Granada Hills Socks It to Kennedy in 62-53 Victory : Prep basketball: Highlanders overcome 14-point first-half deficit to improve to 7-1 in league play.

Ask Coach Bob Johnson why, and he throws up his hands. Not out of exasperation, mind you, but more out of amusement.

The question? What in the name of Naismith are his Granada Hills High players doing wearing black socks with their uniforms? After all, this is a running team, not a band of half-court Clydesdales.

As it turns out, it was a junior varsity player, one who wears black socks with his black shoes, who prompted the fad. But it has been modified somewhat by the varsity guys.

“They decided it didn’t look all that good with just the black socks,” Johnson said. “So they wear white ones underneath--and leave a little bit of the white showing.”

One and a half quarters into Granada Hills’ North Valley League game at Kennedy, a look at the black and white of the score book should have had Johnson’s complexion turning ashen. Granada Hills trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half Thursday night before turning away Kennedy, 62-53.

The victory kept Granada Hills (16-7, 7-1 in league play) in a tie for first with Cleveland in North Valley play.

With the roll the Highlanders have been on--they have won 10 of their past 11 games--Johnson just sat back and waited for the inevitable spurt to come. And if it didn’t, well, so be it.

“We never changed a thing,” he said. “We’ve been playing too well to do that.”

Kennedy (11-9, 4-4) jumped to a 26-12 lead with 5 minutes 1 second remaining in the first half, mainly behind the inside play of center Dion Ross.

Ross, who missed two games last week because of the flu, scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the half. The Golden Cougars, however, were shot down by some untimely cold snaps.

After senior guard Garret Anderson scored inside for its 14-point lead, Kennedy did not score from the field for the rest of the half. During that time, Granada Hills made a 14-4 run to move within 30-26 at halftime. Kennedy made four of eight free throws over the half’s final 5:01 and had both ends of another one-and-one effort wiped out by a lane violation.

Yet Anderson, who killed Granada Hills inside by pulling down 10 of his game-high 11 rebounds in the first half, picked up his fourth foul with six minutes left in the third quarter. Teammate Josh Etting (seven points) was charged with his fourth a mere 16 seconds later, sending Kennedy’s two top scoring threats to the bench.

With Etting and Anderson planted in chairs, the burden fell to Ross, who scored three consecutive baskets to keep Kennedy in the game. But by the time Anderson (12 points) returned, with 24 seconds left in the quarter, Kennedy trailed, 42-39.

With Kennedy effectively stopping Granada Hills’ running game, however, both teams went to a spread attack in the fourth quarter. For Johnson, he had to practically insist on it. Run and gun, you see, is the normal Highlander mode of transportation.

“They don’t like to run it at all,” Johnson said. “I basically had to tell them that if they do it to us, we’ll do it to them.”

Granada Hills actually picked up ground using the half-court set--a scheme geared more to the slower Kennedy’s liking. Jermoine Brantley--who finished with 12 points--twice knifed through the Kennedy spread for layups over the final 2:37 and Granada Hills made nine of its last 10 shots from the floor to put it away.

“We got off to a real slow start,” said Granada Hills guard Osiris Nalls, who had 11 points and was one four Highlanders to reach double figures. “We finally picked it up in the second half.”

Brantley said the second-half comeback proves that Granada Hills isn’t just a one-dimensional team.

“Coming into the season, we didn’t feel comfortable in the fourth quarter,” said Brantley, the team captain. “We consider (the half-court game) a real offense now. It’s not just stalling and holding the ball.”

Forwards Jerry Allen (13 points) and Aaron Lattimore (12) gave Granada Hills punch in the pits, a fact of which Johnson was certainly aware.

“We have five guys who can really play ball--and they can all score,” he said. “That’s gratifying.”

As was the verdict on his team’s ability to counter Kennedy’s half-court challenge. The Highlanders, Johnson said, aren’t a simple black-and-white read. And as for the team’s sartorial footwear?

“It’s kinda neat,” he said. “I like it with the black-and-white shoes.”