Palisades Is Short Again

The drought continues for the Palisades High boys’ basketball team.

It has been 27 years since the Dolphins reached a City Section basketball final, and Westchester wasn’t about to offer any relief Friday night in a City Section Division 4-A semifinal at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Westchester pulled away for a 68-52 victory, outscoring Palisades, 17-2, in the final 2:30 of the fourth quarter.

The Comets (24-5) will play the winner of tonight’s Crenshaw-Manual Arts game in the final next Friday night at the Sports Arena.

Leading, 51-50, after Palisades guard Tyree Williams made a layup with 2:35 to play, Westchester got a key three-point basket from Albert Miller and then had three layups in a row to take a 58-52 lead with 1:24 to play.

The Comets, ranked No. 10 by The Times, made all 11 of its free throws in the final 1:24 to seal the victory.

Guard Jeremy Turner hit two three-point shots midway through the fourth quarter for Westchester to help stake the Comets to a 51-46 lead.

“I told the guys to run a spread offense, but they wouldn’t listen to me,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “We just kept firing up outside shots. It was one of those situations where you say, ‘No, no,’ and then when they go in, you say, ‘Good shot.’ ”

Palisades (23-6) played a zone defense for most of the game but seemed to have trouble defending outside shots along the baseline.

“They ran some good plays to get their guys open, and they hit the open shots when they had to, “ Palisades Coach James Paleno said.

Tony Bland led Westchester with 17 points. Shannon Johnson led Palisades with 18 points.

In other City Section playoffs:

Franklin 48, Sylmar 38--Senior point guard Danny Gonzalez had 18 points and eight assists to lead the Panthers (20-7) in a Division 3-A semifinal win at Cal State Los Angeles. Kesh Desargen had 12 rebounds for Franklin.

Bell 41, Van Nuys Birmingham 38--Javier Rodriquez scored a game-high 19 points, including five three-point baskets, to lead the top-seeded Eagles (25-5) in a 3-A semifinal at East L.A. College.