10-6, 0-3-2).

-- Elia Powers

Track and Field

Quincy Watts, the 1992 Olympic champion in the men’s 400-meter dash, has resigned as coach at Woodland Hills Taft because of time constraints.

Watts, who won three state titles during his high school career at Taft, put together a high-profile coaching staff that included Maurice Greene, the 2000 Olympic champion in the men’s 100, and Johnny Gray, the U.S. record-holder in the 800, during his first season at his alma mater last year.

Watts said managing the therapeutic athletic wear company that he founded with Gray last year will prevent him from being able to coach on a daily basis this season.

-- John Ortega

Football

Head coaches will be able to call timeouts -- something previously only players could do -- beginning this fall as a result of rule changes released recently by the National Federation of State High School Assns.

Coaches also will be allowed to talk to any number of team members during an authorized timeout, though it will require on-field players to come to the sideline. On the field, coaches still will be limited to addressing 11 players.

-- Martin Henderson

Volleyball

The National Federation of State High School Assns. has given approval for volleyball players to chase balls that travel into designated out-of-bounds areas, as long as “a body part” remains in the playable area when contact with the ball is made.

Previously, a playable ball that traveled out of bounds into such places as bleachers, team benches and scorers tables were ruled unplayable, even if they could be returned cleanly to the playable surface.

The rule, which takes effect in the fall, won’t penalize a player making legal contact with the ball for leaving the playable surface on a follow-through after contact is made.

-- Paul McLeod