Washington Hands Cleveland 3rd Loss in a Row

Curiosity even got the best of Cleveland High basketball Coach Kevin Crider, who, for the record, came up on the losing end Friday night at Los Angeles City College.

The Cavaliers lost, 89-86, to Washington in the final of the L. A. Invitational Shootout, which, in the case of the Generals, was an appropriate title.

“It would be very interesting to know what they shot,” Crider said. “They shot real, real well.”

Actually, Washington (12-2) made a less-than-scintillating 37 of 70 shots from the floor (52.9%), but the Generals received 20-plus-point performances from a trio of seniors to hand Cleveland (10-5) its third loss in a row. It is believed to be Cleveland’s first three-game losing streak since the 1983-84 season, since before Trevor Wilson (Atlanta Hawks) was a member of the Cavalier varsity.

It took a nicely balanced Washington attack to turn the trick in the finale of the 32-team tournament.

The Generals received 20 points from senior guard Lamar Smith, including 12 in the second quarter while Washington raced to a 43-35 halftime lead.

Cleveland eventually came out of its zone defense to put a scare into Smith--who scored 42 points in an earlier tournament upset of Manual Arts--but it didn’t matter.

“That zone we were in, it left (Smith) wide open, and he can knock down the jumper,” said Cleveland senior forward Kayheed Murray, who finished with 10 points. “Then we switched, and other guys started scoring.”

And they didn’t stop.

Senior center Barnabus James, who came off the bench, scored 26 points and added 11 rebounds. Guard Isaac Burton, held to six points in the first half, scored 22 points in the second half.

Cleveland’s Brandon Martin, who made seven of 10 shots from the floor in the first half, finished with a team-high 24 points.