Taft Earns Title Shot as Franklin Scores 25 Points

Kevin Franklin failed to score more than 30 points for the fourth straight game, but his 25-point performance Friday night was more than enough to lead Taft High to the finals of the North Hollywood Basketball Tournament with a 78-62 victory over El Camino Real.

Taft (4-2) will play Granada Hills (5-1) for the tournament title tonight at 8:30 p.m. Granada Hills defeated North Hollywood, 65-61, in the other championship bracket semifinal on Friday.

Franklin, who missed most of the first quarter after picking up two personal fouls, scored 14 points in the first half, but got sloppy in the second half and missed several close attempts.

That may be understandable for another player, but Franklin’s 11-for-13 shooting performance on Thursday had caused some fans to start counting points whenever he cocked to shoot.

“He was bound to have a cooling off period,” said Taft Coach Jim Woodard. “He was even missing the gimme shots. Fortunately, we had a good lead.”

Taft got scoring support from Gerrard Prince, who scored 19 points, and Vernon Middleton, who added 15.

But while Woodard had the luxury of a large lead, El Camino Coach Mike McNulty had to watch his two forwards self-destruct in the second half.

El Camino (3-3) was hampered by the erratic performance of forward Damon Orlando. The junior who specialized in hitting from the outside missed his first five shots of the game. By the time he connected El Camino trailed, 30-18.

In the second quarter, Orlando got hot and sank three consecutive baskets en route to a nine-point quarter. But El Camino trailed at halftime, 42-32.

Then the gunners went cold.

Sean Davis, who scored 19 points in the first half, suddenly lost his touch. He was 2-of-13 shooting in the second half.

Meanwhile, Orlando just disappeared. He appeared reluctant to shoot the ball and had only one basket in the third quarter. He attempted just one shot in the fourth period.

Granada Hills advanced to the title game behind a 24-point performance from center Gary Gray. Terrell Smith added 16 for the Highlanders, while Sam Puathasnanon had 13.

North Hollywood (2-4) will play El Camino for third place tonight at 7 p.m. North Hollywood was led by brothers Peter and Dominic Nappi, who each had 16 points against Granada Hills.

Granada Hills trailed North Hollywood, 55-53, with two minutes left in the game, but Gray tied it with a short jumper to spark a 8-0 run. Puathasnanon made four clutch free throws in that span and Sean Brown hit a jumper.

In loser’s bracket games on Friday, Grant defeated Montclair Prep, 72-61, and Notre Dame defeated Bell-Jeff, 71-58. Grant and Notre Dame will play for the consolation championship tonight at 5:30.