Cleveland Has No Defense for Taft’s 3-D Attack

Two years ago, Amir Bar-Netzer, Harold Shevlin and Brandyn Fisher were three touted sophomores in the Taft High boys’ basketball program.

Last year, Bar-Netzer and Fisher averaged 16 points a game for the Toreadors while Shevlin led Chatsworth in scoring.

On Wednesday, the three combined for 62 points in Taft’s 79-64 victory over Cleveland in a West Valley League game at Taft.

The Toreadors clinched their first league title since they won the North Valley League in 1992.

Taft avenged an 82-69 loss to Cleveland last month when the Toreadors were called for 30 fouls.

“It’s a big win because this school hasn’t won a league title in a while,” said Shevlin, who transferred back to Taft last summer. “We wanted this one.”

Shevlin fouled out with 1:48 left, but he had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds by then and Taft led, 71-56.

The 6-foot-4 Shevlin was known for his outside shooting at Chatsworth, but he made nine of 10 shots while cutting through the Cleveland defense.

“I think I was always a slasher,” Shevlin said. “But last year, I was a scorer so I shot a lot from outside. This year people knew that so I had to drive more.”

Fisher scored 22 points and Bar-Netzer had 19 for Taft (14-5, 7-2 in league play), which scored several points on fast breaks after breaking the Cavalier press.

“I think their pressing us definitely helped us,” Taft Coach Mark Drucker said. “We’ve got some pretty big guys on this team, but all of them can bring the ball up the court and catch it and pass it.”

Simmagin Smith had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for Cleveland (15-9, 5-4) and Kent Dennis added 21 points and six assists, but the Cavaliers’ inability to force turnovers on the press hurt them.

“We just couldn’t stop them,” Cleveland Coach Andre Chevalier said. “We did what we wanted to on offense, but we couldn’t stop them on defense.”

Taft, which shot 58.6% (34 of 58) from the field, never trailed.

The Toreadors led, 12-2, midway through the first quarter after hitting six of seven shots.

Cleveland pulled even, 12-12, by the end of the first quarter, but Taft led, 34-21, at halftime, and 54-40 at the end of the third quarter.

The two-time defending league champion Cavaliers narrowed their deficit to 58-48 with six minutes left, but the Toreadors went on a 13-6 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes to take a 71-54 lead with 2:35 remaining.

Taft hit six of nine shots during the run and 10 of 15 in the quarter.

“We’re a fast team,” Shevlin said. “Amir is a big guy, but he can get up and down the court.”

The 6-6 Bar-Netzer was blunt when asked what the difference was between Taft’s two games against Cleveland.

“The referees were horrible,” he said of the first game. “Drucker also did a good job in practice of showing us how to break the press.”

It paid off Wednesday.