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Boys’ basketball: In defense of Renardo Sidney

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Taft is turning Renardo Sidney into a part-time point guard, and the Fairfax big man is still managing to get the job done in today’s City Section Division I semifinal at the Galen Center.

Sidney is having to bring the ball up past halfcourt himself to get touches because of the way the Toreadors are defending him. They are fronting him with one player and putting one player behind him, daring the Lions to take open perimeter shots that they are mostly missing.

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Sidney still scored his team’s first 10 points, scoring on a driving layup, a pair of three-pointers and a putback. But Taft leads, 14-13, at the end of the first quarter behind Michael Williams’ six points.

It will be interesting to see if this strategy holds up.

-- Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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