Palisades High Boys’ Team Moves to Head of the Class

In the classroom, the Palisades High boys’ basketball team is tough to beat.

The Dolphins (3-2) can start a lineup of five players who have scored at least 900 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which measures a student’s ability in math and English. A perfect SAT score is 1,600.

According to Dolphin Coach James Paleno, forward Adam Segel scored 1,390, David Shumsky had a 1,260, James Turner had around 1,200 and guards Kameron Nik-Akhtar scored 1,110 and Olin Simplis 900.

“Not too many teams can start a lineup like that, if any,” Paleno said.

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Beating the master--In the first meeting between the Palisades and Kennedy boys’ basketball teams Friday night, the Dolphins were victorious, 82-68.

Second-year Palisades Coach James Paleno played for Kennedy Coach Yataka Shimizu from 1973-75 when Shimizu was coach at Hamilton.

Palisades (3-2) visits Beverly Hills in a nonleague game on Friday.

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Running around--Venice Coach Thermon Moore was caught signing up for one too many holiday boys’ basketball tournaments.

For the second consecutive year, the Gondoliers will play in the Santa Barbara tournament this week at Dos Pueblos High. Moore had made commitments to play in the Chula Vista tournament Dec. 26-30 and the Los Angeles Invitational.

The L.A. Invitational involves 32 teams and is actually two separate 16-team tournaments run during consecutive weeks.

When L.A. Invitational organizer Jerry Weiner first spoke with Moore, he said that Venice would be playing in the second section of the tournament, according to Moore.

Moore was forced to withdraw his team from the Chula Vista tournament because it conflicted with the L.A. Invitational schedule.

Venice, however, still has scheduling conflicts because Weiner placed Venice in the first section of the L.A. Invitational, which began Wednesday.

As of Tuesday night, Venice was scheduled to play Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies Wednesday and a second-round game today in the L.A. Invitational. The Gondoliers also were scheduled to play against the winner of the Santa Barbara-St. Joseph game tonight at 6:30 in the Santa Barbara tournament. Weiner said he was trying to accommodate Venice by calling every team from the second section that was uncommitted this week to switch places with the Gondoliers.

Moore, however, plans to take his team to Santa Barbara even if it means forfeiting his games in the L.A. Invitational and losing his $205 entry fee.

“Once the team gets to Santa Barbara, we plan to stay up there,” Moore said. “We’re not driving back to L.A.”

Moore won’t try to play in two tournaments simultaneously, although it has been done by other teams this season.

Last season, Moore had to drive back to Los Angeles to submit his grades after his first-round game in the Santa Barbara tournament. By the time he returned to Santa Barbara, he missed the first half of his team’s second-round game against Crenshaw.

The Gondoliers are led by 6-4 forward Larry Atkins and 6-foot guard Rasheed Hazzard, the youngest son of former UCLA and NBA player Walt Hazzard.

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Reloading--Westchester may have lost two standout basketball players in City Section co-player of the year James Gray and Lorenzo Ball, but the Comets are still a force.

For the first time during his 14-year coaching career at Westchester, Ed Azzam has four players in his starting lineup that are scoring in double figures. Senior Jason Sanders leads the team with an 18.1 average and younger brother Ben is averaging 11.5 points. Freshman Danny Walker is averaging 10.5 points and Cullen Countee 10.1.

The two-time defending City 4-A Division champions were off to a 7-2 start going into Wednesday’s game against Mater Dei.

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Second chance--Fairfax (4-1), which lost to Artesia in the semifinals of the St. Monica boys’ basketball tournament, may get a second chance to beat the Pioneers on Tuesday in the Artesia tournament.

In the first round, Fairfax plays Verbum Dei and Artesia plays Irvine University. The winners will meet in the second round.

Artesia is led by 6-10 center Avondre Jones and 6-6 forward Charles O’Bannon. Fairfax has three players who have double-figure scoring averages: 6-7 center Jeff Thornton (13.6), 6-4 forward Lawrence Gardiner (13.2) and 6-4 point guard Robert Foster (13.1).

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Tournament news--The ninth annual Taco Bell/Hamilton High boys’ basketball tournament began Wednesday with six teams competing in the round-robin format.

In today’s games, Kennedy plays Van Nuys at 3:15 p.m.; University plays Bravo Medical at 5 and Birmingham plays Hamilton at 6:45.

The championship game will be Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Hamilton (4-2) is led by 6-4 forward Thaddus Jampol and 6-2 guard Marlon Garnett, who has signed with Santa Clara.

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Honors--Brentwood wide receiver Michael Green was voted the Southern Section player of the year in the Eight-Man Large Division.

Green caught 41 passes for 950 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Eagles, who won the championship.