CIF BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Hawthorne Loses to Leuzinger, 52-50, Drops Share of 1st

Hawthorne High School’s uneasy grip on first place in the Bay League was suspended for a few seconds on the back of the rim Wednesday night, along with a basketball that had been shot by Hawthorne’s Anthony King.

The ball dropped to the floor, giving Leuzinger High a 52-50 victory at home and toppling Hawthorne from its first-place tie with Beverly Hills.

For Leuzinger (13-8 overall, 7-6 in league), the victory clinched third place and a berth in the Division 5-AA playoffs. It also avenged the season’s first meeting between the teams, which Hawthorne (17-8, 10-3) won on a last-second shot by forward Reggie Bell.

Neither team led by more than five points this time around. Hawthorne set up for the final shot with 17 seconds left, but Leuzinger’s Troy Matthews broke up Waymond Powell’s back-court pass.

Hawthorne guard Tremayne Gauthier chased down the loose ball and hit Bell with a baseball pass. Bell charged to the hoop, but his layup sailed long. King got the rebound, but his short jumper didn’t have enough on it as the buzzer sounded.

“We didn’t want to give up a three-pointer,” Leuzinger Coach Phil Sherman said. “Against a team like Hawthorne, you’ve got to worry about everybody taking the last shot, especially Bell. But we’ve worked on our defense every day for about an hour and a half, and it paid off.”

The game began as a duel of fast breaks. Hawthorne ran to a 35-32 lead at the half. But Sherman switched to a stingy matchup zone in the second half, when his team held Hawthorne to only 15 points.

Leuzinger was led by forward Ty Merriwether’s nine points and 18 rebounds. Center Frank Willis also scored nine, and grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked six shots.

Hawthorne’s Gauthier led all scorers with 14 points. Powell added 13 and King had nine.