Taft Does Only Half Its Work in 71-70 Loss

Remember the Washington Generals, those foils the Harlem Globetrotters used to run rings around?

They put on an exhibition at Taft High on Friday night--for a half.

After that, the real Washington Generals--the team that finished second to Crenshaw in the tough Southern League--showed up and rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat Taft, 71-70, in a City Section 4-A playoff opener.

In the first half, Taft’s Dedan Thomas did his best Curly Neal impression, driving around and through the Generals for layup after layup as the Toreadors surged to a 43-32 lead at intermission.

And Taft’s Brooklyn McLinn and Jason Deyoe filled it up from outside as well as any of the great Globetrotter shooters ever did.

All the Toreadors needed was a Meadowlark Lemon to add a little clowning.

But there was nothing funny about the second half as far as Taft was concerned.

Or about the way Washington rallied for a 59-59 tie after three periods.

Or about the two missed free throws by Taft’s Tomi Egardo with four seconds to play that cost the Toreadors a potential victory.

“High school kids miss free throws,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “But I’ve seen NBA players do that also.

“Egardo’s inconsistent (from the free throw line). When he makes them, he makes them all. When he misses them, he misses them all.”

In the first half, it didn’t appear Taft would need a pair of pressure free throws to win. The Toreadors came out and made 10 of 15 shots for a 23-18 lead after one period.

Taft (16-6), behind Thomas, McLinn and Deyoe, outscored Washington, 20-14, in the second quarter to lead by 11 at halftime. It would have been more, but the Generals’ Keisan Trammer hit a three-point shot from just inside the center stripe at the buzzer.

Thomas, who led all scorers with 21 points, was giving Kevin Griffis fits with his ballhandling and penetrating skills, and McLinn (15 first-half points and a career-high 18 overall) and Deyoe (16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots) were sniping away consistently from the outside.

But the third period belonged to Washington (13-10) as it outscored Taft, 27-16, and tied the score, 59-59, on Anthony Windom’s three-point basket at the buzzer.

“Those three-pointers they made at the end of the of the second and third quarters haunted us. That hurt,” Woodard said.

So did Griffis’ layup that gave the Generals a 71-68 lead with a minute to play.

McLinn missed a 23-footer with 26 seconds left that would have tied the score, but Taft’s Tony Middleton (15 points, 11 rebounds) stole an inbounds pass and was fouled with 21 seconds left.

Middleton made both free throws and Washington’s Talibu Hurd missed a six-footer at the other end, then fouled Deyoe with 10 seconds left. Deyoe missed the front end of the one and one, but the ball ricocheted off a General out of bounds.

Thomas took the inbounds pass, drove the lane, and passed to Egardo, who was fouled by Desean McCoy with four seconds on the clock. Egardo was long on both free throws, and Jeff Delton grabbed the loose ball as time ran out.