birm307

SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section Playoffs: Division 3-A
Sylmar v. Birmingham Preview--(March 7, 1998)

City Section 3-A Championship Finals

Sylmar (18-9) vs. Birmingham (18-9)

When: Today, 3 p.m.

Where: Cal State Los Angeles

TV: KLCS Channel 58, 6:00 p.m. (tape delayed)

This marks the first All-Valley final since 1996. In the last one, Van Nuys defeated Canoga Park, 70-65, in double overtime in 1996. It is the first time since 1994 that these two teams have played each other, when the Braves left the Valley Pac-8 Conference in 1994. This one sees two teams which at the beginning of the season did not figure to be contenders. My how things have changed. Birmingham seniors Emmanuel Evans, Stanley Fletcher and Fahim Hassankhail are the leaders, and Evans and Fletcher both average 20 points a game, while Hassankhail averages 8.7 assists. Birmingham (18-9) was a team last year that played slow tempo basketball, when there was no 35-second shot clock. But this year, in the nonleague season, the Braves tried a more wide-open game before gradually settling down in the playoffs. "It's taken me the whole season to learn how to use the 35-second clock," Coach Al Bennett told the LA Times.

The Spartans' (18-9) have won nine consecutive games since 6'-6" forward Jeremiah Turner returned from a broken hand; but they've lost guard Brandon Jacobs, who was kicked off the team in January. Unfortunately at the time, he was Sylmar's only real scoring threat, hitting 21 points in the fourth quarter of one game. But now Sylmar is running and gunning better as junior forward Jeremiah Turner is back in shape, and Buckley transfer George Wrighster is averaging about 15 points a game.

Unfortunately because of CIF playoffs and our prior comittment to be at several of those games we may not attend; we hope that Jason Day will be there, and if he is, we'll have his report for you.