Cleveland Stays Inside to Rout Kennedy, 82-56

As Kennedy High players will attest, there are but two things in the school gym that offer less give than the diamond-hard basketball court. But those objects are suspended 10 feet above the floor.

The Kennedy rims are a tad less forgiving than a drill sergeant with a migraine.

Taking this into account, Cleveland brought its attack to point-blank range in a North Valley League game Wednesday night and used its frontcourt to blow the Golden Cougars away, 82-56.

“Everything had to be precise. Bank shots were falling in and out,” said forward Pat McCook, who came off the bench to lead the Cavaliers with 18 points.

Cleveland forwards Bobby McRae, Kayheed Murray and Brandon Martin contributed 12, 12, and 13 points, most of which came in the paint.

While the Cavaliers were crashing the boards, Kennedy was just plain crashing.

The Golden Cougars fell behind, 19-8, after the first quarter and 39-22 at intermission.

“We just got out of our game plan,” Golden Cougar forward Garret Anderson said. “We don’t have the team to run with them. Our plan was to slow them down.”

Anderson was the one player Cleveland couldn’t slow. He scored 33 points, 19 in the first half. Things must have gotten lonely for Anderson--he was the only Kennedy player to score until Alan Johnson made a free throw four minutes into the second quarter.

Anderson hit three consecutive three-point shots within a minute in the third quarter to cut the lead to 47-36. The rally stalled, however, with 3 minutes 21 seconds to play in the period when he picked up his fourth foul and was pulled.

The performance was a vast improvement over Cleveland’s last two--a loss to Granada Hills and a one-point victory over Taft. Still, Coach Marc Paez wasn’t beaming.

“I thought our rebounding was spotty,” Paez said. “I’d say it was an improvement, but we’re not where we need to be.”

The victory sets up a showdown between the Cavaliers and Granada Hills for the league title Friday at Cleveland.

Brandon Battle, who started for Cleveland last season but was ruled academically ineligible, returned and scored a point.