Boys’ basketball: Calabasas wins 3AA championship

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Playing what its coach, Jon Palarz, called a ‘flawless’ first quarter, Calabasas opened a 25-2 lead and rolled to a 69-39 victory over South Torrance in the Southern Section 3AA championship game at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Jeremy Lieberman scored 15 points, Holden Israel had 14, Spencer Levy 13 and Austin Smith 10 for a 27-3 team that won its first basketball championship in school history.

Calabasas starts five players who are Jewish, causing Palarz to say, ‘It’s a unique situation. We have secular Jews, some more religious Jews. There’s great diversity. I don’t imagine many high schools have five Jewish Americans in their starting lineup.’

The team dedicated the game and its season to assistant coach Joe Frazier, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Aug. 25 while riding his motorcycle and remains in a coma.

‘I talked to my team before the game, ‘We are getting this ring for Joe Frazier, and there’s no question about it,’’ senior Joshua Cohan said.

-- Eric Sondheimer