Riverside King holds off Westchester
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
The Wolves advance to Southern California Regional Division I semifinals with a 77-75 victory over the Comets.
The Riverside King boys' basketball team stole the momentum in the first half of its Southern California Regional Division I quarterfinal Tuesday night against host Westchester, then refused to relinquish it down the stretch.
The Comets made a three-point shot in the closing seconds, but fifth-seeded King never had to inbound the ball, allowing the Wolves to hold on for a 77-75 victory.
King (31-2) will play at top-seeded Woodland Hills Taft in Thursday's semifinal.
The Wolves hosted another City Section semifinalist on Monday night, Los Angeles Fremont, and won, 82-56. They also beat Etiwanda in overtime Saturday night in the Southern Section Division I final at the Honda Center.
King Coach Tim Sweeney said the key to Tuesday's victory over the fourth-seeded Comets was "just huge execution and being able to stay focused against their pressure."
The Wolves fell behind, 16-6, on Dwayne Polee's fast-break dunk with 2:47 remaining in the first quarter, but then the Comets went without a field goal until Polee grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a short jumper with 3:08 left in the half. By then, the Wolves had taken an eight-point lead.
"That second quarter hurt us," Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said.
King extended it least to 12 at the half and led by nine heading into the fourth quarter, despite much more aggressive play by the Comets.
Eric Wise, who led the Wolves with 20 points, sat out the last five minutes of the third quarter after receiving his third personal foul.
Westchester (29-5) cut the deficit to four points with 2:55 left, but Polee fouled out two possessions later and Wise made both free throws to push the lead to six.
The Wolves made six of eight free throws in the final 41 seconds.
J.J. Campbell, who scored a career-high 29 points off the bench against Fremont, had another big game, scoring 19. He came into the regionals averaging 7.5 points.
"The last two months, he has turned into a Division I basketball player," Sweeney said.
Azzam was also complimentary of Wise, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound forward, who spent most of the game bringing the ball up the floor against Westchester's best post defender, Cordell Hadnot.
"We had a tough time guarding him," Azzam said.
Dominique O'Connor scored 18 points to lead the Comets and Polee had 14, but only eight after the first quarter.
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Dan Arritt
