Crenshaw Gets Past Oakland Skyline, 70-63

Crenshaw High School’s boys’ basketball team, noted for its scoring ability, went to a spread offense in the fourth quarter Saturday night and escaped with a 70-63 victory over Oakland Skyline before 14,622 in the State Division I championship game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

With the victory, the Southern California representative has won eight consecutive State championships. It is Crenshaw’s fourth title.

The Cougars took a 63-48 lead into the fourth quarter, but then Skyline, noted for its late-game heroics, rallied, outscoring Crenshaw, 15-7, before falling short.

“We had to use the delay twice this year,” Crenshaw Coach Willie West said. “We practice it all the time because we know we have to use it.”

Skyline Coach Don Lippi said: “We had some key people getting tired at the end; they started making poor passes. I never thought we were too far down where we couldn’t come back. We were fresh in the fourth quarter, but they have a lot of good players, and to their credit, they wore us down.”

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars were their own worst enemy, missing three consecutive free throws to leave the door open for the Titans.

Crenshaw (25-2) started the game cold, allowing Skyline (25-6) to run to a 13-4 lead with 3:55 left in the first quarter.

Rahim Harris, Skyline’s 6-foot 4-inch junior forward, was the Titans’ main offensive force as he scored their first seven points.

Skyline’s pressure defense caused early problems for the Cougars, as they committed seven turnovers in the first quarter. Crenshaw finished with 22 turnovers, and Skyline had 27.

Crenshaw started to settle down with 3:00 left in the quarter, when senior Terry Cannon connected on a three-pointer.

The Cougars cut the Titan lead to one as the first quarter ended, with an unexpected lift from sophomore guard Kevin Ollie, who ignited a five-point late Cougar rally. Skyline led after the first quarter, 16-15.

“We had the shots and we were not concentrating,” West said. “Instead of getting the ball inside and then working the ball outside, we were taking too many outside shots. We corrected that in the second quarter.”

The game heated up in the second quarter, with both teams playing full-court trapping pressure defense. The Cougars took control early in the period, with Cannon, who finished with 13 first-half points, connecting on consecutive three-pointers, followed by two inside baskets by Nicholas Bragg, to put Crenshaw ahead, 38-24.

After that, forward Cornelius Banks took over, scoring 11 points in the quarter. His inside play helped stretch the Cougar lead to 47-30 late in the first half.

Skyline was able to stay close only behind the play of Harris, who finished with 19 first-half points.

Cannon again got the Cougars’ offense rolling with three quick third-quarter baskets.

Cannon led Crenshaw with 21 points, and Banks had 13. Harris led Skyline with 29 points. Kevin Washington added 22.