Boys’ basketball: Taft too much for Crenshaw
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After watching his team pull away from Crenshaw for a 74-62 victory in a City Section Division I quarterfinal, Taft Coach Derrick Taylor tabbed the Cougars as a team to beat in the City next season.
‘Most of their kids are coming back,’ Taylor said. ‘They’re going to be a handful next year.’
But tonight, the Cougars showed they still have some growing up to do. Their inability to box out for rebounds and adequately defend the perimeter led to numerous easy putbacks and open three-point shots.
Third-seeded Taft (24-3), which will play second-seeded Fairfax on Saturday at the Galen Center in a semifinal, took a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter and was never seriously threatened. Nevada Las Vegas-bound guard Justin Hawkins scored 20 points and Michael Williams had 18 for the Toreadors.
‘I expected a little more from us,’ Crenshaw Coach Ed Waters said. ‘We didn’t rebound the ball as well as we needed to and didn’t defend as well as we can.’
Perhaps it was a bad omen for the Cougars (19-4) when they missed four shots from point-blank range on an early possession and senior forward Moriah Johnson had to go to the bench with two fouls only 1 minute 32 seconds into the game.
‘I never got into the flow of the game,’ said Johnson, who finished with four points.
Crenshaw actually scored five of the game’s first six points, stirring some concern in Taylor.
‘They sped us up and we were reacting to what they were doing,’ Taylor said. ‘We weren’t dictating the tempo.’
But Crenshaw’s gambling approach -- the Cougars often tried to steal outlet passes -- eventually led to some easy fast-break opportunities for the Toreadors, who built a nine-point halftime lead.
Crenshaw pulled to within seven points midway through the fourth quarter before Taft scored eight of the next nine points to retake control.
Junior guard Duce Zaid scored 22 points and junior guard Reynaul Baker had 12 for Crenshaw, which returns every starter next season except Johnson.
‘We’re going to be OK,’ Waters said.
-- Ben Bolch