CITY SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : North Hollywood Shows Mercy in 4th Quarter of 94-68 Rout of Lincoln

Lincoln High should feel lucky that North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller showed compassion in Friday’s City Section 3-A Division basketball match-up at Lincoln.

With five minutes remaining in a 94-68 Husky victory, Miller took his starters off the floor after they had built a 40-point lead and had forced 26 Lincoln turnovers.

“We attacked them,” Miller said. “We’ve got to do that every game if we’re going to be successful.”

Dana Jones, North Hollywood’s 6-foot-6 senior center, scored 19 points and had 15 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Four others also scored in double figures for North Hollywood (21-3).

Forward Harry Marks led the Huskies with 21 points, and guard Tommy Byrdsong scored 20--including 12 in the Huskies’ 28-point third quarter. Ray Fisher, an off-guard, had 14 and forward Eric Jackson contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Aaron Atkinson paced Lincoln (17-8) with a game-high 35 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, mostly against North Hollywood’s reserves.

In Wednesday’s quarterfinal round, the Huskies play at third-seeded Hamilton, a 103-84 winner over Jefferson on Friday.

In other first-round games:

Dorsey 66, Taft 50--The Dons went on a 12-1 run midway through the third quarter to break a 24-24 tie and then coasted to the win in a 4-A Division game at Los Angeles High.

“We didn’t shoot well,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “We might have been intimidated and missed shots we ordinarily would have made. We might have been in awe of them.”

James Yoakum led Taft (14-11) with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Crenshaw 55, Kennedy 45--Senior guard Garret Anderson scored 18 points and Josh Etting added 12 points, but visiting Kennedy fell in a 4-A Division game at Crenshaw.

Kennedy (11-12) fell behind by seven points in the first quarter but closed to within three points at the half, 26-23. Crenshaw pulled away with less than five minutes left to seal the victory.

San Fernando 72, Marshall 58--The Tigers outscored Marshall, 17-9, in the third quarter to take control of a 3-A Division game at San Fernando.

Marshall buried five three-point baskets in a 22-point second quarter to tie the score, 35-35, at halftime.

San Fernando, led by Russell Baldwin’s game-high 21 points, scored 10 of its 20 fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line.

Errol Garnett and Lance Whitaker (13 each), Michael Wynn (11) and Marco Renteria (10) all scored in double figures for the Tigers (15-6).

San Fernando plays Reseda in the quarterfinals Wednesday at Reseda.

Fremont 76, Birmingham 47--Anthony McComb scored 17 points and Link Polk added 14, but Birmingham fell in a 3-A Division game at Fremont.

Birmingham (8-13) led, 10-8, after the first quarter and by as many as four points in the second period, but Fremont hit three consecutive three-point shots with less than two minutes left in the first half to take an 11-point advantage at the intermission and never trailed thereafter.

Reseda 56, Wilson 53--Mike Basowski hit four three-point baskets en route to 15 points to help the Regents to a win in their first home playoff game in six years. The Regents play at home again Wednesday, meeting San Fernando in the quarterfinals.

Reseda (13-8) trailed 47-43 after three quarters but outscored the Mules, 13-6, in the final eight minutes. Basowski’s three-point shot with two minutes left gave the Regents the lead for good. Wilson’s Howard Kim missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer.

Reseda guard Marquis Wilborn shared scoring honors with 15, and Mike Hawkins added 10. Kim and Moses Alarcon topped Wilson (17-6) with 14 points each.

GIRLS

Crenshaw 68, Kennedy 57--Senior guard Falicia Stanley scored 27 points to lead Kennedy, but it wasn’t enough as the Golden Cougars fell to visiting Crenshaw in the opening round of the 4-A Division playoffs.

With 3:11 remaining in the first half, Stanley broke through two defenders and scored a layup tying the score at 26-26, but Crenshaw quickly regained the lead and never trailed thereafter.

Crenshaw embarked on an 8-3 run to open the third quarter and pulled ahead to a 39-31 lead with 5:58 left in the period.

Kennedy forward BiBi Woodard, who scored nine points in the fourth quarter, finished with 19.

Only 12 of Kennedy’s 29 points in the second half were scored from the field.

Ellarice Thompson led Crenshaw with 30 points.