Built Tournament Tough

Paleno’s Boys Basketball Squad Doesn’t Rebuild, It Simply Reloads Every Season

You can take away 11 of 13 players on the roster and you can line up the toughest schedule around, but you can’t keep the Palisades High boys varsity basketball team from winning. The Dolphins have only two players–Lebre Merritt and Aaron Fitts–returning from last year’s squad and yet four games into the season, Palisades is playing like a unit that has been together for three years. “I’m much more pleased with this game… yesterday was ugly,” Coach James Paleno said after the Dolphins’ 86-54 trouncing of West Adams last Wednesday in the second round of pool play at the Campbell Hall Tournament in North Hollywood. “You always have to play like it’s tied. There’s no excuse not to.” The win was No. 325 of Paleno’s career and it was achieved much like most of the previous ones–with tenacious defense, unselfishness on offense and steadiness at the foul line. More to his liking than the Dolphins’ season opener against Sun Valley Poly, which Palisades won 71-60 despite making one out of 13 three-pointers and two of 12 free throw attempts. Aaron Fitts led the way against West Adams, finishing with 16 points, 15 rebounds and five assists as Palisades raced to a 44-22 halftime lead. The next night, against a very good Highland team, the Dolphins found themselves tied at halftime but outscored the Bulldogs by 23 points in the final 16 minutes. “This is one of the youngest teams I’ve had, it’s going to take awhile,” Paleno said. “Hopefully we can get better every game.” For the second straight year, Palisades met host Campbell Hall, the defending state champion, in the final. Once again, the Dolphins lost but they played the Vikings much tougher than they did a year ago. The final score was 88-70, but Garrett Nevels poured in 18 points, Fitts added 14 points and nine rebounds and Kenneth Towner scored 10 points. On Monday, Palisades (4-1) began defense of its Beverly Hills Tournament crown with a 63-41 victory over Palos Verdes. They played Crespi in the second round Wednesday night. Last December, the Dolphins routed Long Beach Poly in the final win the title for the seventh time since 1986. “It’s the closest thing we have to a home tournament,” Paleno said of Beverly Hills. “Hopefully, we can add one more year to the list.” The Beverly Hills Tournament final is Saturday night. Palisades then heads north for next week’s San Fernando Valley Invitational.