I got to see another one of "those" high school basketball games last night. You know the ones I mean…crosstown rivals, packed stands for both sides, cheerleaders, defending champs, cheerleaders, extra security, cheerleaders.

Anyway, Westchester hosted Fairfax in this one, and more than bragging rights, which is pretty important in L.A, was at stake. Both teams are two of the four "consensus" contenders for this year’s city title (Crenshaw and Manual Arts being the other two). Westchester is defending city and state champs, and Fairfax fell short last year largely due to injuries to two key players, Joe Shipp and current Crenshaw star. Tommy Johnson.

Westchester came out smokin’ and jumped to an early 14-5 lead. Led by the nice shooting of SR PG Eric Knight, and the rebounding of JR F, Terrance Lawson, and JR SG/SF, Jason Breland, the Comets looked unbeatable. After a timely timeout, Fairfax gathered themselves and this great battle began for real.

Fairfax SR PG, Stan Thorne popped 2-3 three pointers (he finished with five of em for the night", and SR F, Shipp started working the inside game, to bring them back to 20-16 (Westchester) at the end of the first quarter.

Thorne had a particularly strong game. His shooting is far more consistent this year and having the added weapons of Shipp, and JR SG/SF, Jason Morrissette, has really helped his overall game. He’s still a bit feisty at times, he got yanked for a few after a taunting / elbows / etc. incident, but that fire is just what Fairfax needs. He distributed the ball to the right people at the right time, and when he raised for the J, it was a good choice, and usually fell. He finished with 21 (five 3’s), 4 boards, 5 asssists, and a steal. Great game.

Shipp, who pretty much had his way in the paint, was just unstoppable. He lived at the rack or at the line. His 15 free throws were a small testament to Westchester’s difficulties in keeping him away from the goal. He finished with 30 pts. 6 rebounds, and a steal.

By the half, Faifax had built a 9 point lead, 39-30.

Westchester stepped up their defense a bit, and got some brilliant rebounding from Lawson (9 boards, 6 pts.), and although Knight cooled off a bit, JR SG/SF, Lou Wright hit some key shots to keep the Comets in striking distance. Although the Lion lead balloned to 12 at one point, the Comets found themselves down by only 60-59 with 2:00 left in the game.

Lawson hit two huge free throws after a Fairfax basket, to make it 62-61 with 1:20 left. Thorne came down and hit the key basket of the night, a 3 pointer with :55 secs left to put Fax up 65-61.

Westchester SR SG/SF, Waymon Rowe, who didn’t have big numbers (6 pts, 5 boards) nevertheless was almost the key for Westchester’s comeback. He came off the bench and got all 3 of his baskets on putbacks. But, when he went to the line due to a foul after the Thorne 3 pointer, he missed both, and Thorne came down with the big rebound, was fouled, and made both freebies. 67-61 Fairfax with :26 left.

For Fairfax, Morrissette was a key contributor with 9 pts., 6 boards, 2 assists, and a block. And, 6’5 F / F, Evan Burns made some noise, with 6 pts, (kid has a pretty J), 3 boards, and 2 BIG blocks late. Watch this kid, he’s got star written all over him. You heard it here first.

For Westchester, you Arizona State fans are probably wondering what happened to Chris Osborne. Well, early in the game, so was every Comet fan in the place. He had as bad a half of basketball as I’ve seen him have. If he had dropped or fumbled one more ball, I’m sure the coaching staff would have shared a collective coronary. He was tough on the boards (7 with 2 blks), but could only manage 6pts, and was 0-3 from the line. Guarding Shipp did not add to his rep as a defensive specialist in the paint either. I’m sure he’ll bounce back, but this was not a game to remember.

Lawson impressed as did Wright (17pts. [3 from downtown], 4 boards, 2 assists. Knight, whose shooting cooled in the second half, still had a solid game with 16pts., 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals.

As you can see, the game was much closer than the final score would indicate. It was a great game between two talented tough teams. The city section playoffs should be "all dat and a phat bag o’ chips". Can’t wait.

Later