Boys’ basketball: Westchester, ECR finish league play unbeaten
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
On Saturday, the City Section playoff pairings will be announced, and one of the tough assignments will be deciding whether Westchester or El Camino Real deserves the No. 1 seed in Division I. Both teams finished league play on Friday night with unbeaten league records.
Westchester finished the regular season 24-6 and 12-0 after an 82-40 Western League victory over University. El Camino Real finished 25-2 and 10-0 in the West Valley League after a 70-51 win over Taft. Evan Wardlow led the Conquistadores with 14 points. Sophomore Darius Henderson had 22 points for Taft.
Westchester played the tougher schedule, losing close games to Southern Section powers Bishop Montgomery, Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly. But El Camino Real made it through its schedule with just two losses and won its first league championship since 1978.
Birmingham finished second in the West Valley League despite losing to Granada Hills, 69-66, on buzzer beater by Louis Fernando that banked in from just inside the half-court line.
Palisades claimed second place in the Western League, rallying from a 23-point deficit to defeat Fairfax, 70-62. Fairfax led after the first quarter, 26-10. Ammar Rehman scored 21 points for the Dolphins.
In the Coliseum League, Crenshaw finished unbeaten in league play after an 87-69 win over View Park Prep. Birdel Hodge scored 24 points and Micah Winn 21.
In the Valley Mission League, Dom Vargas scored 17 points in Kennedy’s 69-48 win over San Fernando. Kennedy and Sylmar shared the league title. Kennedy could be seeded No. 1 in Division II.
-- Eric Sondheimer