Boys Basketball Midway through the fourth quarter, Palisades led by four points and appeared destined for the L.A. Sports Arena and a spot in the City Invitational Finals. Then, a problem that had plagued the Dolphins all season resurfaced: the inability to close an opponent out. Although the game was moved to Carson High in order to accommodate more fans, host San Pedro still enjoyed the home court and home crowd advantage. Junior forward Max Weischedel was fouled with 19 seconds left and made the first of two free throw attempts to give the fourth-seeded Pirates (20-7) a 62-61 lead. After a pair of turnovers, Pali had possession underneath San Pedro’s basket with 2.6 seconds left and one last chance to win the game, but Weischedel intercepted a pass from sophomore guard Taylor Shipley and dribbled downcourt to run out the clock. Marshall Johnson, who had scored 24 points in the Dolphins’ 77-56 quarterfinal win at top-seeded Venice, once again led all scorers with 19 points. Ashton Roberts added 12 for ninth-seeded Palisades (13-14), which was playing in the Invitational bracket for the first time in coach James Paleno’s 16 seasons. “It was a good run for us,” Paleno said. “I’d still rather be the 16th seed in the upper bracket and have a chance to play for the championship, but as it turned out we got to play a few extra games and we have a lot of young players so this gave them valuable experience. Girls JV Basketball Third-seeded Palisades upset second-seeded Garfield in the semifinals last Thursday to advance to Friday’s final at top-seeded Cleveland. Tip-off is at 3 p.m.
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