Westchester routs Fairfax
Kareem Jamar glanced at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter and couldn’t believe it.
“It was crazy because all my four years,” the Westchester guard said, “it’s never been a blowout.”
A series that has spawned plenty of epic battles produced an instant clunker Wednesday night when top-ranked Westchester beat Fairfax, 72-39, in the tiny Fairfax gym.
It was the most one-sided game in the series since Fairfax trounced its Western League rival by 33 points in the 2007 Southern California Regional Division I championship.
Featuring a deeper and more explosive lineup, Westchester led by eight points at the end of the first quarter and 16 points at halftime. The final score was the game’s largest margin.
“We didn’t want to let up,” said Jamar, a senior who led the Comets with 13 points. “Once we stepped on them, we wanted to keep them down.”
Ten players scored for Westchester (13-2 overall, 2-0 league), which pulled its starters at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“They stuck it to us,” Coach Harvey Kitani said.
The Lions, ranked No. 12 in the Southland by The Times, had trouble keeping up with Westchester’s trio of talented guards that include Jordin Mayes (12 points) and Denzel Douglas (eight) in addition to Jamar.
“Their guards are their strength, our guards are our strength, and I think our guards are a little bit better,” Coach Ed Azzam said. “I think our guards are three of the best guards in the country together.”
Senior guard Jordan Weathers scored 17 points and senior guard Raymond Barry had 12 for Fairfax (9-6, 1-1), which scored consecutive baskets only twice.
Westchester senior forward Dwayne Polee Jr. caused the biggest stir among the near-capacity crowd midway through the second quarter when he emphatically dunked an alley-oop pass that had left Jamar’s hands near midcourt.
“That was just me and Kareem having eye contact and knowing where each other was going to be,” said Polee, who scored all eight of his points in the second quarter.
Kitani said his team’s inability to execute basic basketball skills contributed to the blowout against the defending state champions.
“We have to take care of the fundamental things that we have control over -- blocking out, not letting a guy slip behind us and get uncontested shots,” said Kitani, whose Lions will play at Westchester on Feb. 1. “You can’t do that and expect to have a chance to beat a team like this.”
