L.A. GAMES : Taft Loses to Crenshaw but Gains Point Guard

Crenshaw High beat Taft on Saturday in a basketball game at El Camino College that featured a little of Dr. J and a lot of Dr. Seuss.

David Holliway punctuated a 44-36 win for Crenshaw with an exclamatory slam dunk with a little more than a minute to play as Taft was eliminated from the L.A. Games tournament in the round of 16. The play drew shouts of delight from a crowd that had watched Taft valiantly battle the Games’ defending champions throughout the contest.

But the real noise was heard around the scorer’s table at halftime and it had nothing to do with Holliway or any of the other talented Crenshaw players.

“Who is that kid? ... Who taught him how to dribble like that?

Your name didn’t have to be Horton for you to hear or discover what the commotion was about. The L.A. Games tournament, which started last week as a 128-team affair, is an event that brings out many of the big names in the collegiate coaching and recruiting world. And all the who’s in Who’s Who-ville were asking about Taft guard Dedan Thomas.

Remember that first name. The recruiters who took stabs at spelling it most certainly will. Thomas, a junior, made a mockery of the ‘Shaw’s vaunted pressure defense. With great quickness, cool hands with which to dribble and an even cooler head to run the Toreador offense, it’s a safe bet he’s going to be one of the De-dandiest point guards in the Valley area for the next two years.

“I try to do a little bit of everything,” said Thomas, who grew up in the Crenshaw district before moving with his family to the Valley three years ago. “My role is to create.”

Thomas, who scored eight points, brought spectators to their feet in the first half with a behind-the-back, between-the-legs, in-your-face, baseline-to-baseline drive that left five Crenshaw defenders in his wake.

The rest of the Taft team almost did the same to Crenshaw, which has won five of the past six L.A. Games tournaments. The Cougars played without All-City player Doug Meekins, who was the 1986 L.A. Games MVP, and John Staggers, also All-City, both of whom were attending basketball camps.

But the Toreadors themselves were handicapped without 6-4 Tony Moten, who broke his ankle last week. Still, Taft was leading, 19-17, at halftime behind the play of the Cousins Thomas--Dedan and backcourt mate Keith, who led Taft with 14 points.

Taft led by as many as five points in the second half before Crenshaw’s Cornelius Holden (13 points) began to take control inside and Holliway (7) hit a couple of outside shots to put the Cougars ahead, 36-32.

The Toreadors’ aggressive play was encouraging to Coach Jim Woodard, who must restructure a team that lost high-scoring Kevin Franklin to graduation and senior Quincy Watts to track. Woodard was particularly pleased with the rebounding of Yomo Smith, Donte McFrazier, Lamont Koonce and Mike Weaver, who neutralized a bigger Crenshaw frontcourt.

In other games involving Valley-area teams, Simi Valley was eliminated in the round of 16 by St. Bernard, 62-45.

Cleveland defeated Bishop Amat, 54-53, then beat Verbum Dei, 58-54, in a quarterfinal game.

Cleveland will play in the semifinals against Santa Monica at 10 a.m. today at El Camino College. Dorsey plays Crenshaw in the other semifinal with the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m.

BASEBALL

Defending champion Alemany was eliminated in a 4-2 semifinal loss to Ocean View.

Ocean View advanced to the final with four runs in the fourth inning. Two of the runs were the result of consecutive passed balls.

Alemany attempted to rally in the seventh inning but left the bases loaded to end the game.

Earlier, Charlie Winner struck out 12 and allowed two hits--one a grand slam--as Alemany defeated Culver City, 7-6, to reach the semifinals.

In the other semifinal, Chatsworth was eliminated in a 6-4 loss to Riverside Poly.