Westchester Gets Outplayed

It doesn’t happen very often, but Westchester, ranked No. 1 in the Southland by The Times, was the team Saturday night that found itself out-jumped, out-hustled and out-gunned.

Nationally ranked Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy put on a display of immense basketball athleticism and talent en route to an 80-70 victory over the Comets in the featured contest of the eight-game Nike Extravaganza at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The score was tied, 25-25, with 1:45 left in the second quarter when Oak Hill (23-2) went on a run, scoring the last 10 points of the half to build a lead it would never relinquish.

Kevin Durant, a 6-foot-9 junior who could be an NBA draft choice in 2006, scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds. Syracuse-bound guard Eric Devendorf scored 16 points, and junior point guard Tywon Lawson had 16 points and eight assists.

Westchester (14-3) had difficulty shooting against Oak Hill’s 2-3 zone defense that featured not only Durant, but 7-1 Senegal native Bamba Fall. The Comets made only 27% of their shots in the first half and 40% for the game. Amir Johnson led Westchester with 22 points.

The good news for the Comets is that the game should help prepare them for a Wednesday night Western League title-decider at Los Angeles Fairfax.

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New USC Coach Tim Floyd was sitting courtside and greeting coaches in his first Southern California appearance at a major high school basketball event since being named Trojan coach last month.

One problem for Floyd is that arguably the top two players for the classes of 2006 and 2007 -- junior James Keefe of Santa Margarita and sophomore Taylor King of Santa Ana Mater Dei -- are already committed to UCLA. But that didn’t discourage him from having individual discussions with their coaches.

Keefe, a 6-8 center, scored 26 points, had 19 rebounds and eight blocks to lead the 13th-ranked Eagles (20-3) past Las Vegas Durango, 66-53.

King, a 6-7 forward, scored 25 points, including 16 in the third quarter, to help seventh-ranked Mater Dei (21-3) defeat Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy, 67-64.

Keefe and King will face off in a Serra League finale Thursday night at Concordia University.

It was an impressive victory for Mater Dei, considering that Brentwood has one of the best juniors in the nation in 6-10 Brandan Wright, who scored 21 points and had 15 rebounds.

In other Nike Extravaganza games:

Fairfax 71, Orange Lutheran 52 -- The third-ranked Lions (20-3) received 22 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore Chace Stanback to knock off 24th-ranked Orange Lutheran (18-6), which lost starters David Wilson and Michael Reardon earlier this week because of broken wrists.

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Villa Park 67, Huntington Beach Ocean View 53 -- Sophomore Drew Viney scored 29 points, making all three of his three-point attempts, as the 14th-ranked Spartans (20-2) cruised to victory. Viney, a 6-6 guard, made 12 of 17 shots and had eight rebounds.