City Section basketball has certainly changed because of shifting demographics, declining enrollment and the rise of charter schools, but one thing has stayed the same — the intensity level when rivals go at it. It was quite a scene on Friday night at Washington Prep, where Crenshaw faced a tough road game trying to improve to 18-1 on the season.
With fans shouting and players diving everywhere for loose balls, the two teams went into overtime after a wild regulation that saw the game twice stopped when administrators had to go onto the court to separate players.
Crenshaw’s AJ Robinson tied the game at 69-69 with a basket with eight seconds left in regulation. He had the ball again with 5.9 seconds left in overtime driving along the baseline with the Cougars down one. That’s when Washington Prep’s 6-foot-8 Esteban Mann blocked Robinson’s shot and controlled the ball as time expired, completing what could be a season-changing 82-81 victory for Washington Prep.
Robinson did about everything but carry the water bottles for Crenshaw (17-2, 3-1). He made clutch shot after clutch shot and was 12 of 13 from the free-throw line in finishing with 37 points. He wears No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson and certainly earned respect.
“He’s a big-time player,” Crenshaw coach Ed Waters said.
Washington Prep has struggled at times this season with a 6-11 record. Coach Jovante King had seen enough, benching his team’s most talented player, 6-9 Zyier Beverly, for the entire first quarter trying to motivate him and send a message after the team was blown out by King/Drew on Wednesday 62-49.
Beverly ended up scoring 23 points and made four dunks in the third quarter.
“We’ve been losing games by not wanting to be coached,” King said. “This is a great win.”
The Generals’ Devin Wilson made two free throws with 13.4 seconds left in overtime to take the lead. Crenshaw had problems much of the night dealing with Washington Prep’s two big men.
The Cougars, though, kept fighting. Robert Salazar, the kicker for Crenshaw’s football team, was scoreless until delivering two threes in overtime. Jeremiah Blackmon, another football player, made an important free throw in overtime after struggling at the line in regulation.
Trayvon Robinson of Washington Prep helped open up Crenshaw’s defense by making four threes and finishing with 14 points.
It’s a season of balance in the City Section. Harbor City Narbonne is 10-9 but considered the heavy title favorite because of the presence of 6-8 Marcus Adams Jr., the section’s best professional and college prospect in years. Crenshaw is among another group of evenly matched teams that will fight to face the Gauchos. That, in itself, shows how much change has happened.
“The kid at Narbonne is like all the players that used to be in the City when teams had five or six like him,” Waters said.
Yes, the talent level has dropped, but Friday’s game showed how players, coaches and fans can still rise up for a neighborhood rivalry.
“It was playoff intensity,” King said.
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