King closes the book on Westchester, sets sights on Taft

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After the fifth-seeded Riverside King boys’ basketball team knocked off host Westchester, 77-75, in a Southern California Regional Division I quarterfinal Tuesday night, I asked King Coach Tim Sweeney how the victory compared to the Wolves’ upset of Mater Dei six years ago in the Division II regional final.

Sweeney simply called fourth-seeded Westchester ‘one of the storybooks in all of basketball.’’ What does that say about Mater Dei, I thought? Are they just a paperback?

Sweeney wasn’t completely gushing over the Comets, however. He followed up his storybook comparison by saying his Wolves never should have traveled to Westchester, that King should have been the fourth-seeded team based on its season results, ‘and maybe the third.’’

He then referred to the team’s only losses this season, a seven-point loss to Mater Dei in mid-December after leading by four points at the start of the fourth quarter in a game, Sweeney said, ‘the referees took away from us.’’

The other was an eight-point loss to Dominguez, which came less than 24 hours after one of King’s key players, Kawhi Leonard, learned his father had been shot to death. Dominguez beat Mater Dei in the Southern Section Division I-AA final Saturday night.

On the flip side, the perceived slight by the seeding committee also provided additional motivation against the Comets, Sweeney said.

‘’We wanted to come in here and prove ourselves,’’ Sweeney said.

That, they did.

--Dan Arritt

-- Image from www.monroetwp.k12.nj.us