Lynwood Gets a Quality Look

Lynwood, looking to improve the quality of its nonleague schedule, played Carbondale (Ill.) on Friday in front of 13,000 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.

The Knights lost in overtime, 78-73, squandering a six-point lead with about three minutes left in regulation.

Lynwood (1-1), ranked No. 11 in the Southland by The Times, is in the Top of the World Challenge beginning Friday at Cerritos College. In the second round the Knights could meet Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, ranked No. 6 in the nation by USA Today.

Other local teams in the tournament include Compton Dominguez (4-0), which upset former No. 1 Westchester on Saturday in the Westchester tournament final, Compton Centennial (5-1), North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (4-0) and Woodland Hills Taft (4-1).

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Santa Ana Mater Dei sophomore forward Taylor King made eight of 12 three-point attempts and scored a career-high 37 points Saturday night to lead the Monarchs (6-0) over Seattle Rainier Beach, 75-72, at Seattle Pacific University.

King, who committed to UCLA before his freshman season, played as well as if not better than Louisville-bound senior Terrance Williams, also a 6-7 forward, who scored 31 for Rainier Beach, then-ranked No. 8 in the West by USA Today.

The Monarchs, ranked No. 5 in the West and No. 15 in the nation, are scheduled to leave today for Fort Meyers, Fla., and the City of Palms Classic, which begins Friday. The tournament features five teams ranked in the top 25 in the country.

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Reseda Cleveland Coach Andre Chevalier is getting plenty of flak for pulling his team out of the championship game of its own tournament Saturday night.

The title game matched the Cavaliers (5-2) against West Valley League rival Granada Hills, but it was canceled because Chevalier did not want to play the Highlanders three times this season, according to Jack Pollon, tournament director.

“I think it was the wrong decision by Coach Chevalier, and he and I are friends,” said Pollon, who was an assistant at Cleveland for two seasons until this fall. Chevalier did not return calls seeking comment.

Cleveland will not receive a forfeit loss because the City Section does not recognize tournament games as part of its master schedule.

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The next time Marcus Johnson has the basket all to himself late in a close game, don’t be surprised if the Westchester forward acts like a 5-2 guard and safely lays the ball off the glass for two points.

Johnson, a 6-6 forward, missed a one-handed slam on a breakaway with just over one minute left Saturday on a play that could have tied the score during the Comets’ eventual 53-52 loss to Compton Dominguez.

“Basketball is a game of mistakes, and we made a lot of mistakes,” Johnson said. “I just got a little too excited; it won’t happen again.”

Johnson’s mistake might have been a footnote had Westchester converted more than half of its free throws and handled Dominguez’s zone defense. The Comets made 13 of 26 free throws and committed many turnovers in the fourth quarter, allowing the Dons to rally from a 50-42 deficit with five minutes left.

“Yeah, we don’t practice against the zone,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam deadpanned. “Free throws and turnovers were the critical difference.”

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Landon Pluimer, a sophomore guard who was expected to bolster Santa Margarita after transferring from San Clemente last summer, has transferred to Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley. The Cougars are coached by Brian Mulligan, whose brother, Shawn, coaches San Clemente.

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San Juan Capistrano Serra is playing its first season at the varsity level, but that hasn’t stopped the Lions from making some noise.

Coached by former Mater Dei standout Tom Lewis, the Lions (4-4) finished third in the Huntington Beach Ocean View Tournament of Champions, beating defending Southern Section Division I-AA champion Long Beach Poly (2-2) in overtime, 72-63, on Saturday.

Bussey Ellis led Serra with 19 points and Chris Robinson and Devon Adams each added 17.

Mikhail Marinovich, brother of former USC and L.A. Raider quarterback Todd, had 13 points, including three three-point baskets.

Serra’s only tournament loss was by one point to Ocean View (4-3).

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Times staff writer Ben Bolch contributed to this report.

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

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DAN ARRITT’S BOYS’ BASKETBALL RANKINGS

*--* Rk. Team Rec. Sec.-Div. LW 1 ETIWANDA 5-0 SS-Div. I-AA 2 2 FAIRFAX 4-0 City 3 3 DOMINGUEZ 4-0 SS-Div. II-AA 4 4 WESTCHESTER 3-1 City 1 5 MATER DEI 6-0 SS-Div. II-A 6 6 HARVARD-WESTLAKE 4-0 SS-Div. III-A 8 7 EL TORO 6-0 SS-Div. I-A 10 8 CAPISTRANO VALLEY 6-0 SS-Div. II-AA 15 9 COMP. CENTENNIAL 5-1 SS-Div. III-A 7 10 SANTA MARGARITA (6-1 SS-Div. III-AA 5 11 LYNWOOD 1-1 SS-Div. I-AA 21 12 DORSEY 7-0 City NR 13 LOYOLA 6-2 SS-Div. II-AA 9 14 VILLA PARK 4-0 SS-Div. II-AA 16 15 FREMONT 0-0 City 14 16 CALABASAS 2-2 SS-Div. II-A 12 17 ARTESIA 3-1 SS-Div. III-AA 18 18 TAFT 4-1 City 17 19 MISSION VIEJO 3-2 SS-Div. I-A 11 20 CLEVELAND 5-2 City 20 21 CAMPBELL HALL 5-0 SS-Div. IV-AA 24 22 L.B. POLY 2-2 SS-Div. I-AA 22 23 REDONDO 3-1 SS-Div. II-A NR 24 ALISO NIGUEL 6-0 SS-Div. I-A 25 25 TEMESCAL CANYON 5-0 SS-Div. I-A NR

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