Cleveland Peaks in West Valley by Upsetting Taft

For a team that was once paralyzed by internal squabbles, Cleveland High has come roaring back to again reign as West Valley League boys’ basketball champions.

Playing with intensity and unselfishness, the Cavaliers had five players score in double figures to upset Taft, 79-71, Friday night at Cleveland and earn a share of the West Valley championship.

“We put it all out there,” said guard Quenton Harvey of Cleveland.

In ending Taft’s school-record 19-game winning streak, the Cavaliers (18-7, 9-1 in league play) started with a 9-0 burst and never let up.

They battled for every rebound and hustled for every loose ball. They fired away from three-point range, connecting on nine three-pointers through three quarters.

“I’ve seen every team this year and Cleveland has as [much] talent as anyone,” assistant coach Derrick Taylor of Taft said. “They physically beat us. We could never get a run going. We’d make a run and they’d stop us.”

Harvey scored 18 points for Cleveland but had plenty of help. Anthony Davis scored 15 points, Grant Pledger and Matthew Awad each had 13 points, and Jeston Thompson added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Awad, a sophomore guard who was playing on the junior varsity several weeks ago, made three three-pointers.

“As the game went on, we were stronger and stronger,” Coach Adam Levitt of Cleveland said.

Taft (19-2, 9-1) had not trailed all season at halftime, but the Toreadors were behind, 44-36, and couldn’t come closer than five points in the second half.

Gregg Guenther finished with 24 points for Taft. Ronald Gray, who fouled out, added 16 points and Steve Smith had 15.

The game was played before a packed house that reminded many of the old days from the 1980s, when Cleveland and Taft would engage in exciting league duels before large crowds.

This group of Cleveland players enjoyed every second of the hyped-up atmosphere.

“It was amazing,” guard Yashar Mehrabani said. “It was an adrenaline rush the whole game. I don’t remember ever getting tired.”

The transformation of Cleveland from a struggling team to a co-championship squad that has won 11 of 12 games is a tribute to Levitt and the eight players who stuck around.

Levitt took over when James Morris was fired just before Christmas vacation. Since then, one player was kicked off the team, another quit, another transferred and another was declared ineligible. Somehow, the Cavaliers have persevered.

“We’re all being tested to see how we attack an adverse situation,” Levitt said.

Despite the loss, Taft will enter the City Championship tournament as the league’s No. 1 representative after winning a coin flip.