Solomon leads Fairfax to seventh consecutive Watts title
Senior guard Chris Solomon, following in the tradition of Josh Shipp and Chace Stanback, led Los Angeles Fairfax to its seventh consecutive Watts Summer Games boys' basketball championship on Saturday.
Solomon scored 30 points and received tournament most-valuable-player honors in the Lions' 74-64 victory over Newhall Hart in the final at Los Angeles Santee. In the semifinals, he scored 29 points in a 50-43 victory over Palisades.
Shipp and Stanback helped Fairfax win state Division I titles and received scholarships to UCLA. Solomon, who averaged nearly 10 points per game as a junior, seems ready to elevate his game in his senior season.
"He's always had the ability to be a good scorer for us," Coach Harvey Kitani said. "He's waited his turn, and you're starting to see the tip of the iceberg, and the great thing is he can do so much more."
Center Solomon Hill had 18 points in the championship game. Hart, which made 10 three-pointers, received 15 points from Bradford Wyche.
Hart reached the final because of a forfeit victory over Compton, which failed to show up Saturday.
In the girls' championship game, Harbor City Narbonne, under first-year Coach Vicki Sanders, upset defending state Division I champion Long Beach Poly, 35-33. Gabrielle Clark, a 6-foot-1 senior at Narbonne, scored 11 points and was named the tournament MVP.
Poly played without its standout guard, Jasmine Dixon, who was in Colorado playing in a national tournament.
Narbonne, which defeated defending City Section champion Woodland Hills Taft in the semifinals, got a crucial three-point play from Lauren Payton with 53 seconds left to take a 35-30 lead.
-- Eric Sondheimer
