PREP BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: MANY AREA STARS OWE DEBT TO NORTHRIDGE KNIGHTS.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore and Chris Cocoles Staff Writers

Its alumni includes Stanford basketball standouts Jason and Jarron Collins, the twin towers who led Harvard-Westlake High to consecutive state championships in 1996-97.

To be sure, the Northridge Knights youth basketball team has enjoyed an illustrious 35-year history.

So it's no surprise the Knights have been well represented during the current high school basketball playoffs.

In fact, six players from North Hollywood, which plays Manual Arts on Saturday in the City Divisional final at Loyola Marymount, came through the Northridge program.

In addition, Simi Valley's Branduinn Fullove, who leads the Pioneers against Mater Dei on Saturday in the Southern Section Division I-A final, and Campbell Hall's Hassan Bassiri, who fell Tuesday against Calvary Chapel of Downey in the Division V-AA semifinals, are former Knights.

Fullove was a year ahead of the North Hollywood players, but Bassiri, and North Hollywood's Nathan Stern, Gus Ruiz, D.J. Johnson, Kenny Hauser, William Kim, Eric Roller and David Danipour all played on the same Northridge team as youngsters. The team also featured John Valedez of Sylmar and George Price of Granada Hills.

``Those were some fun times,'' said Northridge coach Bert Stern, the father of Nathan Stern. ``We all spent a lot of time together traveling to games, playing. It was a lot of fun and a lot of great memories.''

Just like this year's North Hollywood team, the Knights' eighth-grade team in 1997 was scrappy, smart and fearless. Those Knights are the only travel team to win the two most prestigious tournaments - the Valentine's Classic in Santa Barbara and the Golden State tournament in Los Angeles - in the same year.

``I remember sleeping with the trophy,'' Stern said. ``Until my wife threatened to kick me out of bed.''

Obviously the program had an impact on the players. After the Collins twins led Harvard-Westlake to the state title in 1997, Jarron flew home early to make good on a commitment to be the keynote speaker at the Knights awards banquet the next day.

``I thought there was no way he'd make it, so I got another speaker,'' Stern recalls. ``But five minutes before the banquet started, Jarron walks through the door. It was really nice.''

--Block party: Mater Dei center Jamal Sampson recorded double-digits in blocks during the Monarchs' December win over the Pioneers at the San Diego Nike Tournament.

Mater Dei poses other defensive problems as well. In a second-round win over Thousand Oaks, forward Mike Strawberry and guard Cedric Bozeman combined for seven blocks.

Mater Dei's intense pressure won't allow many easy shots.

``You're going to get some shots blocked . . . But that's just part of the game. There's nothing to fear. You wouldn't go to the basket any differently,'' Fullove said.

``We're not worried about so much what they do. It's what we do, too. They have to worry about us. There's a lot of things we do well.''

--Best wishes: Don MacLean, the most distinguished of Simi Valley's basketball alumni, has been a supporter at several Pioneers games this year.

And with Simi Valley playing for the Division I-A title, the well-wishers are making themselves known.

``About this time of year they all start coming back and flocking and showing up,'' Pioneers coach Christian Aurand said.