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Boys’ basketball: Artesia clinches playoff berth

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Senior guard Devin Tanter scored a career-high 22 points to help Artesia rally from a 10-point deficit and defeat Norwalk, 64-57, this evening and clinch the Suburban League’s fourth playoff spot.

Artesia (11-13, 5-6) and Norwalk (13-10, 4-7) came into the game tied for fourth place in the league standings. The Pioneers will receive the league’s fourth playoff spot even if they lose their regular-season finale because they swept Norwalk in the season series.

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Artesia is a long way off from the state title teams of 2006 and ‘07, but its playoff berth is an achievement nonetheless under first-year Coach Greg Taylor, who had no high school coaching experience before this season. Taylor took over as varsity coach when Ken Shyne resigned in December.

--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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