Westchester Lives Up to Expectations, 57-50

The pressure had been building for months, bulging and burgeoning since the day Westchester High was selected the preseason No. 1 boys’ basketball team in the nation.

The burden hasn’t entirely been lifted, and the Comets feel they still have a few more days of reckoning in the near future, but they were able to smile Saturday at the Forum, winning their third consecutive City Championship with a 57-50 victory over Fairfax.

Nobody really expected any other teams to contend for the title than these Western League rivals, who were playing each other for the fourth time this season, with Westchester coming out on top for the third time.

It wasn’t like the 32-point blowout Westchester scored at Fairfax on Jan. 8, nor was it similar to the four-point victory secured by Fairfax on Jan. 25. This game was somewhere in between, perhaps closer to the two-point victory the Comets secured in an early-season tournament game against Fairfax.

Westchester started the second half with a 13-6 run to take a 37-26 lead and wasn’t seriously threatened until the final minutes of the game, when Fairfax closed to within 51-47 on two free throws by Jahsha Bluntt with 1:45 to play.

But Trevor Ariza made two free throws and Arizona-bound guard Hassan Adams made a thunderous dunk off a steal with 13 seconds left to put the game away.

“We’ve been working for this,” said Adams, who finished with 10 points. “This is just the beginning. It’s going to feel even better when we win state.”

Both teams qualified for the state Division I playoffs, which begin Wednesday. Westchester (28-2), currently ranked No. 5 in the nation, is expected to be seeded No. 1 in Southern California.

Fairfax (29-4), trying to win its first City title since 1987, simply didn’t have enough options on offense.

Evan Burns, who has committed to UCLA, scored a game-high 20 points and Bluntt had 12, but no other Fairfax player scored more than five.

The Lions short-circuited in the final two minutes, getting called for an offensive foul, missing the front end of a one-and-one and missing a short jumper on a fast break.

“We had a chance and a few opportunities,” Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani said. “It all goes with the game.”

Not that Westchester was burning up the nets.

The Comets were sluggish at first, taking a slim 24-20 halftime lead. Adams scored only one point in the first half, missing all four of his shots.

But the Comets rallied in the third quarter, with Ashanti Cook scoring seven of his 11 points to spark Westchester’s run.

“Ashanti has been so steady all season long,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “He showed so much composure [Saturday].”

Adams pitched in with six fourth-quarter points, including the dunk that allowed the Comets to check off the first of their two main goals.

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In the Invitational final:

L.A. University 87, Reseda 77--Aaron Brown had 26 points and 19 rebounds and Ruben Boykin had 23 points and 18 rebounds to lead University (20-11). Sergie Lepiashinski, a senior, had 30 points for Reseda.