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Top-Seeded Crenshaw Boys Move By Palisades, 72-59

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

No fast breaks. No long run of points. No unimaginable comebacks.

Has Crenshaw High turned into team slowdown?

Not quite, although the top-seeded Cougars’ effort was decidedly workmanlike as they defeated Palisades, 72-59, in the City Section quarterfinals Wednesday night at Crenshaw.

Crenshaw (20-2) will face Fremont in the semifinals Saturday at an alternate site.

The 13-point victory, though, was atypical of Crenshaw basketball. It was gradual as the Cougars used their size advantage to keep Palisades (19-7) at bay after taking the lead in the second quarter.

It certainly wasn’t what Crenshaw Coach Willie West was expecting.

“I don’t know what happened out there,” West said. “This is a bad game for us. We missed a lot of shots. We got caught up in fouling them and putting them on the line.

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“We could have played a lot better.”

Crenshaw stretched a one-point halftime lead to 12 in the third quarter as center Chris Davis had seven of his 19 points during the run. But Palisades closed to 52-48 in the fourth quarter on the strength of an 8-0 run.

Tommy Johnson’s third three-pointer restored the Cougars’ double-digit lead and Palisades wasn’t heard from again. Johnson finished with 22 points.

West was pleased with the effort from the 6-foot-7 Davis.

“This is what we’re trying to get him to do,” West said. “He has the capability to do that on the regular basis. Sometimes he thinks he’s a guard and he wants to go outside and shoot.”

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Palisades Coach James Paleno liked the pace of the game but said missed free throws early continually had his team playing catch-up.

“We have kids who are normally really good free-throw shooters and for some reason they didn’t make them tonight,” Paleno said. “Obviously missed free throws sets up everything else for them.”

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