Boys’ basketball: Taft is an all-star team
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It might take a McDonald’s All-American team to beat Woodland Hills Taft this season. That’s how talented the Toreadors look, with all-star players up and down their starting lineup and on the bench. Coach Derrick Taylor coached in the 2007 McDonald’s All-American Game, so he must feel comfortable.
On Thursday night in a quarterfinal game of the Westchester tournament, the Toreadors (2-0) demolished the defending state Division V champions from Los Angeles Windward, 88-57. Windward (1-1) was a virtual one-man team, with junior Wesley Saunders scoring 32 points.
Taft has so many offensive options that an opposing coach is going to have a difficult time coming up with a plan to stop one or two players. DeAndre Daniels had 28 points for the Toreadors, making 13 of 19 shots. Landon Drew added 16 points and Bryce Jones 12.
Taft will play Leuzinger, a 79-76 winner over Washington, in Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinals. Leuzinger is a good team, but I just don’t think the Toreadors are going to lose too many games this season, if any. And the poor West Valley League teams had better get ready for running clocks in the fourth quarter come January. The mercy rule is invoked when a team leads by 40 or more points.
-- Eric Sondheimer