Westchester wins early battle with Taft
If this was a preview of the Los Angeles City Section boys’ basketball title game, then Woodland Hills Taft has three months to figure out how to stop Westchester’s sharpshooting guards.
The Comets, ranked No. 1 by The Times, combined for nine three-point baskets to pull away for a 71-62 victory over the second-ranked Toreadors on Saturday night in the championship game of the Westchester tournament.
Senior Jordin Mayes had two three-pointers on the way to 24 points and senior Kareem Jamar made five three-point baskets and finished with 19 points for Westchester (4-0) in front of a crowd that included Arizona State Coach Herb Sendek and UCLA assistant Donny Daniels.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons, a lot of guys who can score,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said.
“We had an advantage on the perimeter, but we sure didn’t do a good job on the boards.”
The Comets were out-rebounded, 48-29, and couldn’t contain Taft big man DeAndre Daniels, who had 29 points and 16 rebounds.
The 6-foot-7 forward scored 22 points in the second half and helped key a fourth-quarter rally in which the Toreadors (3-1) closed to within two points.
Westchester appeared comfortably in control when Dwayne Polee found Denzel Douglas inside for a basket that gave the Comets a 51-40 lead early in the quarter. But Daniels started a frenetic comeback with a three-point basket, a layup and a free throw after drawing a foul, and a steal that resulted in Spencer Dinwiddie’s three-pointer that trimmed the deficit to 51-49.
Menas Stephens and Jordin Mayes soon responded with consecutive three-pointers and the Comets eventually stretched the lead back to double digits by making all 10 of their free throws over the final 1 minute 18 seconds.
Dinwiddie had 13 points for Taft, which shot 38.1% from the field to Westchester’s 42.3%.
The Comets made nine of 20 attempts from three-point range.
Azzam said it was too early to anoint the game a preview of the City championship.
“I haven’t seen all the teams, but I would say Taft is as talented as any team in the City,” Azzam said. “[But] there’s a lot of obstacles between us and the City finals.”
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