Carson Quarterback Shakes Defeat, Helps Basketball Team Win

Armin Youngblood cast out a few more demons Wednesday.

With Friday’s loss in the L.A. City 4-A football championship game still fresh in his memory, the Carson High quarterback continued to use basketball as therapy, helping the Colts rally for a 70-58 win over Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals of the L.A. Invitational at Long Beach City College.

“I’m just trying to let this make me forget about football,” Youngblood said. “I’m playing basketball now. These are my fellows.”

Youngblood and his “fellows,” several of whom were teammates in football and shared the pain of Friday’s 26-15 loss to Dorsey, used full-court defensive pressure to erase a 10-point third-quarter deficit and advance to tonight’s 9:15 semifinal against either Narbonne or Muir at Long Beach.

Narbonne and Muir played in Wednesday’s late quarterfinal.

Youngblood, a reserve point guard playing his first year of high school basketball, sparked Carson’s defensive surge with a game-high six steals, including five in the second half when the Colts made their move against a taller Santa Barbara team.

“Youngblood came in and gave us some D,” said Carson Coach Rich Masson, whose team improved to 6-3. “That’s what we need from him.”

With Carson trailing, 44-34, with three minutes left in the third quarter, Youngblood came up with back-to-back steals that led to baskets by guard Bobby Kelly. He ended the quarter with another steal, feeding the ball to Kelly who beat the buzzer with a layup to pull Carson within 46-42.

Youngblood stole the ball again a minute into the fourth quarter, and he again passed to Kelly, whose layup put the Colts ahead for good, 49-47.

Kelly, who had an off night shooting from the outside, scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, including 11 in the fourth quarter when Carson outscored Santa Barbara 28-12. He also contributed several steals down the stretch.

“(Santa Barbara) is a good team,” Masson said. “We concentrated more on getting the ball inside and picking up the tempo in the second half. We had to cause some turnovers and chaos or we would have been in trouble.”

Santa Barbara enjoyed the lead for most of the game behind the play of its front line of 6-foot-6 Jessie Turner (16 points), 6-6 Dave Palmer (13) and 6-7 Matt Purdy (11). But their effectiveness was neutralized down the stretch by Carson’s pressing defense.

Wednesday’s victory temporarily allowed Youngblood to forget about last week’s football game, in which he completed just seven of 28 passes and was intercepted four times.

“I’m just doing this to keep in shape and for the competition,” he said. “I want to come out and run as much as I can.”

A few other football-turned-basketball players contributed to the win:

--Guard Michael Ross, Carson’s record-breaking wide receiver, broke the game open with three unanswered baskets to give the Colts a 62-53 lead with 2:50 left to play before fouling out. He finished with 13 points.

--Forward Nkosi Littleton, a linebacker who was the football team’s leading tackler, sat out most of the second half with four fouls but returned midway through the fourth quarter to contribute four of his eight points.

Carson received a big effort off the bench from sophomore forward Rudolph Washington, who scored 11 points. Point guard Tyrone Smith added 10.

In a seventh-place semifinal, Hawthorne outscored Banning, 35-21, in the second half to rally for a 61-54 win at Long Beach. Guard Waymon Powell and forward Reggie Bell led the Cougars, who improved to 4-3. Banning fell to 5-3 with its second straight loss.