Boys’ basketball: Tough schedule paying dividends for Wildcats

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For a team that took plenty of lumps this season, University has enjoyed being the ‘bully on the block’ in the City Section Invitational Division playoffs.

The second-seeded Wildcats got 22 points from Kenton Lee and 16 from Brett Pipkin in Wednesday’s 71-55 quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Santee, which was hoping to avenge an earlier loss in the Hamilton tournament.

‘Playing Fairfax and Westchester twice wasn’t fun but that’s helping us now,’ Pipkin said. ‘Our season isn’t over. We have a chance to end it with a win and that’s what we want to do.’

It was a disappointing end to a breakthrough year for the Falcons, who went 18-5 and won their first Southern League championship under third-year Coach Curtis Hughes.

‘With a team like that you can’t play zone because they’re spaced too well,’ Hughes said. ‘But we made some improvements and I expect bigger and better things next season.’

As for the Wildcats, they move on to host third-seeded Venice in the semifinals Friday. The teams tied for fourth in the Western League with 5-7 records, splitting two regular season meetings.

-- Steve Galluzzo