Birmingham Drops Poly in the Final, Wins, 73-58

Poly wanted a crack at the Birmingham basketball tournament championship. And the Parrots got one, only to have it slip away in the final three minutes Tuesday night against the Birmingham High Braves.

Momentarily shaken, Birmingham collected itself and defeated Polytechnic, 73-58, to win the tournament championship.

Very quietly, while schools like Cleveland, Granada Hills and Taft have been stealing the headlines, Birmingham has won 10 of its 11 games this season. The lack of recognition hasn’t bothered Braves Coach Jeff Halpern in the least.

“That’s the way we like it,” Halpern said. “We just kind of come out and do our job.”

The Braves had the Parrots eating out of their hands for most of the game. Birmingham led, 22-8, after one period, 36-22 at halftime and 55-39 at the end of three quarters.

But things got a little sticky for the Braves in the fourth quarter.

Utilizing an intense full-court press, Poly pecked away at the lead, closing to within seven points with under three minutes to play. Through three periods, Birmingham had committed just three turnovers. But in the fourth quarter, under duress, the Braves turned the ball over six times.

Just when it appeared Birmingham might collapse, however, forward Ennerea Maxwell threw in an off-balance, turnaround bank shot to put the Braves ahead, 60-51. Poly never recovered. And when the Parrots were forced to foul down the stretch, Braves’ guard Adam Zuckerman sank seven of eight free throws in the final two minutes.

Zuckerman, who was named to the all-tournament team, finished with 20 points. Maxwell led all scorers with 23.

Poly (6-4) got 20 points from center Carlos Ortiz and 13 apiece from guards Jorge Ramos and Mike Ornelas.

The Parrots rely heavily on Ramos and Ornelas for points, but the two guards had an off night. Ramos made only six of 21 shots, Ornelas six of 18.

Joining Zuckerman on the all-tournament team were Ramos, Birmingham’s Keith Owens, Reseda’s Robert Stepner, Agoura’s Craig Duryea, and Orel Elrington of Canoga Park.

In other games, Jeff Ricks scored 17 points to lead Reseda (4-4) to a 63-49 victory over Grant (4-6) and third place.

In the consolation championship, Elrington scored 18 points, and Andre Ball and Darwin Garnett chipped in with 16 apiece to lead Canoga Park (5-4) past Van Nuys, 68-60. Alonzo Galloway had 21 points for Van Nuys (3-6).

In the seventh-place game, Mike Armstrong hit a free throw at the buzzer to lift Agoura (3-4) to a 56-55 victory over Monroe (2-5). Craig Duryea scored 30 points for Agoura.