McLinn Holds the Answers for Taft, 55-51

Brooklyn McLinn spent a restless Monday at Taft High 2 weeks ago, answering the perfunctory question from students with as little emotion as possible. Of course, when the logical follow-up to the first question was asked--the one he secretly hoped his friends would not raise--McLinn shrugged, rolled his eyes, and pointed a finger.

Directly at himself.

Did you guys win?

“Uh, no, we didn’t,” McLinn would answer.

How did you lose?

“I committed the game-losing foul,” he said.

Two weeks ago, McLinn, in fact, did commit the critical foul in Taft’s 1-point loss to North Valley League rival Kennedy.

Friday night at Taft, however, he answered the lingering question--how would he respond this time?--with 15 points to lead Taft to a 55-51 win in a rematch with the Golden Cougars.

“I hated what happened last time,” McLinn said. And no wonder. He had fouled Kennedy’s Cord Bailey, who hit a game-winning free throw with 3 seconds left. “All that stuff that they ask. ‘How’d you lose?’ ‘What happened?’ All that.”

But McLinn had all the answers in the victory that gives Taft (16-3, 6-2 in league play) the inside track to second place in North Valley play with 2 games to go. All second-place teams will play at home in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs.

McLinn and backcourt mate Dedan Thomas combined for 39 points, and more importantly, answered Kennedy’s defensive challenge early. Kennedy used a collapsing defense all game against Taft, which meant that McLinn and Thomas would have to help loosen things by firing from the perimeter.

McLinn, of course, was only too aware of this. The last time the teams met, he had missed his first few jump shots, and Kennedy stopped paying attention to the 5-foot-10 senior.

“They just dropped right off me,” McLinn said. “They stopped guarding me. It was important that I hit the first couple tonight.”

McLinn, in fact, made 4 of 6 field-goal attempts and scored 11 points in the first half, including 3 3-point shots as Taft built a 40-36 halftime lead. McLinn and Thomas scored all but 7 of Taft’s points in the half.

Kennedy, however, was able to use its superior strength inside to make its only run of the game in the third quarter.

Senior forward Randy Brown, who finished with a game-high 26 points, pulled the Golden Cougars into a 32-32 tie with 4:33 left in the third quarter when he scored on a bank shot to cap an 8-4 run.

“He’s the most underrated player in the Valley,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said of Brown. “He is a force, I can tell you.”

Taft, however, outscored Kennedy, 8-4, to take a 40-36 lead entering the fourth quarter. Kennedy (12-6, 5-3) missed its first 4 shots of the fourth quarter--a harbinger of things to come--and made only 5 of 20 in the period.

Taft, on the other hand, was handed all it needed by Thomas at the free-throw line.

Thomas, an All-American point guard, made his first 6 free throws in the fourth quarter and 8 of 9 in the period.

McLinn also hit a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter as Taft made 11 of 17. Kennedy made only 3 of 7 free throws in the quarter and 5 of 13 in all.

So, when McLinn holds his ground and again points a finger at himself next Monday, it will probably be a thumbs-up sign.