SoCalHoops High School News
Westchester Doesn't Fare Well In
Pennsylvania At McDonald's Classic--(Jan. 15, 1999)
Westchester gets around. Last year it was the super-secret Pooh Richardson Stealth Classic ("stealth" largely because no one knew much about it) in Philadelphia; this year, it's the McDonald's Tourney in Erie, Pennsylvania. Seems that the Comets like to travel. A lot. Last year, the defending State Champion Westchester Comets won two exhibition games, and set the stage for themselves to win the City Section title, the State Southern Regional title, and the State Championship. But that was with players like Chris Williams, Tony Bland (now at Syracuse) and David Bluthenthal and Brandon Granville, (now at USC). This year, the Comets aren't doing as well. Sure, they've got legitimate D-I prospects like ASU-signee Chris Osborne (6'-9" Sr. PF) and Lou Wright (6'-7" Jr. SG/SF), and Eric Knight (6'-3" Fr. PG/SG). But these guys just haven't had the nearly the depth of a supporting cast that last year's team had, and they've struggled a lot.
Fresh on the heels of their loss to Manual Arts earlier this week in a cross-town rivalry which now puts Manual in the lead as the top contender in City Section (that is until they lost last night to Fairfax!), Westchester travelled to Pennsylvania in search of itself. And when they looked in the mirror, there wasn't a whole lot there.
We got a report of this game from our friend Grant Crason, who is attending the McDonald's Classic Tourney, which takes place over the MLK, Jr., weekend holiday. Here's what he had to say:
Yesterday, in the first game at Gannon's Hammermill Center, St. Patrick's of Elizabeth, N.J., used a triple-double by 6-8 senior Samuel Dalembert and a 25-point performance by senior guard Jerome Holman to defeat Westchester of Los Angeles 55-47. St. Patrick seemed to take control of the first game when Dalembert who had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots slammed home a dunk for a 27-17 lead with 6:11 left in the first half.
But the Comets rallied by hitting four 3-pointers before the half ended to tie the game 33-33.
Dalembert then became a demon on defense in the third quarter, at one time blocking three straight Westchester shots underneath. He finished the second half with seven blocks.
Westchester managed just 14 points in the second half as the Celtics took away the Comets" offensive game.
Lou Wright had three 3-pointers and 13 points to lead Westchester. Eric Wright scored 10 points with eight assists, and Charles Colisimo scored nine points on three long shots.(From Erie Times News)
In my observations St. Pats had much more quickness. #10 Terrence Lawson was the only defender for The Comets who could match up with St.Pats #13 Jerome Holman. Lawson actually kept Holman from scoring when he watched him.
The Comets could get nothing going inside and turned the ball over when trying to go "inside-outside" #33 Chris Osborne was way overmatched against Dalembert. Freethrow shooting was a rare occurrence for Westchester (six or eight attempts) and they did not hit any that I remember.
Lou Wright played a good game but Eric Knight was held in check by the St. Pats quick trapping defense.
Grant Crason
Thanks Grant. Hopefully, we'll get more reports as the McDonald's Classic continues.
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