Tipping Off

Dolphins Beat LACES 69-31 in Western League Opener

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

After five straight road games to start the season the Palisades High boys varsity

basketball team was anxious to play in its own gym for the first time and the Dolphins made the most of their home-court advantage, as everyone played and all but two players scored in Monday’s 69-51 victory over LACES.  

“That’s always the idea… for everyone on the roster to contribute,” Coach Donzell Hayes said. “I like how we shared the ball and  our biggest strength is our depth.”

Graham Alphson’s transition dunk made it 12-1 less than five minutes into the contest and the Dolphins (3-3 overall) widened their lead to 32-12 by halftime.

Charlie Moore hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put Palisades up by 30 points midway through the third quarter and the Dolphins cruised from there. Moore and Alphson each had eight points and   

Sheldon Zanders paved the way with 12. Anthony Spencer had seven points,  Nick Nichols came off the bench to add seven more and Caden Arnold and Owen Larbalestier each had six.

Roman Hartwell and Ethan Hamid both had four points, Dylan Griffin, Ryder Gianotti and Keyshawn Parks each had a basket and Kyle Lee made one of his two free throw attempts to round out the scoring for Palisades, which improved to 8-0 versus the Unicorms (3-6) in five seasons under Hayes.

Alphson, the team’s only All-City selection last year, missed the Dolphins’ season opener at Birmingham with a sprained ankle but was back in the lineup for last week’s Rose City Roundball Classic at Maranatha High in Pasadena. He averaged 17.3 points in four games, including 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in a 62-47 victory over Pasadena Muir that earned Palisades 11th place.   

“We were down on ourselves yesterday after losing to Pasadena, but we were much sharper in this one,” Alphson said after filling the stat sheet with 17 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks to lead the Dolphins to their first win, 63-54, versus Westlake Village Oaks Christian in the second round last Thursday. “My physical shape has improved a lot. We changed our offense—it’s more oriented on driving now. I’d rather win and score fewer points than score a lot of points and lose.”   

In the pivotal third game Friday, Palisades led Culver City 31-27 at halftime, but the Centaurs rallied and held a six-point lead with under one minute left. Zanders made a twisting layup to cut the Dolphins’ deficit to four, but they got no closer and fell, 58-50.

Spencer, who missed all of last season rehabbing from an injury, scored a team-high 12

points while Alphson and Zanders each added 11 for Palisades, which finished the tournament 2-2.

“There was tough competition and what I’ll take away most from it is that we can compete with almost anybody if we play our game,” Hayes said. “Our guards are tough as nails. I’m proud of all of these players. They had ebbs and flows, ups and downs—and never quit. We got the result we wanted in two games and we had a couple more winnable games, but we’ll learn from them and keep getting better.”