Fairfax Doesn’t Have a Chance at Westchester

If there was any doubt whether Westchester High has the depth and experience to win a second consecutive City Section boys’ basketball championship and challenge for the state Division I title, the Comets erased it Tuesday night against Fairfax.

Fairfax put up a good fight for three quarters of the Western League showdown before Westchester turned up the pace and won, 84-64, at home.

“They don’t have the depth we do,” said Westchester guard Brandon Heath, who made four three-point shots and led the Comets with 18 points. “In the fourth quarter, they were holding their trunks and we were just getting going.”

Westchester (14-1, 3-0 in the Western League) was playing its first game since Dec. 30 when the Comets suffered their only defeat--against Bishop O’Connell (N.C.)--in the championship game of a tournament in South Carolina.

With Darius Miles of the Clippers watching from the baseline just beyond the Westchester bench, the Comets looked sharp from the outset Tuesday. But they were played almost even in the first half by a Fairfax team determined to establish itself as the main challenger in the City Section.

Fairfax switched from its usual man-to-man scheme to a zone and senior forward Craig Smith and junior forward Evan Burns pounded the boards and scored inside to keep the Lions within 37-33 at halftime.

Fairfax (11-4, 2-1), however, did not help its cause by making only eight of 21 free throws in the second half.

“We were playing our game,” said Burns, who scored 20 points. “But we missed too many clutch free throws. You can’t shoot like that against a team as deep as they are. They have 14 guys that can play.”

Smith, who will play at Boston College next season, sandwiched two quick baskets around a free throw by Westchester center Chad Bell at the start of the third quarter, cutting the Comet lead to one point. Those, however, were his final field goals. He picked up his fourth foul with two minutes left in the third quarter and scored the last of his 20 points on a free throw with 6:25 left in the game.

By that time, Westchester had increased a 59-51 lead at the end of the third quarter to 65-53. The Comets led by as many as 25 points late in the fourth quarter.

“They did a good job of slowing us down in the first half and keeping it at a tempo they could play,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “But when the tempo finally got into our favor we were hard to stop.”

Hassan Adams scored 16 points, Steve Cutley had 12 and Chad Bell added nine points for Westchester.

Kevin Bell scored 10 points for Fairfax.