PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cocky Pirate Beats the Buzzer and Carson High Cagers, 59-57

San Pedro High School Coach Jack Kordich says his shooting guard, Kevin Thompson, is the type of player that can “kill you with his cockiness.”

Wednesday evening, however, it was Thompson’s cockiness that killed Carson.

Thompson cast a brazen 22-foot jump shot at the buzzer that hit nothing but net and lifted San Pedro to a stunning 59-57 upset at Carson.

“It was a typical San Pedro-Carson game,” said Kordich, whose Pirates improved to 5-6 and a surprising 2-0 in the Marine League. “Our games are all like that. They usually end on the last shot.”

By rights, the game’s last shot should have belonged to Carson, but Colts’ guard Darryl Bennett missed the front end of a one-and-one with nine seconds remaining. San Pedro’s John Wells grabbed the rebound and forward Willie Sanchez alertly called a timeout.

On the inbounds play, Thompson took a pass from forward Deon Lewis well beyond the three-point stripe. He took a drop step, squared up to the basket and nailed the winning shot as time ran out.

“The guy just made a money shot,” said a dejected Carson Coach Richard Masson, whose Colts fell to 11-3 and 1-1 in the Marine League.

Thompson’s heroics came after Kordich docked him from the starting slot for showing up late to practice Tuesday.

“Earlier in the game, I was afraid to shoot,” said Thompson, who finished with 15 points. “I was out of my game when I came in. I held back because I was frustrated. But on the last play, I just turned and shot the ball.”

Thompson’s shot spoiled a dogged comeback by Carson, which rallied against San Pedro’s zone defense on the outside gunnery of guards Grey Lindsey and Raymond Bennett. The Colts had fallen to a 28-20 deficit early in the game.

“Their zone bothered us, and we didn’t do a good job in decision-making in attacking it,” Masson said. “Plus we missed the front ends of several one-and-ones down the stretch.”

Despite their problems with the zone, Carson held a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter. But San Pedro roared back. Sanchez punctuated a Thompson steal with a layup off the glass to tie the game at 52-52 with six minutes left.

Sanchez led all scorers with 19 points to pace San Pedro, which was injury-plagued during the preseason. Wells, Lewis, and swing man Joey Hay each had six points for the Pirates, and guard Chris Davenport added seven.

Damon Estell, 6-5 center, led Carson with 14 points and forward Stephen Smith added 13. Lindsey finished with 11 points and Raymond Bennett contributed nine off the bench.

The Pirates did a good job in containing Carson forward Rodney Bowen, holding him to six points. Bowen’s most spectacular play came in the first quarter when his emphatic slam dunk cost Carson two technical shots because Bowen hung on the rim.

“We’re much better than our record shows,” Kordich said. His Pirates, who knocked off Banning last Friday in the league opener, held the lead for the entire first half before Smith’s third quarter jumper gave Carson its first tie of the game.

Westchester 89, Dorsey 74--The back-court combination of junior Sam Crawford and senior Michael Brown combined for 60 points Wednesday as Westchester cut down Dorsey, 89-74, in a Central League game at Westchester.

The Comets led, 51-30, at intermission before Dorsey cut it to 81-72 with three minutes left on Marcus Nash’s three-pointer from the base line. Westchester then hit several one-and-one free throws and put the game out of reach.

Crawford finished with 41 points and Brown 19. Star junior Zan Mason didn’t dress for Westchester. No reason was given. Westchester improved to 2-0 in league and 14-1 overall.

Nash had 22 points and Anthony Thomas scored 17 for Dorsey.

Locke 72, Gardena 70--Locke’s Leo Toliver hit two free throws in the closing seconds to break a 70-70 tie in a Marine League game at Locke. Toliver finished with a game-high 26 points. Alphonso Allen added 14 and Kevin Herron and Damon Thompson 12 apiece for the Saints, who improved to 1-1 in league and 8-6 overall. Gardena fell to 0-2 and 3-7.

El Segundo 65, Centennial 47--The Eagles improved to 2-0 in the Pioneer League behind 27 points by Shawn Foster and 23 points and 17 rebounds by Heath Jones at Centennial. Sophomore Ken Talanoa added 10 rebounds and Jeremy Argo had 6 points and 6 assists. El Segundo is 7-7 overall.

Leuzinger 85, Miraleste 55--In a rout at Leuzinger, four Olympians scored double figures for the Pioneer League victory. Junior Reggie Hamilton led the way with 19, followed by Keith Pullen with 12 and Roger Thomas and Al Kiilehuea with 11 apiece. Steve Klein led Miraleste with 10. Both teams are 1-1 in league. Leuzinger is 9-4 overall, Miraleste 4-9.

Hawthorne 61, Culver City 58--The Cougars rode a clutch performance by Randy Lavender to hold off Culver City in an Ocean League game at Hawthorne. Lavender scored 26 points and the Cougars held leads up to 14 points, but the Centaurs drew to within two late in the game. Lavender drove the base line and dunked midway through the fourth quarter for one big basket and made a driving layup to seal the victory.