SoCalHoops High School News

City Section Playoffs: Semifinals
Schedule & Preview--(Feb. 26, 1999)

Well, in City Section it's down to four teams in each of the two boys' tournaments: Manual v. Crenshaw and Westchester v. Fairfax in the "City Championship" Tournament, and North Hollywood v. Poly and Jefferson v. Hollywood in the "Division Championship" Tournament.

Here's the schedule for tomorrow, February 27, 1999

The finals for both will be next week. The City Championship finals will be held at Pauley Pavilion.  The Boys finals in "City" is scheduled for March 5, 8:00 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion, while the Girls "City" final is scheduled for March 5, at 6:00 p.m. also at Pauley. 

The "Division" title games will be held next week at Loyola Marymount on Saturday, March 6, with the Girls game at 1:00 p.m. and the Boys' final at 3:00 p.m.

And just so you can't say we never do anything for the girls', here's the schedule for their semifinals:

Loyola Marymount is located in Westchester, while LA Southwest College is located at the corner of Western & Imperial in Los Angeles.

We'll be covering the boys' City Championship semifinals only, and hopefully Jason Day will be at the Fairfax v. Westchester game, because we're planning to attend the Crenshaw v. Manual game tomorrow night. And as a sort of preview/review of where these teams have been (in case you've been living on the moon or under a rock), here are the reports of Wednesday's games (which are long overdue in any event):

Fairfax 66, Cleveland 61-- Fairfax is probably at the peak of their season, but then so was Cleveland.  On Wednesday, Fairfax beat Cleveland in a really close game, 66-61.  The best comment we read about the game was the quote from Joe Shipp in the LA Times: "I didn't expect them to be that good," said Shipp.  But Cleveland led by Kent Dennis was that good, it's just that Fairfax was that much better.

According to the LA Times report, it took six consecutive free throws in the final 25 seconds by Shipp and point guard Stan Thorne for the host Lions to hold off Cleveland, 66-61. The Cavaliers (21-5) aggressively went after the Lions at both ends of the court. They fell behind, 31-19, early in the second quarter but repeatedly fought back.  An effective 2-3 zone defense in the second half caused Fairfax to miss a series of outside shots. The Cavaliers would grab the rebound, then convert.  When Cleveland's Kent Dennis made an arching three-pointer with 6:55 left, the score was tied, 50-50, and the crowded gym suddenly got noisy. Twice Fairfax opened five-point leads, but each time the Cavaliers responded.  Grant Pledger made a three-point shot to cut the Lions' lead to 57-55 with three minutes left. Kenny Mason made a three-point basket with 1:09 left, cutting the lead to 60-58.  Then came the Lions' perfection at the free-throw line. Thorne made two free throws with 25 seconds left. Shipp made two free throws with 9.9 seconds remaining and Thorne added two free throws with one second left.  "We just couldn't come through at the end," Dennis told the Times. Dennis finished with 20 points and had tears in his eyes after turning in another All-City like performance in his final high school game. "The shots wouldn't fall and they made theirs."  Shipp, a 6-foot-5 senior who is considering USC, Clemson, Wake Forest and Oregon State as his college choices [that's somewhat news to us, and we have to wonder if Vanderbilt is really out of it now], scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds. Jason Morrissette added 16 points and Thorne 13.  Shipp and others offered renewed respect for the Cavaliers, the West Valley League champions who won 12 consecutive games but were seeded No. 8 in the tournament.  "They just played like they wanted to win," Shipp told the Times.

And from what we saw of Westchester last week, and what we read about them this week, it looks like they're really coming together after struggling a bit during the early season and pre-season.  Here's the report from Wednesday's game against Franklin:

Westchester 76, Franklin 65--Eric Knight scored 31 points and Lou Wright added 15 for the defending City and state Division I-champion Comets, who were too much for the Panthers, who upset fourth-seeded Fremont in their opener. Westchester had to overcome a 10 point deficit though to pull this one off. as Franklin started out with a 10-0 run to open the game. The fifth-seeded Comets, who improved to 19-9, will play at Fairfax in the semifinals Friday. Fairfax, which beat Cleveland, 66-61, has beaten Westchester twice this year. The Comets looked as though they weren't going to advance. They opened ominously, missing their first five shots as 13th-seeded Franklin (23-4) climbed to a 10-0 lead. Slowly but surely, the Comets cut the lead, thanks to Knight's nine first-quarter points and 10 first-quarter turnovers by Franklin. Trailing 18-16 after the first quarter, Westchester went on a quick 6-2 run to open the second, and after a Knight layup, it claimed its first lead of the game, 22-20. The Comets took an eight-point advantage on a Lou Wright (15 points) three-pointer with 2:45 left in the half, but Franklin went on a 9-2 run to close out the quarter. Despite forcing 17 first-half turnovers, Westchester went into halftime ahead, 36-35. Knight came out in the third quarter and scored 12 points behind two three-pointers, and the Comets held a 57-46 lead going into the fourth. Westchester increased the margin to 19 and essentially put the game away behind a 10-2 run midway through the fourth. Franklin coach Robin Cardona said Westchester's relentless pressure that forced 25 turnovers overall was the major factor in his team's loss. The Comets, though, couldn't pull away from the smaller, less-athletic Franklin team because of 18 turnovers of their own and erratic shooting.  Jason Breland scored 10 points for Westchester. 

In the other half of the bracket, Manual Arts will be playing Crenshaw on Saturday at LA Southwest College. Here's the report of the Manual Arts game from Wednesday.

Manual Arts 83, Washington 66-- Senior guard James Wright scored 30 points and had six assists as the second-seeded Toilers took a step toward returning to the City final with the quarterfinal victory at Manual Arts.  Senior guard Curtis Millage added 17 points and seven steals for Manual Arts, which lost to Westchester in last season's championship game.  Manual Arts led, 39-28, at halftime. The Toilers maintained an 11-point advantage throughout most of the second half, but extended their lead by making 15 of 19 free throws in the fourth quarter.  Manual Arts' Johnny Hardwick scored only two points but he had 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.  Lewis Woods scored 19 points for Washington.  Rodney Anderson and Michael Tardy each
added 12 or the Generals. 

As for the report on Crenshaw, we'll just link to the story of Wednesday's game we posted, and remind everyone again:  Don't always believe every rumor that you hear, even if you read it here.  Armand Thomas is eligible and will be playing.  But Richard Bluette has transferred over to Verbum Dei, so delete him from the Crenshaw roster.

Again, the games are Saturday night.  See you there.  

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