City Section parity? No, it’s Fairfax vs. Westchester for a third time

Forget all that talk of parity in City Section basketball.

The last two teams standing are defending champion Fairfax and 14-time champion Westchester. The two Western League rivals will face off in the Open Division championship game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at L.A. Southwest College. It’s the third consecutive season of a Fairfax vs. Westchester final.

It will be quite an intriguing coaching matchup. Westchester’s Ed Azzam is the all-time winningest coach in City Section history. First-year Fairfax coach Reggie Morris Jr. once played for Azzam and is the son of Reggie Morris Sr., who won a City title coaching at Manual Arts. Morris has the chance to pull off the rare feat of winning titles at four different schools. He won Southern Section titles coaching at Leuzinger, Redondo Union and St. Bernard.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Westchester stormed back from an eight-point second-quarter deficit to defeat King/Drew 56-44. The Comets’ guard play was much better than King/Drew’s. TJ Wainwright and Joseph Johnson each scored 16 points.

Fairfax defeated Birmingham 58-39. Again it came down to guard play. Justin Gladney and DJ Dudley each scored 18 points.

There was a lack of successful threes at Southwest College, and that could be a clue as to which team wins in the final. Fairfax has beaten Westchester in both of its meetings this season and has a five-game winning streak against the Comets.

“It’s a one-game season,” Morris said. “They’re a different team, we’re a different team.”

There also will be an all-Western League final to decide the Open Division girls’ champion. Palisades will face Hamilton at 5 p.m. Saturday.