Back to the old stompin’ grounds ... slowly

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Took a long crawl down Memory Lane tonight, better known as the 91 freeway.

Looked like I was actually going to arrive in time to see the opening tip-off between Riverside King and visiting Arlington, but then traffic came to a dead stop at Van Buren Blvd. and it took me about 30 more minutes to drive the final mile.

So I missed the first five minutes. At least I didn’t end up like the guy on the motorcycle who caused the traffic jam.

King looked kind of sluggish and sloppy in its 71-58 victory, but the Wolves, ranked No. 9 in the Southland by The Times, have an excuse for sleepwalking through this one because they’re scheduled to play No. 4 Dominguez on Saturday night at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.

Kawhi Leonard, a 6-foot-7 junior swingman for King, has a minor hip injury that’s limiting his movement, Coach Tim Sweeney said, but Leonard got off the floor well on an ally-oop dunk in the second half. The Wolves will need him to be at his best against Dominguez.

As for Arlington, it doesn’t have a player taller than 6-4 and King has, like, five of them, so the Lions were getting out-boarded all night. They shot well enough from the three-point stripe to keep the score close, however.

On the down side, Donnell Hamilton, a 5-8 senior guard and one of Arlington’s better players, went down with an injury to his right knee in the second half and needed to be helped off the court.

-- Dan Arritt