Manual Arts Wins First Title Since ’90

It took Manual Arts a while to find the perfect defensive scheme to use against Fairfax. But once the Toilers discovered it, they were on their way to the City Section boys’ basketball championship.

Manual Arts employed a half-court trap in the second quarter, causing numerous turnovers that led to easy baskets, a big halftime lead and an eventual 79-65 victory over the Lions Friday night before 5,000 at Pauley Pavilion.

Manual Arts (27-3), which lost to Division I state champion Westchester in last year’s final, won its first City title since 1990.

The second-seeded Toilers also defeated Dorsey, Washington and Crenshaw en route to the championship.

“This year, we were taking no prisoners,” said Manual Arts guard Curtis Millage, who scored 15 points. “We were going to play our game no matter what. Our pressure really got to them.”

Manual Arts forced 27 turnovers, many of them in the second quarter when the Toilers turned a 15-9 first-quarter lead into a 25-point margin with 1:35 left in the first half.

It was a stark contrast to the game the teams played in January when Fairfax (24-6) beat the Toilers, 76-73, on a shot by Lion guard Stanley Thorne. The victory ostensibly earned Fairfax the top-seeded position in the playoffs.

It remains Manual Arts’ only loss to a City Section team. The Toilers’ other defeats came against Christian Brothers (N.J) and defending Southern Section Division I-A champion Glendora.

“I don’t think they thought we would go after them the way we did tonight,” Manual Arts Coach Randolph Simpson said. “We used this kind of pressure against Washington and kept it up against Crenshaw. And we had it again tonight.

“We didn’t want to allow them to run their offense.”

Manual Arts accomplished its goal. Fairfax missed numerous shots inside and was unable to prevent Manual Arts from getting second and third opportunities after Toiler misses.

But the main thing was the relentless pressure.

“We came out slow, maybe a little bit nervous,” said Fairfax swingman Joe Shipp, who was held to 19 points, eight below his average. “They played well, but we didn’t play a good game.”

Millage made a three-point shot to open the scoring and the Toilers never looked back.

Manual Arts blew the game open at the start of the second quarter with 10-0 and 11-0 runs sandwiched around a basket by Shipp with 5:10 left in the half.

By the time the Lions scored again with 1:27 remaining in the quarter, they were behind, 36-13. They went into the locker room at halftime trailing, 41-20.

“Their half-court trap caused us to turn the ball over and allowed them to get into their transition game,” Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani said. “We didn’t do a very good job taking care of the ball.”

Fairfax made a run in the fourth quarter, trimming the lead to 66-55 with 3:50 left on a jump shot by forward Jason Morrisette, who had 21 points.

But Manual Arts answered with consecutive slam dunks by Brandon Moorer and James Wright to take control of the momentum and the game.

“We weren’t worried when they got to 11 because we’ve been through this and I knew it was time to turn it up,” said Wright, who finished with a team-high 21 points.

Moorer scored 12 points, Larry Dillingham 11, Otis Belisle seven and Mario Roberts six for Manual Arts.

Evan Burns had 16 points for Fairfax.

Manual Arts will host a first-round game in the Southern California Regional of the state tournament on Tuesday. The Toilers and Fairfax will be in different brackets, but could meet again in the regional final.

“That’s what we’re hoping will happen,” Shipp said. “We’d like to play them again.”

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