Smith Lifts Taft Over Chatsworth With a Pass

After 31 1/2 minutes of showmanship, swagger, strutting, finger pointing and individual duels, Wednesday night’s showdown for first place in the West Valley League boys’ basketball race came down to a simple inbounds play.

The score was tied with 24 seconds left when Steve Smith passed to Melvin Robbins cutting down the middle for layup that gave Taft High a 64-62 victory over Chatsworth.

“They caught us by surprise,” Chancellor Coach Emad Whitney said of the decisive inbounds pass.

Chatsworth (11-7, 2-1) was expecting Smith to pass to a teammate on the baseline. But Coach Derrick Taylor designed the play for the 6-foot-4 Robbins to get the ball in the lane.

“It finally worked,” Taylor said. “Our out of bounds play has not been effective. They anticipated us going to the corner.”

Taft (14-4, 3-0 in league) endured one last nerve-racking moment when Shayne Berry launched a three-point shot from just inside the half-court line as the buzzer sounded. The ball hit the rim and bounced away.

“My heart stopped,” Smith said. “Thank God, it rattled out.”

Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Mustafa Asghari added 23 points, including a game-tying basket with 29 seconds left.

Taft opened a 10-point lead in the second quarter, fell behind by six points in the fourth quarter, then rallied behind Asghari, a junior point guard who scored nine points in the final eight minutes.

Both teams struggled at times because of too much one-on-one play. Since many of the players know each other, they seemed more interested in individual battles, leading to some wild three-point shots.

Chatsworth started making smarter decisions in the second half. Brandon Robinson and Berry each finished with 19 points and Jamison Staley had four baskets in the fourth quarter.

Taft survived despite a one-for-nine shooting performance by its three-point specialist, Nima Javaherian.

Robbins was an unexpected hero. He’s a senior who hasn’t played because of academic ineligibility and other problems over tthree seasons.

Before Taft, he attended Birmingham and Kilpatrick. Robbins missed warmups Wednesday because someone told him the game started at 5 p.m. instead of 4 p.m., so he went to a fast-food restaurant and made it back just before the game.

“He’s so raw,” Taylor said.

Chatsworth’s demise was the result of too many outside shots. The Chancellors gave Taft problems when getting the ball inside to Robinson and center Scott Johnston.

“We get into big games and guys are trying too hard to prove themselves,” Whitney said.

Added Berry: “We lived and died by the three.”

Taylor must work on calming his team when facing the Chancellors in the rematch next month at Chatsworth.

“Our guys started to get into one-on-one battles because of the friendships and it took us out of our rhythm,” he said.