Boys’ basketball: Birmingham earns berth in City Section Open Division final

Top seeds were going down fast this weekend in high school basketball, but No. 1-seeded Birmingham prevailed over Taft, 80-73, on Saturday night at Roybal to advance to the City Section Open Division championship game.

The Patriots will play Westchester, which upset No. 2-seeded Fairfax, 66-59. The game will be at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Birmingham pulled off the rare feat of beating Taft four times this season. The Toreadors did their best to make it challenging, rallying from 19 points down in the third quarter. Antwan January scored 24 points for Taft.

But the Patriots had too much experience and too many weapons. Devonaire Doutrive scored 23 points and Deschon Winston had 20 points.

“It’s something special,” Winston said of helping Birmingham play in its first-ever upper division championship game. “This is everybody’s dream in high school.”

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