Moments after Palisades won the City Section Open Division boys basketball title, EJ Popoola declared his team was far from done.
“We can play with anyone in the state,” the 6-foot-6 junior wing said.
The Dolphins proved they could play against Bakersfield Christian on Tuesday night but they did not write the storybook ending they wanted.
Eleven days after raising the City trophy, Palisades was locked in a tense struggle against Bakersfield Christian and battled to the last second, but Jack Levey’s three-pointer from half-court at the buzzer was off target and the host Eagles escaped with a 59-57 victory in the Southern California Regional Division II final.
The eighth-seeded Dolphins (23-12) were trying to advance to their first state final, where they would have joined the girls team, which wrapped up a 54-38 victory over Godinez 10 minutes earlier to claim the Division IV regional title. Levey, who led the City in three-pointers this season, made six more Tuesday and finished with 21 points. OJ Popoola, EJ’s twin brother, added 20 points, EJ had seven and Phillip Reed Jr. had six for Palisades, which led after each of the first three quarters.
In the end, there was no stopping Bakersfield Christian junior center Taiwo Daramola, who scored 28 points, including a basket and free throw that put his team up 58-57 with 43 seconds left. After EJ Popoola missed a three-pointer, Daramola pulled down the rebound and was intentionally fouled, making the second of two foul shots with five seconds left.
Needing to go the length of the court, Palisades inbounded the ball to Levey, who was pinned along the sideline near the scorer’s table with time running out and had to launch an off-balance shot that fell short.
“The plan was to get it in our best shooter’s hands… we wanted to get Jack going downhill but they did a good job trapping him at half-court,” said coach Jeff Bryant, who guided the Dolphins to their first upper division City title since 1969 in only his second season. “They killed us inside — we had no answer for their big man. Their matchup zone gave us problems. We couldn’t figure out and we got stagnant.”
Palisades freshman Phil Reed Jr. scores against Bakersfield Christian in the SoCal Division II regional final.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Palisades was trying to make it a clean sweep for the City on Tuesday, as Birmingham won the Division III boys regional crown and Sylmar (piloted by Bryant’s former coach Bort Escoto) claimed the Division V title.
“We played them last year and they beat us by a lot,” Daramola said. “I don’t feel pressure. My teammates trust me. Our defensive strategy on that last play was simple — don’t let them get a good look.”
Bakersfield Christian (24-11), a Central Section Division I semifinalist, lost to another City school, Chatsworth, in the Division II regional finals last year and beat Palisades 57-43 in the Division IV regional final in 2020 but the COVID outbreak forced the state finals to be canceled.
Palisades upset defending Open Division state champion and No. 1-seeded Eastvale Roosevelt in the quarterfinal round and eliminated Torrey Pines of San Diego in the semifinals.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: latimes.com
