Pali High Boys Hoops Reaches Open Semis

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor      

Guiding his team to the City Section Open Division semifinals in his first season was quite an accomplishment for Palisades High boys basketball coach Jeff Bryant, but after Monday’s night’s  77-47 loss to No. 1-seeded Chatsworth at Roybal Learning Center he was already looking ahead to the SoCal Regional playoffs.

“It’s a new season,” he said. “The next day or so will be tough  but we’ll regroup and get ready to play more meaningful basketball. Hopefully we can get back to this kind if moment.”

The Dolphins earned an automatic berth into next week’s regional tournament by virtue of making the Open bracket as one of the City’s top eight teams.   

In the quarterfinal round Feb. 19, fourth-seeded Palisades blew out No. 5 Venice 81-52, avenging a 30-point defeat to the Gondos in their Western League finale only five days earlier. Tommy Pickens led the way with 22 points and five assists, Jack Levey had 17 points, five assists four rebounds  and Julian Cunningham added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Dolphins, who notched their first-ever Open Division playoff victory.

Monday’s contest marked a huge step up in competition but Bryant’s squad hung tough early, playing even with the Chancellors in the second quarter and trailing by only nine points at halftime. It was right where Bryant wanted his team to be, but Chatsworth stretched the lead to 19 by the end of the third quarter led by one of the best players in the country— USC commit Alijah Arenas—who finished with 31 points. The son of  former NBA star Gilbert Arenas will face Tajh Ariza (son of former NBA player Trevor Ariza) and No. 2 Westchester in the finals Friday night at Southwest College. Pickens again led Palisades (19-11) with 12 points, Kye Davis had eight and Mikal Sims and Jack Levey had seven apiece.

“We believed all week, we’re built for the playoffs” Bryant said. “In the Venice game we followed the gameplan to a T. Tonight, we were up against a great player and we wanted to make it hard for him to catch it and trust his teammates. To their credit, they made shots.”

Pali High’s girls faced league rival and top-seeded Hamilton for a spot in the Open finals Tuesday. Last Thursday, the No. 5 Dolphins traveled to Woodland Hills and knocked off No. 4 El Camino Real  58-47. Riley Oku had 15 points and Sincere Aubrey added 12.