Comets Turn to Reserve Strength

Westchester High rarely displayed flashes of vulnerability this season, a character trait that allowed the Comets to dominate almost every opponent.

So when Westchester came out relatively cold at the start of the boys’ City Section championship game on Saturday, Fremont had a rare opportunity to put the Comets on the defensive.

Unfortunately for the upset-minded Pathfinders, that chance ended as soon as Westchester starters went to the bench midway through the first quarter.

The Comets’ first wave of substitutes pushed the pace with perfection and Westchester never looked back en route to a 109-80 victory at the Forum.

Defending champion Westchester (28-1) won its third City title in four years. The Comets averaged 109 points in four playoff victories. Their average margin of victory was 40 points.

“They’ve got a bunch of long, tall athletes,” Fremont guard Eric Webb said. “They attack and come at you for the full 32 minutes.”

Seven Westchester players scored more than 10 points. Guard Brandon Heath had 18 and forward Keith Everage 14. Guard Ashanti Cook and forwards Brandon Bowman and Trevor Ariza each had 11, and guards David Warsaw and John Clemmons had 10 apiece.

The Comets forced 20 turnovers and committed only eight while outrebounding the Pathfinders, 49-28.

Said Bowman, a 6-foot-7 junior: “No one is as deep as we are. We can go all day and all night.”

Westchester forward Scott Cutley was part of a five-player unit that came off the bench and increased a 6-2 lead to 20-6 in a span of just more than two minutes in the first quarter.

“We needed to pick up the momentum,” said Cutley, a sophomore who scored nine points. “Once our first team comes out, another first team comes in. I’m telling you, every day in practice, it’s a battle.”

Westchester led, 25-13, at the end of the first quarter, started the second quarter with a 10-0 run and was ahead, 51-31, at halftime.

Fremont cut the lead to 16 points late in the third quarter, but Westchester led by as many as 30 in the fourth.

“It’s hard to come back against a team like Westchester because you might get the lead cut down to 16 or 17 points, but by that time you’re tired from all the work that went into doing that--so they kick it back up to 25 or 30,” Webb said.

Added Fremont Coach Sam Sullivan: “You get one little window of opportunity against a team like that and we did not capitalize. After that, they took our legs away from us with their depth and we couldn’t compete on the boards.”

Senior guard Kenton Paulino scored 29 points for Fremont (20-7). Forward Earl Felix added 15 and forward Willie Dunn had 11.

Westchester defeated Marshall, 110-40, Van Nuys Grant, 104-54 and Crenshaw, 114-93, before defeating Fremont, which could, conceivably, meet the Comets again next week in the Southern California Regional of the state tournament.

Regional pairings will be announced today.