Kim Not Short on Heroics

He may have been the smallest player on the court, but Sun Kim of Kennedy High made the biggest shot of the game in the Golden Cougars’ 69-66 victory over Moorpark in pool play of the Westlake boys’ basketball tournament Tuesday night.

Kim, a 5-foot-10 senior who scored 12 points, converted a three-point play with 30 seconds left to give Kennedy (2-0) a 68-66 lead.

Moorpark (1-2) had a chance to tie the score after Nana Gbewonyo missed the second of two free throws for Kennedy with 12 seconds left, but Shawn Corkery’s three-point attempt bounced off the rim.

Kim’s game-winning basket came after he drove the baseline and drew a foul from 6-5 Moorpark center Andrew Carlson.

“That was a called play,” Kim said. “It’s called the 1-3 and is intended for me to drive if there’s an opening.”

Kennedy, which will play Poly in a pool-play game at 3:30 p.m. today, used a 11-1 run in the last two minutes of the third quarter to take a 52-41 lead. But Moorpark came back on the shooting of Kevin Lawrence.

Lawrence, a 6-5 senior forward, scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter. He scored eight points during a 15-6 run that cut Moorpark’s deficit to 58-56 with 4:47 left. He made two consecutive shots to give Moorpark a 64-61 lead with 2:15 remaining.

Kennedy pulled to within 64-63 on a basket by Dax Grooms, but Lawrence scored on a reverse layup with 1:37 left to give Moorpark a 66-63 lead.

The Golden Cougars pulled to within one on a basket by Trenton Doss, setting up Kim’s three-point play that came after Carlson missed two free throws and Corkery was called for traveling.

Anthony Cosby scored 23 points and Doss had 12 for Kennedy.

In other pool-play games:

Westlake 69, Calabasas 68--Jake DeGennaro scored 17 points, including two free throws with seven seconds left to give the Warriors (2-1) a 69-65 lead and cap a come-from-behind victory.

Westlake trailed, 55-45, entering the fourth quarter, but Kevin Howard’s layup gave the Warriors a 62-61 lead with 3:30 left.

Jason Miller scored 22 for Calabasas (0-2).

Saugus 76, Van Nuys 72--Brad Cleveland made four free throws in the final 1:02 of overtime to lift the Centurions (3-3).

Cleveland gave Saugus a 74-70 lead with two free throws and made two more with 21 seconds left for the final score.

Saugus led, 61-53, with four minutes left in regulation, but Van Nuys (0-3) outscored the Centurions, 13-5, to send the game into overtime.

Abe Morabbi, who scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half and overtime, scored the first six points of the Wolves’ run.

Royal 81, Poly 65--The Highlanders went on a 24-11 run to open the third quarter and take a 67-44 lead.

Seven Royal players scored during the run. Point guard Dusty Cruz had 20 points for the Highlanders (2-2). Poly (1-2) played without star forward Ellis Richardson, who was benched by Coach Jay Werner after showing up midway through the first quarter.