BOYS' BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: MONTCLAIR PREP WINS 5 OF 6 GAMES.

Byline: Jason David  Special the Daily News

Montclair Prep of Van Nuys boys' basketball coach Tyrone Fuller was concerned with the lack of practice his players had had with each other going into the weekend's tournaments: the Cleveland Summer Kick-Off in Reseda where they went 3-0 and the War on the Floor tournament held at Pierce College and Taft High in Woodland Hills where they won two of three games for an overall record of 5-1 in two days.

``Coming into this weekend, there were a lot of teams that were willing to play us,'' Fuller said. ``Now there are a lot of people who don't want to play us anymore.''

Montclair Prep defeated Cleveland 63-46, Los Angeles 78-72 and Newbury Park 84-61 at Cleveland, and scored victories over Sylmar and Centennial-Compton and lost to Daniel Murphy of L.A. at the War on the Floor tournament.

``The guys obviously aren't in shape, but we are still winning,'' Fuller said. ``And we are nowhere near where we can be.''

The Mounties are led by Nick Stiggers, Anthony Davis and Jeffrey Fahnbulleh, a transfer from Palisades. They handled Cleveland easily in the first game of the Cleveland tournament Saturday, went to Pierce where they defeated Sylmar, then came back to Cleveland where they struggled against a much smaller Los Angeles team in the first half before taking control.

Los Angeles, playing with only four varsity players and filling the rest of its roster with junior varsity players because of finals in the year-round schedule, managed to jump out to a 18-9 lead in the first ten minutes. Capitalizing on Montclair Prep's sluggish defense, the Romans went into the half leading 35-27.

Montclair Prep came alive, however, putting together a 21-6 run to open the second half. With Los Angeles up 39-34, Davis scored his first points of the game. From there, Montclair Prep would score eight points in a row to take the lead for good. Davis had six of those points, including two breakaway dunks.

``To hold me scoreless in the first half is not usual,'' Davis said.

Davis would dominate the second half, finishing with 22 points. He finished one fast break with a reverse dunk and subsequent three-point play when a Los Angeles player ran into his dangling legs.

Fahnbulleh, who had 21 points against Cleveland, scored 18 against Los Angeles. The combination of him and Stiggers was a problem for the Romans the entire game. Nevertheless, Los Angeles stayed in the game led by 5-foot-5 Alvin Aurelio's 16 points.

``Los Angeles was the most aggressive team we played today,'' Davis said. ``They were undersized and they knew they had to play hard. ... It was just a mental thing at the beginning of the game, but once we figured out where our problem was, we picked it up.''

The Mounties had no problems against Newbury Park on Sunday, jumping out to a 52-31 halftime lead. Davis once again gave the defense fits, hitting from outside, finding openings inside and pushing the ball quickly on fast breaks. He finished with 27 points, 21 in the first half.

--No failure without Taylor: Even without dominant guard Bryce Taylor, outside shooter Ed White and big center Zack Woolridge, Harvard-Westlake of Studio City played consistently, winning all three of its games at Cleveland. The Wolverines defeated Simi Valley 69-51, Cleveland 74-67 and Pasadena 82-78.

``As long as we keep running the ball and people off the bench are hitting shots, we'll be fine,'' 6-7 junior center Evan Harris said.

Harris scored 12 points against Cleveland and junior Imhotep Royster hit four 3-pointers, finishing with 15 points.

``This was the first time in a while that I've been consistently in the rotation, getting good minutes,'' Royster said. ``Hopefully it won't be a one-time thing.''

Harvard-Westlake wasn't able to breeze by Pasadena on Sunday. After losing to Newbury Park 73-70 in overtime Saturday, Pasadena was fired up.

Pasadena controlled the tempo of the first half and led by two going into the break before Harvard-Westlake ran off 12 consecutive points to start the second half. With three minutes left, the Wolverines owned a 81-63 lead. Pasadena played intense defense to jump right back into the game, orchestrating a final 15-1 run.

--The host with the boast: With the addition of three Birmingham of Lake Balboa transfers - Levi Henry, Matt Cook and Loren Leath - Cleveland was ready to claim the West Valley League title Saturday, despite losing its early game to Montclair Prep and falling to Harvard-Westlake.

``We are just trying to let everyone know we are coming to play this season,'' Nick Young said. ``We don't want to be the underdogs anymore.''

Young had 18 points in the loss to Montclair Prep, but he disappeared against Harvard-Westlake, hitting only two field goals, scoring six points and turning the ball over on four traveling calls.

``We came out lazy and not ready to play,'' said Cleveland's Frank Livingston about the Harvard-Westlake loss. ``We played like a JV team.''

The Cavaliers came out stronger against Simi Valley on Sunday, showing their ability to run a consistent full-court press and the depth of their bench as 12 players scored.

--Taft's moves: Julio and Rico Marshall have transferred from Taft to Sylmar and 6-7 junior Joey Street transferred to Taft from Burbank.

--War on the Floor: The following games will be played at Taft today in the Gold Bracket, starting at 1:40 p.m.: Chaminade vs. Inglewood, Montclair Prep vs. Hart, Centennial-Compton vs. Oxnard, Notre Dame vs. Dorsey.

The Silver Bracket will play at Canoga Park High at the same time: Oaks Christian vs. Canoga Park, Palmdale vs. Santa Monica, Moorpark vs. El Camino Real, Locke vs. Sylmar.