CIF ROUNDUP : Hawthorne Shakes 2 Defeats and Pounds Rolling Hills by 78-58

Hawthorne High School Coach Richard Wells figured his players needed a break from basketball for the weekend after losses last week to Torrance and Santa Monica had spoiled his team’s once-perfect Bay League record.

So Wells scheduled a team breakfast for Saturday morning. Then on Sunday, the Hawthorne players went to the theater en masse to see the Civil War epic “Glory.”

Wednesday night, the Cougars got back to what they had been most of the season on the basketball court and thumped host Rolling Hills, 78-58.

The Cougars improved to 16-7 overall and 9-2 in league. Hawthorne meets Beverly Hills (10-1 in league) for first place Friday night.

“We don’t have any star players, so we really have to work together,” Wells said. “We had been getting away from that recently. All those wins had gotten us a little misfocused.”

Hawthorne was back in a team groove Wednesday night. Cougar forward Reggie Bell led all scorers with 21 points, but three Hawthorne guards also scored in double figures--Waymond Powell with 14, Tremayne Gauthier with 12 and Shanta Cotwright with 10.

Meanwhile, Bell and center Andre Tolliver worked the boards with vigor. Bell pulled down 12 rebounds--eight on the offensive boards--and blocked five shots. Tolliver grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Cougars set a fast tempo early after a pair of fast-break layups by Powell and a slam dunk by Bell after Tolliver swatted a shot by Rolling Hills center Roger Hendrix.

The fast break led to a bunch of easy baskets for the Cougars, who shot 65% (37 of 57) from the field and led by 21 points in the first half.

But Rolling Hills, 12-11 overall and 4-7 in league, stormed back to cut the lead to 48-44 in the third quarter after a pair of free throws by Steve Clover. But after that, Hawthorne put the game away with a 12-point run.

Hendrix led Rolling Hills with 20 points and Clover added 18, including a pair of three-pointers.

Leuzinger 48, Palos Verdes 44--The Olympians limited Palos Verdes to eight points in the fourth quarter and one basket in the last 2:50 to win a defensive struggle at Leuzinger.

With three Bay League games remaining, Leuzinger and Palos Verdes are tied for third place with 6-5 records. Because only the top three teams are assured spots in the Southern Section playoffs, Leuzinger Coach Phil Sherman regarded Wednesday’s victory as crucial.

Sherman says he is unsure if the Olympians, a 5-AA Division school, can qualify for the playoffs as an at-large entry if they finish below third.

“I want to eliminate all doubts,” Sherman said. “If we finish in the top three, we’re in (the playoffs). Three of our last four (league) games are at home. Hopefully we can win all.”

Leuzinger (12-7 overall) took the first step toward that goal Wednesday despite the absence of forward Adrian McCovey, who was benched for missing practice. He leads the team with a 16-point average.

Forward Tyrone Meriweather helped pick up the slack with a team-high 15 points, including back-to-back baskets to build Leuzinger’s lead to 48-42 with 1:08 remaining.

Palos Verdes forward Chris Castello, who led all scorers with 16 points, answered with a basket to pull the Sea Kings within four with 38 seconds left. But Palos Verdes committed a critical turnover and missed a three-point shot in the waning seconds as it dropped to 12-10 overall.

“They helped us a little bit,” Sherman said. “But our players gutted it out on defense. We’ve worked on defense for the last two days.”

The Olympians made matters more difficult for themselves by missing three one-and-one free throws in the last 18 seconds.

Guard Robert Northern added 11 points for Leuzinger.

Palos Verdes guard Andy Jacobson scored 11 before fouling out with 4:49 left.