Throwing It Down

Pali High Boys Basketball Opens Playoffs with 60-39 Triumph over South Gate

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The defining moment of last Friday night’s City Section Division I boys basketball playoff opener came just before the halfway mark of the fourth quarter.    

South Gate had crept to within 11 points of host Palisades when senior guard Nick Kerkorian fired a bullet pass to streaking forward Graham Alphson, who gathered the ball in stride and jammed it through the hoop for a resounding dunk that brought the home crowd to its feet and sparked a 15-5 run to close out an impressive 60-39 first-round victory.

“It’s a great feeling… especially at home but I have to thank Nick for a great pass—I do that a lot in practice but not much in games,” said Alphson, who led the Dolphins with 17 points. “They’re a very physical, scrappy team and we had to match that. They try to slow the pace down and you can’t  let them play that style.”

Perhaps feeling a bit slighted upon being seeded fourth in the 16-team draw—one spot behind Western League rival University—the Dolphins protected the paint, banged the boards and employed stifling defense in holding the visiting Rams to only 10 points in the first half.

Coach Donzell Hayes had his team well prepared, having acquitred six South Gate game films from coaches at South East—the Rams’ crosstown rival in the Eastern League.

“Playoffs is single elimination so you have to be ready,” said Palisades senior forward Will Janney, who signed to play football for the College of Idaho two days earlier.  “You have to protect home court. We watched enough game film to think we were better. They miss a lot of shots and they did it again tonight. We’ve gotten better since the start of the season. Everyone’s buying in, we all know our roles and what we need to do to help  us win. We’ve got a lot of new guys on varsity but we think we can go all the way. That’s the plan.”

Kerkorian and junior forward Keyshawn Parks each scored 10 points, Caden Arnold and Justin Haynes had seven apiece, Sheldon Zanders had six, Janney had five and Evan Phillips and Dylan Griffin each added four for the Dolphins, who hosted No. 12-seeded View Park Prep in the quarterfinals Tuesday night. The Knights upset No. 5 Sylmar 64-61 in the first round on a halfcourt shot at the buzzer by sophomore guard Christian Johnson, who finished with 20 points.

Point guard Josiah Chavarria  netted 18 points and his backcourt mate Bruno Escarzaga finished with eight for South Gate (17-10).

The Palisades-View Park winner advances to tomorrow night’s  semifinals at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa against top-seeded Granada Hills or No. 8 Grant.

“I told the team before this all started we were going to have to play Granada Hills,” Hayes said. “You take it one game at a time.”