City Basketball Playoffs : Cleveland Surprised by Fremont, 69-64, in 4-A

Cleveland High School of Reseda, which reached the City 4-A basketball finals the past two years and lost both times, discovered Friday night that, for now, there won’t be a third time.

The Cavaliers, champions of the Valley League, were upset by Fremont of Los Angeles, the fifth-place team out of the Central League, in the first round of the playoffs, 69-64.

Tyrone Phillips, 6-foot 4-inch forward promoted from the junior varsity a month ago, scored a game-high 26 points, 12 in the fourth quarter.

“I was scared,” he said. “I just didn’t want to lose. We still think we can make it the Sports Arena (for the final).”

Fremont trailed, 51-40, heading into the fourth quarter. But the Pathfinders outscored Cleveland, 29-13, in the final eight minutes to advance.

Fremont is 13-9. Cleveland finishes 16-5.

In other first-round City games:

Crenshaw 101, Palisades 72--The top-seeded Cougars remained undefeated with the 4-A win at Crenshaw.

Crenshaw (23-0) meets L.A. Washington, a 93-79 winner over Carson, in the quarterfinals next Wednesday.

Westchester 88, L.A. Locke 66--The Comets, who played Crenshaw closer than any team this season, breezed to the 4-A win at Westchester behind forward Zan Mason and guard Sam Crawford.

Mason scored 34 points, and Crawford added 21 points and 10 assists for Westchester (19-5), which led at the half, 45-29. Guard Leo Tolliver scored a game-high 39 points for Locke (11-11).

Los Angeles 62, South Gate 51--Orlando Holoway scored 22 points, and Emile Bigelow had 15 rebounds to lead the Romans (13-6) in the 3-A game at Los Angeles.

The score was tied, 14-14, at the end of first quarter, but Los Angeles took the initiative in the second and led the rest of the way.

South Gate is 9-12.

GIRLS

Westchester 94, Granada Hills 20--In raising their record to 19-2, the top-seeded Comets, champions of the Mid-City League, jumped to a 31-2 lead after the first quarter and breezed to victory in the 4-A game at Westchester.

Guard Tammy Story had 26 points and 10 assists for Westchester, and forward Relinda Reed added 20.

Granada Hills finishes 1-14.

L.A. Fremont 45, Carson 40--Point guard Porchia Brown scored 20 points, and Shalechia Bunch had 17 rebounds to lead the Pathfinders (12-10) past the Colts (9-6) in a 4-A game at Carson.