J D Green

The changing of the guard in City basketball became official Friday night: For the first time in four years, Crenshaw High School, three-time defending 4-A champion and two-time state Division I winner, will not be in the title game. In one sense, the Cougars have only themselves to blame. "My feeling is that we were looking too far ahead," Coach Willie West said after his Cougars were knocked off by Reseda Cleveland, 87-75, in the semifinals at the Sports Arena.

Nevada Las Vegas became the first team in 12 years to finish the regular season undefeated after a 104-83 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton Saturday night. A Titan Gym crowd of 4,032, more than double Fullerton's average home attendance, watched the top-ranked Rebels start the second half with an 11-3 run that opened a 20-point lead and cruise to their 27th consecutive victory this season.

Fairfax High School, the team with the front line for the ages, proved once again Friday night that it is, if nothing else, the City's team for 1986-87. As if there were any lingering doubts. The Lions, No. 1 in California and No. 2 in the country, won the City 4-A championship and raised their record to 25-0 with a resounding 86-58 victory over Reseda Cleveland before a crowd of 11,150 at the Sports Arena. Next stop: The state playoffs, beginning next week.

Sean Higgins scored 22 points and Chris Mills added 20 as second-ranked Fairfax High overcame some bad first-half shot selection to beat No. 6 Cleveland, 56-53, in a Valley 4-A League game Friday night at Cleveland. Cleveland (11-6 overall and 8-1 in league) has a one-half game lead with three games remaining in the seven-team league. Fairfax has only two games left. If the Cavaliers win all of them, they win the title.

The last time Mater Dei High School faced a team ranked No. 1 in the state, a girls' basketball was mistakenly used for one half, Coach Gary McKnight received three technical fouls for an automatic ejection and the Monarchs ultimately lost in overtime. Mater Dei lost to Crenshaw, 59-55, in the Southern California Division I boys' regional final last season. Crenshaw went on to win the state title; Mater Dei ended 30-1. Now, a year later, the Monarchs (29-1) play No.

City basketball champions past and present will play each other in the annual Fairfax High School-alumni game at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 at the school gymnasium. Admission (at the door only) is $2, and proceeds go to the school basketball program. Alumni players include guard Leonard Johnson, the 3-A City player of the year for the Lions' 1978 city champions, guard Gary Gatewood and center Darrell Haley, who played with Johnson and starred on the 1979 city champions.

The opening rounds of boys basketball competition in the 19th annual Los Angeles Games gave Fairfax High's Chris Mills a chance to escape the shadow cast by teammate Sean Higgins. Mills, a 6-6, 185-pound forward, averaged 18.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game last season, but Higgins, a 6-9, 197-pound forward, averaged 25.9 points and was named a third-team All-American by Parade magazine to overshadow Mills' season.

On a stage that had been so kind to them in two previous games, with wins in the City 4-A semifinal and championship game, the Fairfax High School basketball team played out the worst of all possible scenarios Saturday night. The Lions got caught in a low-scoring game. Against a well-disciplined team. With their vaunted front line cold. And their leading scorer on the bench with five fouls. And they lost, 46-42, to Santa Ana Mater Dei. Welcome to Fairfax's nightmare. The No.

High school basketball fans can get an early look at this year's Fairfax varsity at 7 tonight when the Lions, defending 4-A City champions, play an alumni squad in the school gymnasium. Coach Harvey Kitani will be missing two-thirds of what may have been the best front court in the nation last season. Sean Higgins and J. D. Green have graduated. Higgins is at Michigan, Green at Southern Methodist.

Fairfax High School dispelled the notion that it is a one-man team Tuesday night with a 66-50 win over St. Anthony in the first round of the Tournament of Champions at Cal Poly Pomona's Kellogg Gymnasium. Most of the pre-tournament publicity concerning the Lions has been centered on junior forward Sean Higgins, rated as one of the top underclassmen in the nation. Higgins came into the game having scored 99 points in four Fairfax victories and shooting 68% from the field.