Kennedy Shows Early Promise : L.A. Watts Games: Golden Cougar basketball team bidding for a turnaround after a 9-15 finish last season.

After getting pushed around most of last season, the Kennedy High boys’ basketball team could be paying back opponents with interest next season.

The Golden Cougars were 9-15 overall and 2-8 in North Valley League play last season. But if the first three rounds of the L.A. Watts Summer Games are any indication, Kennedy could be a contender for the league title next season.

Kennedy will meet Fremont in a fourth-round game of the L.A. Watts Games at Jordan High at 9 a.m. today.

If the Golden Cougars beat the Pathfinders, the defending City Section 3-A Division champions and the tournament’s No. 2-seeded team, they will play the Muir-Fairfax winner in a quarterfinal at 1 p.m. today.

The tournament semifinals and final will be held Sunday in the North Gym at El Camino College in Torrance.

Taft, another member of the North Valley League, will play Dorsey in a fourth-round game at Jordan at noon today, and if the Toreadors win, they’ll go up against the winner of the Crenshaw-Dominguez game at 2 p.m.

Kennedy, after getting a forfeit win over cross-town rival Granada Hills in the first round last Saturday, defeated No. 16-seeded Pius X, 56-48, and Buena, 55-53, in games Sunday.

“I told the guys before the tournament that as long as they played hard, anything could happen,” Kennedy assistant Kevin Kanemura said. “They’ve played hard, and so far, it’s gotten us to this point.”

Kanemura, 23, a former Kennedy player under Coach Yutaka Shimizu, has coached the Golden Cougars during the Watts Games because Shimizu has been tied up with various basketball camps.

Although nine Kennedy lettermen--including three starters--are expected to return for the Golden Cougars in the fall, they’ve been playing in the tournament without guard Bobby Winn.

Winn, a 6-foot-1 senior-to-be, averaged 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds as a starter last season but has missed the tournament because of scheduling conflicts.

Shauhim Talesh and Joe Wyatt, the Golden Cougars’ other returning starters, have helped pick up the slack.

Talesh, a 5-10 guard, was a key player in Kennedy’s victory over Buena. Wyatt, a 6-3 forward, has been the Golden Cougars’ steadiest player.

Wyatt, who will be a junior in the fall, was an second-team all-league selection last season after averaging 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds.

“I’m happy with the way we’ve played thus far,” Kanemura said. “But Fremont will be a big test. I just hope we don’t end up getting blown out by 40 points.”

In other events today, Canyon will play Beverly Hills in a semifinal of the seven-on-seven football tournament at El Camino College at 9 a.m.

If the Cowboys win, they’ll play the winner of the Carson-North Torrance game in the championship at 1 p.m.

Ventura will play Lynwood in a quarterfinal of the girls’ basketball tournament at 11 a.m. at Locke High, and if the Cougars win, they’ll play the winner of the Chino-Bishop Montgomery game in a semifinal in the North Gym at El Camino at 9 a.m. Sunday. The final will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Chatsworth will meet Westchester in a baseball quarterfinal at Redondo Union High at noon, and if the Chancellors win, they’ll play the Redlands-South Gate winner in a semifinal at 3 p.m.

Hoover will play Palos Verdes in a softball quarterfinal at El Camino College at 3 p.m. today, and if the Tornadoes win, they’ll play the Pasadena Poly-Torrance winner in a semifinal at El Camino on Sunday at 11 a.m.

The championship game will be played at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

San Fernando will play Sierra Vista in a boys’ soccer quarterfinal at Rose Bowl Park in Pasadena at 9 a.m. with the semifinals starting at noon.

Royal, Crescenta Valley, Burroughs, Calabasas and Chaminade will play in today’s girls’ soccer quarterfinals at El Camino, which will start with the Chaminade-Palos Verdes match at 9 a.m.

In water polo, Newbury Park will play La Serna, and Glendale will play San Gorgonio in second-round matches starting at 9 a.m. at El Camino.