Prep basketball roundup: King/Drew rises in fourth quarter to rout Crenshaw

With 22 seconds left, junior guard Donald Thompson delivered a dunk that brought the King/Drew home crowd full of football players to their feet. It was the exclamation point on a dominant fourth-quarter performance by the Golden Eagles that led to a 63-45 Coliseum League win over Crenshaw.

King/Drew (9-7, 3-0) went into the final quarter trailing by a point. The Golden Eagles then outscored the Cougars 26-7. Thompson and Josahn Webster, the son of head coach Lloyd Webster, led the way. Josahn Webster scored nine of his team’s first 10 points in the quarter and finished with 18. Thompson also scored 18 points.

Crenshaw (9-9, 2-1) might have gotten a little tired in the fourth quarter after surviving a four-overtime thriller Wednesday when it defeated Washington Prep 113-112.

It was a breakthrough performance for King/Drew. Lloyd Webster has been trying to get his players to stop worrying about statistics and start focusing on finishing games.

“Guys stopped taking hero shots,” he said.

Freshman Semaj Howard of King/Drew goes up for shot against Crenshaw.

(Robert S. Helfman)

His son agreed. “We stopped taking selfish shots,” Josahn said.

Like father, like son.

King Peterson scored 12 points for Crenshaw.

In a City Section season that has been unpredictable with no favorite emerging for the Open Division championship, King/Drew is hoping to win the league title and earn a strong playoff seeding. Standing in the way, though, is probably the league’s most talented team, Washington Prep, which plays at King/Drew on Wednesday. The expectation is King/Drew, Crenshaw and Washington Prep might take turns defeating one another.

As for Thompson’s dunk, the coach wouldn’t comment, but Thompson said, “It was a good dunk.”

Palisades 51, Fairfax 42: The Dolphins improved to 3-2 in the Western League. Jordan Farhadian scored 12 points. Jaden Depina had 17 points for Fairfax.

LACES 51, University 36: Back at full strength, LACES picked up a Western League win. Donovan Cornelius scored 14 points and Joshua Sangster had 13 points for LACES.

Chatsworth 57, Granada Hills 52: The Chancellors picked up a key West Valley League victory. Marc Cherfan scored 22 points for Granada Hills.

Cleveland 80, Taft 33: The Cavaliers improved to 2-0 in the West Valley League.

Birmingham 56, El Camino Real 42: Alex Dupre finished with 29 points for Birmingham.

Sun Valley Poly 52, North Hollywood 50: JD Wyatt had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Parrots.

Grant 71, Arleta 66: William Overton contributed 24 points for the Lancers.

Harvard-Westlake 71, Loyola 34: The Wolverines improved to 19-1 and set up a Mission League showdown next week with games against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Sierra Canyon. Robert Hinton had 10 points.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 90, Bishop Alemany 72: Mercy Miller had 38 points, Lino Mark 22 points and Zach White 16 for the unbeaten Knights.

St. Francis 74, Chaminade 71: Mazi Mosley had 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in St. Francis’ overtime win.

Sierra Canyon 82, Crespi 56: The Trailblazers (18-1) rolled to a Mission League win. Bryce Cofield scored 17 points.

St. John Bosco 69, Edmond North 61: The Braves advanced to the championship game of the Bass Pro tournament in Missouri. Elzie Harrington scored 28 points.

JSerra 47, Santa Margarita 39: Aidan Fowler led the Lions with 17 points.

Mater Dei 87, Boston Catholic Memorial 69: The Monarchs improved to 19-1 with the win at the Hoophall Classic. Brannon Martinsen scored 21 points, Brandon Benjamin had 14 and Blake Davidson finished with 13.

Simi Valley 84, Hillcrest Christian 43: Ryder Mjoen had 26 points for Simi Valley.

Calabasas 68, Newbury Park 48: Tidiane Sy led the Coyotes with 18 points.

West Ranch 84, Castaic 41: Darrell Morris scored 23 points for West Ranch, which won its 43rd consecutive Foothill League game.

St. Bonaventure 67, Cate 42: Dylan Benner finished with 26 points for St. Bonaventure.

Redondo Union 74, Peninsula 32: SJ Madison scored 20 points for Redondo Union.

Mira Costa 65, Santa Monica 40: Eneasi Piuleini and James Reach each scored 15 points for Mira Costa, which has a showdown against Redondo Union on Tuesday.

Crescenta Valley 73, Arcadia 55: Derek Najarian had 28 points in the Pacific League victory for the Falcons.

Eastvale Roosevelt 90, King 59: Brayden Burries scored 31 points for Roosevelt.

Edison 65, Newport Harbor 63: Kaz Hampton made a shot just before the buzzer to give the Chargers the victory. Dane Johnson had 20 points.

Los Alamitos 73, Fountain Valley 66: Trent Minter had 25 points for Los Alamitos.

Foothill 70, Yorba Linda 47: Isaiah Bernard scored 14 points for Foothill.

Oaks Christian 52, Agoura 49: Troy McGovern led Oaks Christian with 15 points.

Thousand Oaks 72, Westlake 59: The Lancers handed Westlake its first defeat in Marmonte League play.

Lynwood 89, Mayfair 69: Jason Crowe Jr. scored 42 points for Lynwood, surpassing 2,000 career points in less than two seasons of high school basketball.

Garfield 58, Roosevelt 43: In the East L.A. Classic at Cal State Los Angeles, the Bulldogs prevailed. Jayden Barnes scored 18 points and Adam Nouri had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

St.. Pius X-St. Matthias 74, Bishop Montgomery 62: Tyrone Riley had 24 points for the Warriors.

Gardena Serra 60, St. Anthony 59: The Cavaliers won the Del Rey League showdown.

Girls’ basketball

Denville (N.J.) Morris Catholic 64, Mater Dei 48: At the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., the Monarchs were defeated. Jenessa Cotton finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds for Mater Dei.