Friendship Is at Heart of Westchester’s Success

In a heated moment of a semifinal basketball playoff game, Chris Solomon of Los Angeles Fairfax got into a scuffle with Isaiah Jenkins of Westchester.

Jenkins’ teammate, Dane Suttle, saw what was happening, raced forward and pushed Solomon in retaliation. The officials quickly stopped the juvenile theatrics and gave technical fouls to Suttle and Solomon.

Suttle, in the middle of the greatest game of his high school career, was benched by Coach Ed Azzam, who needed to remind him that he could have been ejected and required to miss the next game.

On the other hand, Suttle had no reason to apologize for coming to the aid of Jenkins, his best friend. It was the way he intervened that was wrong.

“We’ve got each other’s back no matter what,” Suttle said.

Added Jenkins: “If it would have happened to him, I would have done the same.”

Closeness, camaraderie and chemistry are three reasons Westchester has been able to close what appeared to be an insurmountable talent gap, propelling the Comets into today’s 7 p.m. City championship game against Woodland Hills Taft at the Sports Arena.

Westchester (23-6) will be seeking its sixth City title in the last seven seasons, a development few thought possible this season, considering the Comets lack a dominant big man and had lost twice to Fairfax in Western League play. But everything changed with their 79-63 semifinal upset of the top-seeded Lions, and now people can focus on Westchester’s strength, its talented junior guards, Suttle and Jenkins.

Suttle scored 32 points against Fairfax, making 14 of 17 shots. Not even Suttle’s father, Dane, a standout in the 1970s at Los Angeles Fremont, remembers a shooting performance equal to his son’s.

“I believed it and didn’t believe it,” Dane said. “It was really satisfying.”

At 6 feet 6, with long arms and an even longer shooting range, Suttle is capable of scoring in bunches. But at Westchester, playing time is dictated by how hard an individual works on defense, and that’s where Suttle has been devoting increasing focus to satisfy the demands of Azzam.

At 6-3 1/2 , Jenkins possesses many of the same qualities as Suttle. He’s an excellent three-point shooter and has the ball-handling skills to penetrate into the interior when needed.

“I think they’re both going to be terrific players” in college, Azzam said. “They have size and the ability to put the ball in the basket.”

They met when they were 5 and then played on the same team as seventh-graders. Their comfort level in each other can be seen on the court.

“We’re so used to each other’s game,” Suttle said. “He’s more of the playmaker. He looks for me, and I look for him.”

Jenkins scored 24 points in a double-overtime loss to Santa Ana Mater Dei last month. The coaches have told him to become more assertive in looking for his shot.

On and off the court, they look out for each other. That’s why Suttle was quick to jump in when he saw Jenkins in trouble, though Jenkins said, “He should have stayed calm and grabbed me. It wasn’t worth it. It was the heat of a moment. I’d rather he have my back than not do anything at all.”

This is a different Westchester team from the ones that have won every City title this decade except 2004, when the Comets were ineligible to compete in the playoffs.

There’s no Hassan Adams, no Trevor Ariza and no Amir Johnson, all of whom were All-Americans as seniors.

When the Comets would show up at a gym, simply seeing the players walk in the door was intimidating.

As Taft Coach Derrick Taylor points out, “The window of opportunity is open.”

Westchester is trying to stay atop its perch on the strength of an exceptional group of guards that includes senior Ahmaad Cook and sophomore Jarred DuBois.

What makes tonight’s City final so intriguing is that Taft has its own collection of outstanding guards in senior Calvin Haynes and sophomores Larry Drew Jr. and Oscar Bellfield.

It’s usually a lot tougher for high school players to shoot in an arena setting like the Sports Arena, but Jenkins and Suttle have already proven they’re up for the task.

Together, they want to deliver a ninth City title to Azzam. If it happens, it would be the most surprising and, perhaps, the most satisfying.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com