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Boys’ basketball: Banner day for Besant Hill

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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This Southern Section title was a long time coming for Besant Hill, though more so for the school that opened in 1946 than the basketball team that is in its first year of varsity competition.

The Coyotes won their first section title--in any sport--with a 74-63 victory over Hope Centre Academy in the Division VI-A championship tonight at Ontario Colony High.

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Besant Hill held only a one-point lead with 5 minutes 21 seconds before pulling away with a 15-2 run. Coyotes junior center Yannick Atanga punctuated the victory with a two-handed dunk in the final seconds and then celebrated with a leaping chest bump with teammate Ivan Matip.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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