Westchester-Fairfax showdown has makings of a hoops classic

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I know tip-off is still five days away but it’s not too early to start talking about Friday’s boys’ basketball showdown between Western League rivals Fairfax and Westchester.

After all, these are considered two of the three best teams in the City Section (the other is Taft) and their rivalry over the last few seasons has evolved into perhaps the fiercest in Los Angeles. Fairfax beat the Comets four times on its way to the state Division I title last winter. The year before, Westchester lost both league games but upset the Lions in the City semifinals.

So who has the edge heading into their first meeting of 2007-08? Whichever team dictates the tempo should win. Westchester is at its best running the floor for easy transition baskets. Fairfax, on the other hand, wants to pound the ball inside and set up its half-court offense.

Westchester (16-2, 2-0), ranked third by The Times, has won six straight since losing to LeFlore of Mobile, Alabama, at the Iolani Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Comets routed Hamilton, 90-62, on Monday and polished off LACES, 81-36, on Wednesday. Their first loss was Dec. 8 to top-ranked Taft in the finals of Westchester’s own tournament.

Seventh-ranked Fairfax (12-2, 2-0) cleared a major hurdle in winning at No. 24 Palisades, 57-53, on Friday night -- the Lions’ first game in 13 days. However, Coach Harvey Kitani later told Times staffer Mike Terry that his team is still ‘very inconsistent.’ That might be true, but the Lions are also tall and talented.

Junior center Renardo Sidney (6’ 10’) and forwards Solomon Hill (6’ 6’) and Shelton Boykin (6’ 6’) make Fairfax’s front line formidable, but the Comets have size, too, in centers Cordell Hadnot (6’ 8’) and Kelvin Smith (6’ 6’) and forward Dwayne Polee (6’ 8’). One plus for the Lions is the homecourt advantage.

My prediction? I’ll take Westchester in a nail-biter.

-- Steve Galluzzo, guest blogger

-- Image from www.slate.com