Sports
Palisades Boys Hoops Falls to Taft
The Dolphins lose 78-59 in the City Division I semifinals at Galen Center.
With less than six minutes to go, the Palisades High boys' basketball team was right where it wanted to be in Friday night's City Section Division I semifinal - within striking distance.
The underdog Dolphins trailed Woodland Hills Taft 61-52 at USC's Galen Center. The top-seeded Toreadors seemed flustered after point guard Spencer Dinwiddie was called for his fourth personal foul and Palisades' Donovan Johnson made both free throws to make it a nine-point game at the 5:53 mark of the fourth quarter.
However, that was as close as Palisades would get. The Dolphins were game until the end, but Taft responded to every run they made and came away with a 78-59 victory, earning a spot in next Saturday's championship game against second-seeded Westchester, which beat Washington 67-58 in Friday's second semifinal.Â
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"We didn't follow our gameplan," said Palisades Head Coach James Paleno, who took no solace in the fact that his team became only the third City opponent to stay within 20 points of the Toreadors all season. "We had to control the glass and rebound and prevent easy baskets, which we didn't do. At times it was like a layup drill out there."
Johnson picked up his fourth foul with 4:05 left, then teammate Kahlil Johnson was assessed a technical foul for shoving Dinwiddie out of bounds after Dinwiddie stole the ball with 3:40 remaining and Taft leading 64-54. Khiry Williams' jump shot with 2:25 remaining put Taft ahead 67-55 and Dinwiddie sealed the deal with a three-pointer from the corner that made it 74-57 with 1:02 left.
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"Yeah, they do have a lot of size, but most big guys are slow and we have a couple of our own," said Palisades senior forward Everett Osborne, who finished with 10 points. "We knew that no matter who was on the floor, all five of us had to crash the boards. We were right there, we just needed to lock down on defense."Â
Donovan Johnson finished with 15 points and five assists, Kahlil Johnson had eight points, Tyler Duke and Brenden Otero each had seven points, Ilya Ilyayev had six points and Josh Burton added four for the fifth-seeded Dolphins (18-13), who kept it close despite shooting just 35.7 percent from the field.
"Despite the score, this was a winnable game," Paleno said. "They're a lot bigger than we are and it's hard to simulate that size in practice. Still, our talent is good enough to compete with most teams but we have to play 32 minutes and tonight we didn't."
Otero hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to pull Palisades within 38-27 at halftime. Ilyayev and Osborne scored back-to-back baskets in the opening minute of the third quarter to pull the Dolphins within seven points. Dinwiddie's jumper in the lane gave Taft a 50-34 lead with 3:58 left in the quarter.
Duke hit a three-pointer from the corner while being fouled by Dinwiddie and made the free throw to complete a rare four-point play that cut the Dolphins' deficit to 52-42 with 1:47 left in the third quarter.
"No, you're not going to beat everyone by 30 or 40 points," Taft head coach Derrick Taylor said. "Palisades is a very good team, a scrappy team, but I thought we controlled the rhythm of the game the whole time."
Dinwiddie finished with 20 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals, Williams had 20 points and three steals, Kevin Johnson had 11 points and 11 rebounds and CJ Blackwell had 12 points and seven rebounds for Taft (26-2), which shot 43.3 percent and made 21 of its 30 free throw attempts.
"We beat ourselves, they didn't beat us," Osborne said. "We strayed away from what was working. But I give them credit. They are one of the best teams we've played, especially in the paint."
Things got chippy late in the game when players from both teams were assessed technical fouls. Williams got his for vehemently arguing when a foul wasn't called, then Palisades' Malcolm Creer got one for what at best was harmless jabbering at fellow Colorado signee Dinwiddie.
Kahlil Johnson was automatically ejected upon committing his second intentional foul with 1:12 remaining, but by then the outcome had long been decided. Neither coach was pleased with the officiating, but Paleno said the referees had nothing to do with the outcome.
"We didn't play our game, we didn't stay in front of their big guys," Paleno said. "We were a couple possessions away from making it a game in the fourth quarter but we lost our composure and that's what I'm most disappointed with. There was a lot of physical contact out there but every game we've lost is because we don't do things well."
Palisades had to play without senior co-captain Adam Griffin, who dislocated his ankle in the Dolphins' quarterfinal win at Crenshaw. He sat on the bench during the game and limped to midcourt on crutches during pre-game warmups to give his teammates a pep talk.
"It was frustrating for him not being able to play," Paleno said. "Would he have made a difference? You never know, but he's one of our best shooters and they went to a zone in the second half so he would've had some open looks."
Despite the loss Palisades' season isn't over. By reaching the semifinals, the Dolphins qualified for the state tournament and will likely have to play the Southern Section Division 1AA or 1A champion in the first round.
Girls Basketball
Palisades 58, Granada Hills 39
The top-seeded Dolphins (23-9) advanced to the City Section Division II championship game with a resounding semifinal victory Friday night.
Point guard Ashlie Bruner had 22 points, six steals and five assists, Kylie Mizushima had 15 points and five steals and Nicole Flyer added four points, four rebounds and seven blocks for host Palisades, which outscored the fifth-seeded Highlanders (16-12) by a 25-5 margin in the middle two quarters to seize control of the game.
The Dolphins will play sixth-seeded South East (23-11) in the finals on Friday at 6 p.m. at Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles. The Jaguars upset second-seeded LA Jordan, 65-58, in the semifinals.Â