Crenshaw Is Too Much for Los Angeles

It’s difficult to tell by the final score, but Crenshaw High got a pretty good test in its City Section 4-A Division boys’ basketball playoff game against Los Angeles High on Wednesday.

Crenshaw beat L.A., 109-89, to advance to the semifinals against rival Westchester on Friday in a matchup of two of the City’s high-profile programs.

Many in the standing-room only crowd at Crenshaw were shocked to see Los Angeles storm to as much as a 17-point lead just before halftime behind the quick and determined play of Deon “Popeye” Green and Leroy Dawson.

Dawson was particularly effective, scoring 15 of his 26 points in the first half.

“Basically, we missed a lot of shots and turned the ball over too much,” said Willie West, Crenshaw’s coach. “I think we had 19 misses and 17 turnovers, and that’s because a lot of the guys [on opposing teams] know each other. They started [talking too much]. I told the seniors, ‘You’ve got to step up.’ ”

They did, albeit slowly.

Crenshaw trailed, 46-34, at halftime, and Los Angeles built its lead to 16 midway through the third quarter.

But Los Angeles used only a seven-player rotation--one of them, Corey Miller, was in foul trouble throughout--and that eventually caught up with the Romans (17-6).

Crenshaw (23-3) kept up the pace and started pressing more on defense, and the Romans tired. The Cougars, with 17 players in uniform for the game, were able to substitute freely.

“That didn’t hurt us any,” West said. “They were playing the same guys, so we knew what they were doing. We just needed to play our game.”

And in that sense, it was Anthony Garrison’s game.

Garrison led all scorers with 36 points and was a presence under the boards. He also had help from Dante Barrett, who scored 23, and Brandon Hawkins with 15.

Barrett’s steal, layup and foul shot brought the Cougars back to a 68-68 tie with 51 seconds left in the third quarter, then Garrison gave Crenshaw its first lead since the first quarter by rebounding the second of two free throws by Barrett 30 seconds into the fourth quarter and putting the ball back in for a 71-70 edge.

Crenshaw did not relinquish the lead and was dominant the rest of the way.

Green finished with 21 for Los Angeles before fouling out with 3:34 left.