SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL PREP BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Boys’ Championships : Crenshaw, Manual Arts Meet for Third Time

Well, that about settles it as to which are Southern California’s two best high school basketball teams.

Crenshaw beat everybody, including the best team in the City 3-A, Jordan, and the best team from the Central Section, Hoover of Fresno. The Cougars are 28-0.

Manual Arts beat everybody except Crenshaw, losing to the Cougars twice, and Cleveland of Reseda. That includes a pair of wins over Westchester, the third-best team in the City, and victories over Bishop Amat of La Puente and Simi Valley, probably the two best the Southern Section had to offer. The Toilers are 25-3.

Now, to the matter of cutting that list in half.

Crenshaw and Manual Arts will play, for the third time this season, tonight at 8 at the Sports Arena, with the winner advancing to Oakland next Saturday to play for the state Division I title against the Northern California representative, also to be determined tonight.

What makes the three meetings different are the ever-increasing stakes:

Dec. 19: Crenshaw wins the Los Angeles Invitational with a 101-90 victory over the Toilers, and John Staggers is named the tournament’s most valuable player.

March 4: After trailing by six at halftime, Crenshaw wins the City 4-A championship with an 83-67 victory. Staggers scores 22 points and is named the postseason tournament MVP. Manual Arts’ Chris Small scores 30 points.

So what of March 12? The only thing for sure is that there can be no surprises. There can’t be between these two teams at this point.

The smaller Toilers, who start a 6-foot 5-inch forward-center and four guards at 6-1 or 6-0, have been gaining ground each try. Judging by Thursday’s semifinals, when they beat Simi Valley and Crenshaw defeated Hoover of Fresno, it also looks as though Manual Arts is playing better.

Other games involving Southland boys’ teams? That’s it. Black Thursday took care of the Southern Section in one fell swoop--Simi Valley in Division I, Kennedy of La Palma and Woodbridge of Irvine in Division II, Banning and Beaumont in Division IV, and Oakwood of North Hollywood and Hesperia Christian in Division V all got the heave-ho in the semifinals.

DIVISION II

Top-seeded Foothill of Bakersfield (26-4) meets second-seeded Madison of San Diego (28-2) at 4:30 in the Sports Arena.

Those two schools did their part in the Southern Section close-out sale this week, Foothill beating 3-A champion Kennedy and Madison defeating 2-A runner-up Woodbridge.

DIVISION III

No. 1 against No. 2 again, with Lincoln of San Diego (25-2) and Lemoore of the Central Section, respectively, playing at 1 p.m. at the Sports Arena.

DIVISION IV

Garces of Bakersfield (23-3) faces Washington of Easton (29-2) at 8 p.m. at Cerritos College in a rematch of the Central Section championship game last week, won by Washington, 68-60.

Garces, however, is coming off a semifinal win over Southern Section 2-A champion Banning, the top-seeded team in the division and previously unbeaten. In the first round, the Rams beat Bell-Jeff of Burbank, the Southern Section 1-A runner-up.

Washington, which played Woodbridge tough in the Division II semifinal last season before losing, defeated Southern Section 1-A champion Beaumont Thursday.

DIVISION V

Second-seeded Calipatria (23-5), which knocked off Hesperia Christian in the semifinals, was a member of the Southern Section until the 1980-81 school year, at which time it was reassigned to the San Diego.

The Hornets, division champions, will meet Bishop’s of La Jolla (24-1), the runner-up, in the 4:30 p.m. game at Cerritos College. Bishop’s beat top-seeded Oakwood in the semifinals and will be playing its third straight road game of the tournament.