Westchester Gets to Top in a Hurry

A Westchester team that could dominate City Section boys’ basketball for the next few years officially announced its arrival Friday night at the Great Western Forum.

The Comets, playing with the youthful exuberance of a team that starts three sophomores, a junior and only one senior, defeated Crenshaw, 82-62, in the City championship game before a crowd of 7,000.

The victory gave Westchester its fourth City title. The Comets also won in 1991, 1992 and 1998, and won the state Division I championship in 1998.

It was the worst championship-game loss suffered by Crenshaw in 23 trips to the final. The Cougars’ previous worst was a 19-point defeat to Fremont in 1975.

Senior Jason Breland scored 16 points for Westchester (23-6), which was playing in the championship game for the third time in four years.

Sophomores Brandon Heath, Ashanti Cook and Jason McKinney had big games as well.

Heath scored 15 points and McKinney and Cook each had 12 for the second-seeded Comets, who also defeated Jordan, Van Nuys Grant and Fairfax in the playoffs.

“This is not the best we’ve played or the best we’re going to play,” McKinney said. “We’re young and we’re just getting started.”

Top-seeded Crenshaw (21-3) was seeking its 17th City title and its first since 1997, when the Cougars defeated Westchester for the championship.

But Westchester started fast Friday and never really gave the Cougars an opportunity to launch a serious threat.

“They just got us on a good night [for Westchester],” said Crenshaw guard E.J. Harris, who scored nine points. “You have to give them credit. They outplayed us.”

Westchester led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter and had a 41-29 lead at halftime.

Heath started the second half with two quick baskets, but Tommy Johnson, who scored 18 points for Crenshaw, pulled the Cougars to within 46-33 with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

Heath then scored five points during a 12-2 run that gave Westchester a 58-35 lead.

“About halfway through the season, our coaches told us we weren’t young anymore,” Heath said. “We started to step it up and that showed tonight.”

Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said it was his team’s best defensive performance of the season.

“We has some lapses but we never allowed them to make an eight- 10- or 12-point run,” Azzam said.

Both teams appeared nervous at the outset, but Westchester found its confidence first after Chad Bell’s dunk opened the scoring.

Taylor Parsons, who had 17 points, and Terrence Jones of Crenshaw sandwiched free throws around a basket by Westchester’s Keith Everage before the Comets went on a 12-1 run aided by three consecutive Crenshaw turnovers.

Terrence Lawson and Cedric Thompkins each had four points during the run that did not end until Johnson made Crenshaw’s first field goal--a three-pointer with 1:06 left in the first quarter.

Were it not for Parsons’ 10 points in the second quarter, Crenshaw might have been blown out.

Cook, Bell and Breland spurred Westchester to a 34-17 lead with two minutes left in the first half.

Chris Davis and Harris each scored four points down the stretch to help pull Crenshaw to within 12 at halftime.

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SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS

CITY SECTION GIRLS

* CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION: Narbonne 68, Palisades 35

SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS

* DIVISION III-AA: Bishop Montgomery 59, Compton Centennial 43

* DIVISION V-AA: L.B. St. Anthony 61, Downey Calvary Chapel 57

* DIVISION V-A: Price 60, Anaheim Heritage Christian 46

SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS

* DIVISION I-AA: Long Beach Wilson 48, Lynwood 46

* DIVISION II-AA: Redondo 55, Brea Olinda 46

* DIVISION IV-A: St. Bernard 82, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 52

* DIVISION V-AA: L.B. St. Anthony 65, Pacific Hills 34