Dolphins Net First League Win

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It took the full 32 minutes, but the Palisades High boys basketball team beat Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies 60-46 to notch its first Western League victory of the season Friday night.

Anthony Spencer finished with 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, Cole Jacobs scored 13 points, Will Janney had 10 points and nine rebounds, Nick Kerkorian had 10 points and four assists  and Graham Alphson added six points for the Dolphins, who rebounded from a 60-57 loss to Venice in their league opener four days earlier.

“It’s great being at home because the crowd gets into it,” Spencer said. “You always want to defend your home court. The Venice game left a bad taste in our mouths. We just had to keep running our plays and we were hitting our shots.”

Palisades led 23-15 at halftime, but the visiting Unicorns erased a 10-point deficit to go ahead 33-32 with 2:20 left in the third quarter. Kerkorian’s corner three-pointer put the Dolphins back in front and they led 37-33 after three quarters.

Jacobs started the fourth quarter with a straightaway three-pointer and knocked down another from the corner to make it a 10-point lead. It was still a one possession game with 1:45 remaining, but Alphson’s steal and layup and Jacobs’ subsequent layup off a fast break increased the Dolphins’ lead to nine with 55 seconds left.

“Let’s go win… our mentality was just to win so I’m happy we pulled it out,” guard Keyshawn Parks said. “Going forward, we have to play harder from the jump. We’ve got to get the plays down and know to shoot and when to drive. If one guy gets on, we all get on.”

Palisades hosted Fairfax yesterday and travels to Hamilton on Friday before returning home to host first-place Westchester next Monday and University next Wednesday. The Dolphins finished third in league last season and reached the City Section Division I semifinals. In 2016 they lost to Hamilton in the Division I quarterfinals.

“We’ll take every win we can get,” Pali High Coach Donzell Hayes said. “We’ve seen the bottom and it was rough. There are no easy games in this league.”