BOYS CITY BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Poly’s Late Rally Falls Short in a 65-63 Upset

Narbonne High beat Polytechnic in the first round of the City Section 3-A playoffs, 65-63, after Poly’s Alex Ruzich missed a layup with three seconds left.

Narbonne (9-8) held a 10-point lead with one minute left in the third quarter. Poly (14-7) then went on a 16-4 run that gave the Parrots the lead, 55-53, with five minutes remaining.

Narbonne’s Kevin Davis sealed the win, hitting four of five free throws in the last two minutes.

Poly guard Jorge Ramos had a game-high 23 points, and teammate Dean Erlich added 14. Segaro Bozart and Marty Ward led the Narbonne upset with 14 points each.

4-A Division

San Pedro 74, El Camino Real 72--With the score tied in the first-round playoff game, there was little doubt who was going to take San Pedro’s last shot--leading scorer Damon Whitsitt.

The 6-1 senior guard did not disappoint the capacity crowd as he sank a 20-footer from the left of the key with one second left.

Whitsitt, who finished the game with 33 points connected on 14 of 18 shots from the field.

El Camino Real’s Sean Davis scored a team-high 22. Teammate Shawn Stephenson had 20 points.

Westchester 83, Taft 74--Brian Lewis scored six of Westchester’s 10 points in the second overtime to lead the Comets.

Taft guard Kevin Franklin scored 24 and center Quincy Watts had 18.

Westchester was led by forward Michael Courtney with 18 points.

3-A Division

Birmingham 53, Venice 51--Birmingham (12-10) won when Benny Carrasco hit a shot from the top of the key with two seconds left. Carrasco scored 21 points to lead the Braves.

Birmingham’s Keith Owens had 14 points, 10 assists, 10 blocks and 10 rebounds. He also had the game-winning assist, leading to Carrasco’s basket. Venice finished the season 14-8.

San Fernando 62, North Hollywood 55--The Tigers shot 10 of 12 from the foul line in overtime. Reggie Prince, who led the Tigers with 22 points, had a three-point play to put San Fernando ahead for good, 53-51.

Shelton Boykin pulled down 11 rebounds for San Fernando, which now advances to play Marshall in the quarterfinals. North Hollywood finished with a 10-10 record.

Marshall 65, Chatsworth 51--Marshall senior forward Jerry Simon scored 29. Simon’s point total, nearly 10 below his season average, was accompanied by nine rebounds and seven assists.

Marshall failed to execute a spread-out, half-court offense effectively in the third quarter, allowing Chatsworth to pull to within 44-41. But Simon and Luis Gonzalez, who scored 19 points, got Marshall back on track.

Van Nuys 67, South Gate 61--Pat Meyer led the Wolves with 28 points as Van Nuys spoiled a 42-point performance by Keith Billingslea of South Gate.