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Boys’ basketball: Taft has 39-35 halftime lead

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Taft started the game making three consecutive three-pointers and the Toreadors closed the first half by taking the ball strong to the basket in building a 39-35 halftime lead over top-seeded Mater Dei in a Southern California Division I regional semifinal at Mater Dei.

With the score tied at 33, Taft’s Spencer Dinwiddie scored on a driving layup. Forward De’Andre Daniels then went in for a dunk and Mark Jackson followed with a layup to give the Toreadors a 39-33 lead, their biggest of the first half.

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Gary Franklin Jr. stopped the run with a putback for Mater Dei. Tyler Lamb leads the Monarchs with 12 points, all in the first quarter.

Pierson Williams has 15 points and Dinwiddie eight for Taft, which made five of 10 three-point attempts and is shooting 51.9% overall. Mater Dei is shooting 44.8%, including 33.3% from behind the three-point arc.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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