Bryce Jones makes quite the impression

It seemed as if Bryce Jones of Woodland Hills Taft couldn’t miss at USC’s Galen Center on Friday night. His future college coach, USC’s Kevin O’Neill, was sitting courtside, and if there weren’t a few thousand people in the stands, O’Neill might have been willing to do a somersault to show his excitement.

Whether shooting from outside or driving for layups and dunks, the 6-foot-5 Jones was magnificent in almost every aspect of his game in helping the No. 2-seeded Toreadors (24-3) rout No. 3 Los Angeles Crenshaw, 81-60, in a City Section Division I semifinal.

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FOR THE RECORD:
High school basketball: A caption with a photograph of two players in the Taft-Crenshaw playoff game in Saturday’s Sports section identified the Crenshaw player as Mark Johnson. The Crenshaw player pictured was Juwan Thomas. —

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Jones finished with 27 points. He made eight of 11 shots and nine of 11 free throws, and had nine rebounds, three steals and two assists.

“I can’t wait to come here next fall and start my college career,” Jones said.

A year ago, Jones was limited to playing junior varsity after transferring from Los Angeles View Park Prep. He has finally taken his game to another level and become comfortable with his teammates.

“He’s starting to play within himself, and when he’s not in a hurry, he’s pretty spectacular,” Taft Coach Derrick Taylor said.

Jones wasn’t the only Taft player Crenshaw had trouble dealing with. The unsung Pierson Williams, who stuck it out at Taft even though new players were showing up over the summer and supposedly going to take away his playing time, contributed 20 points, including four three-pointers.

“I was getting worried, but it’s competition at Taft, and I like to compete,” Williams said.

After three months of games, the matchup virtually everyone predicted would happen has become reality. Next Saturday in the championship game at the Galen Center, it will be No. 1 Westchester (26-3) against No. 2 Taft. Westchester, seeking its 11th City title, routed Washington, 90-53, in the other semifinal.

“It’s an honor to be playing Westchester and Ed Azzam because he’s always here,” Taylor said. “We want to play them, and they like to play us.”

The two schools met the opening week of the Westchester tournament, and Westchester won, 71-62.

Crenshaw (21-4) was never really a threat to the Toreadors. The Cougars lacked aggressiveness. They fell behind, 17-4, at the outset and played better early in the second quarter, but a 15-0 run by Taft ended the game before halftime. Abdul-Samad Zaid had 23 points for the Cougars.

If only Westchester could duplicate its performance in the first quarter Friday, then the Comets could make early plans for a bus trip to the state championships in Bakersfield. They put together a string of 20 consecutive points and led, 29-5, over Washington.

Washington (22-7) got back into the game in the second quarter and trailed at halftime, 42-28. But Westchester’s talent and experience was too much to overcome.

Arizona-bound Jordin Mayes had 22 points, Dwayne Polee Jr. had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Denzel Douglas added 15 points. Junior Chris Brown led Washington with 17 points.

What’s clear is that when the Comets play their best, there are few teams in the state that can beat them.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com