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Boys’ basketball: Taft takes 13-point halftime lead over King

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Taft socked it to top-seeded King in the second quarter of their Southern California Division I regional semifinal tonight at King, outscoring the Wolves by 13 points to take a 34-21 halftime lead.

Senior forward Terran Carter was seemingly everywhere for the fourth-seeded Toreadors, making power moves, feeding teammates with passes and even coming up with a steal. Carter and senior guard Justin Hawkins have 11 points apiece for Taft, which is hoping to hand King a defeat on its home court just like the Wolves did to the Toreadors this time a year ago in a regional semifinal.

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Senior forward Kawhi Leonard has 12 points for the Wolves, who were stagnant on offense in the second quarter and repeatedly settled for jump shots that clanged off the rim. King scored only six points in eight minutes and would be trailing by an even bigger margin if Taylor Cunningham didn’t drain a 50-footer to end the first quarter.

--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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