Comets Keep Streaking

Pali High Basketball Loses League Opener to Westchester

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

For the last dozen years, no team in the Western League has given the Palisades High boys basketball team a tougher time than perennial City Section power Westchester and the script held Monday night.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the visiting Comets took complete control and cruised to a 76-44 triumph in the league opener for both teams.

It was the 809th victory for head coach Ed Azzam, who passed Crenshaw’s Willie West as the winningest coach in City history Dec. 26 after an eight-point win against Narbonne.

As for the Dolphins, chalk the game up as another lesson that when the gameplan is working, stick to it.

“We were right with them for half of the first quarter,” head coach Donzell Hayes said. “When we stay in system we can play with anybody. Our Achilles heel is continuing to run our stuff. It’s hard to get shots on us in the half court but when guys start doing their own thing… that’s when we run into trouble.”

The Dolphins scored 16 points in the first quarter, but were held to single digits in each of the next two. Keith Fisher led all scorers with 17 points and L’Kielynn Taylor added 14 for Westchester, which entered the season as one of the favorites to win its 13th section title.

Will Johnson had 16 points and Chris Kurihara added 10 for the Dolphins, who suffered their fifth straight defeat and dropped to 6-10 overall. Nick Kerkorian had six points and George Brown had four for Palisades, which trailed 43-25 at halftime and 57-34 after three quarters.

One positive was the spark provided by sophomore Jeron Artest, who made one free throw and scored his team’s last basket on a hook shot to finish with three points in his Dolphins debut.

“I was happy to be out there even though it was against a tougher  team,” said Artest, who had to sit out the first half of the season due to transfer rules. “I was one of the broken links in the offense because I haven’t been out there but I expect to do a lot better the next game.”

Artest is the son of Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace and the younger brother of Ron Artest III, who transferred from Palisades to Beverly Hills in October.

Last Wednesday, Palisades took on Santa Monica in an intersectinal showdown and despite trailing by 18 points at halftime the Dolphins trimmed their deficit to two points on a three-pointer by Zach Lynch with 35 seconds left. The Vikings held on for a 66-58 victory despite Johnson’s 13 points and 12 each by Kerkorian and Lynch (each of whom made four three-pointers).

Two nights later, Johnson scored 17 points in the Dolphins’ 63-49  loss to Campbell Hall in North Hollywood. To Hayes, the losses are   all part of the learning process for his young team.

“We’ve played five straight teams that have been section or state champions,” Hayes said. “It’s been a mental challenge.”

Palisades played University on Wednesday and resumes Western League play at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Venice.