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Westchester upsets Riverside King, 53-39

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It was hard to tell what disrupted Riverside King High more Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, a flurry of technical fouls or a zone defense that seemed to continually perplex the Wolves.

Westchester benefited from both developments during a 53-39 victory over top-seeded King in the Southern California Division I regional boys’ basketball championship that propelled the second-seeded Comets to their first state title game since 2005.

Westchester (34-2) will seek its fifth state title Saturday night at Arco Arena when it plays defending state champion Oakland McClymonds (29-1).

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The game got off to a rocky start for King (30-3) when sophomore Adam Smith received a technical foul for pregame dunking, helping the Comets take a 2-0 lead before any time had elapsed. Wolves Coach Tim Sweeney Jr. received a technical foul in the second quarter for arguing a foul on star forward Kawhi Leonard and was ejected between the third and fourth quarters after receiving a second technical.

“This game was decided before it started, and that was a shame,” said Sweeney, who described the pregame infraction as a “phantom technical on a dunk that did not happen” and contended that his second technical resulted from a conversation between two assistant coaches overheard by an official.

Senior guard Dominique O’Connor had 14 points and junior guard Jordin Mayes had 12 for the Comets. Leonard had 16 points and 12 rebounds for King.

Rialto Eisenhower 68, L.A. Loyola 62: There was no drama in the final minute this time as the Eagles defeated the Cubs for the second time in eight days with a victory in the Division II championship.

Second-seeded Eisenhower (31-3) took a nine-point lead into the final minute after needing a late rally to defeat Loyola (26-7) the previous weekend in the Southern Section Division II-A title game.

Senior guard Andrew Bock scored 21 points for Eisenhower, which became the first San Bernardino County boys’ team to advance to a state championship game.

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Huntington Beach Ocean View 79, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake 63: Six-hundred and eighteen wins later, Jim Harris is headed to Sacramento.

The longtime Ocean View coach’s team will play for a state title next weekend after his second-seeded Seahawks (27-7) defeated the top-seeded Wolverines (28-7) in the Division III championship.

Harris, who is in his 31st year with the Seahawks, had never advanced beyond a regional semifinal before this season. Senior guard Mason Jones scored 22 points and junior guard Anthony Brown had 19 for Ocean View.

Torrance Bishop Montgomery 85, L.A. Price 82 (2OT): Senior guard Michael Panaggio made a buzzer-beating three-point shot in the second overtime to lift top-seeded Bishop Montgomery (28-4) over third-seeded Price (29-6) in the Division IV championship at Cal State Fullerton.

L.A. Windward 52, L.A. Pacific Hills 40: Senior guard Darius Morris scored 15 points to lead the top-seeded Wildcats (28-6) over the Bruins (28-7) in the Division V championship.

Girls’

Brea Olinda 44, Santa Ana Mater Dei 38: Senior guard Jonae Ervin scored 14 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter for the second-seeded Wildcats (32-2), who handed the top-seeded Monarchs (32-1) their first defeat in the Division II championship.

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Correspondent Melissa Rohlin contributed to this report.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com

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