Westchester Cagers Move to Semifinals in L.A. Games

When prep fans looked at the match-ups on Saturday’s slate for the L.A. Games, one contest screamed for attention. And the much-heralded Westchester-Inglewood High School boys’ basketball game did not disappoint those who packed the stands at El Camino College.

The game, pitting two of the area’s top players--Inglewood’s Harold Miner and Westchester’s Zan Mason--was the focus of attention Saturday as the 21st annual prep sports festival moved into its final weekend. An overflow crowd filled El Camino’s South gym.

The Miner and Mason show played to rave reviews, but Westchester came out on top, 57-52, in a game that was not decided until the final seconds.

Mason was held to 11 points in the contest, but Miner pumped in 25 on an assortment of shots, including two picture-book slam dunks and a left-handed dunk on a rebound that elicited oohs and aahs from the audience.

“Harold’s play was just outstanding,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzan said. “He was out of his mind on some of those plays. But I don’t think we played that well at all: We were really poor defensively. I know we can play a lot better than that.

“I can’t say what would have happened if Harold didn’t have the kind of game he did; maybe somebody else might have risen to the occasion. But we just couldn’t stop him.”

After beating Inglewood, Azzan was worried the Comets might have run out of gas, but his worries proved unfounded as Westchester later defeated Saddleback, 58-39, to move into today’s semifinals against Granada Hills at noon at El Camino.

Granada Hills fought off a scrappy Gardena High School squad, 66-63 in overtime, to earn the right to face Westchester.

In that game, Gardena enjoyed a 3-point advantage with 1 minute remaining in regulation time and had a 1-point lead with 20 seconds to go in overtime, but Granada Hills pulled out the win.

“We’re up by one, we should have just held onto the ball,” said Mohicans Coach Bill Hughes, whose team surprised a few people by advancing to the quarterfinals. “If we learned anything in the L.A. Games, it was to hold onto a lead. We had a lead in every game but let the other get back in every game. It was nice to get this far but I was looking forward to playing Ed (Azzan).”

Kevin Sander scored 20 points for Gardena in a losing cause while Darryl McMillan knocked down 16.

Earlier, Gardena defeated Artesia, 50-44, as McMillan and Chris Thompson scored 18 points apiece.

Westchester jumped out to a huge lead early against Saddleback and was ahead 33-11 at half-time. With the game in the bag, Azzan went to his bench for the final half.

Azzan was not pleased with the substitutes’ play in the second half.

“I just want them to play hard and do the things that we have taught them, and it seems like some of our guys weren’t doing that,” he said.

Mason led the Comets with 16 points, 14 in the first half. No other Westchester player had more than 6 points in the effort against Saddleback.

Conversely, in the earlier effort against Inglewood, the Comets turned in a team effort, with 3 players scoring in double figures: Mason, Sam Crawford with 14 and Renaud Gordon with 13.

“Gordon played an excellent game,” Azzan said. “Especially in the second half. It didn’t look like he was doing much in the first half, but it was the first game in the tournament that we were asked to perform late in the game, and he came through for us.”

In other action, the girls’ softball champion was crowned Saturday when Thousand Oaks defeated Leuzinger High, 15-2, at El Camino.

The Olympians earned the right to face Thousand Oaks with an 11-6 victory over Culver City. In girls’ basketball, Morningside High advanced to the quarterfinals with a forfeit victory over Santa Ynez, but Crenshaw then squeaked by the Monarchs, 57-56, to move into the semifinals.

Morningside was the 1988 CIF 3A champion.

Carson beat Dorsey in football by running up more yards in a 19-19 tie, but the Colts were then beaten by Taft, 13-6, in the semifinals.

Gardena beat Westchester, 21-19, before falling to Canyon, 13-7. Muir defeated Banning, 20-13, in another quarterfinal contest.

Palos Verdes High moved into the boys’ soccer finals with a 2-0 victory over La Canada, while Hawthorne High was eliminated, 2-1, by St. Francis in the semifinal round. Today’s final game will be played at 12:30 p.m. at El Camino.

Hawthorne plays Arcadia at 10 a.m. at El Camino in the girls’ soccer finals.

In water polo, Mira Costa faces Edison in the semifinal round at noon at El Camino, with the winner playing the victor of the Muir-Fontana contest at 3 p.m.

Mary Star High had moved into the baseball quarterfinals with two forfeit victories but turned the tables on itself Saturday by forfeiting a game against Ocean View. Riverside Poly plays Chatsworth in the final game today at noon at El Camino.