Calvin Haynes and Taft Has Winning Tempo
Taft reaches semis
By Sean Ceglinsky, Staff Writer
Taft High boys' basketball coach Derrick Taylor stomped his feet and slammed his fist on the scorer's table midway through the third quarter of Wednesday's City Section playoff game.
He'd seen enough.
His Toreadors of Woodland Hills opened up a 20-point halftime lead over visiting Crenshaw of Los Angeles only to watch the advantage shrink to 11 points, giving the Cougars an inkling - albeit slim - that they might be able to get back in the game.
"Timeout, timeout!" Taylor yelled at the top of his lungs.
Taft regrouped on the sideline during the one-minute break, came back out on the floor with a newfound resolve and regained the 20-point advantage by the end of the third quarter en route to an 84-63 championship bracket quarterfinal victory.
"I had a lot of questions about our team coming into tonight," Taylor said. "I don't anymore, they've all been answered. This group can turn it on whenever they want."
Third-seeded Taft (22-5) advances to Friday's semifinal game at home against No. 7 Sylmar, a 88-87 winner over Birmingham of Lake Balboa on Tuesday. Top-seeded Fairfax of Los Angeles faces fourth-seeded Westchester of Los Angeles in the other half of the bracket.
"We thought we could run with Taft. Obviously, we couldn't," Crenshaw coach Willie West said. "They never let us do what we wanted to."
The Toreadors, Calvin Haynes in particular, opened the game with a sense of urgency. Taft opened up an eight-point lead early on and went up 23-9 behind Calvin Haynes, who scored 13 points in the first eight minutes, including three 3-pointers.
"I wanted to come out and set the tempo," said Calvin Haynes, a senior who has committed to Oregon State . "We killed their momentum early."
It was more of the same in the second quarter. Oscar Bellfield's one-handed dunk over Briant Jones brought the crowd to its feet, and keyed a 12-1 run that extended the advantage to 19 points with 48 seconds remaining in the half.
Traveion Finister did his best to keep the sixth-seeded Cougars (20-5) close. The senior guard didn't score in the first quarter but had 21 of his 28 points in the second half.
Ultimately, Taft's athleticism prevailed.
"In a lot of ways, Crenshaw is a mirror image of us," Taylor said. "Their play, their style, is conducive to what we want to do. Once we get off and running, we're tough to stop."
Garrett Green came up with one of the more memorable plays. The seldom-used 6-foot-9 Taft junior was open in transition with only Darnell Gant, a highly-touted underclassman being recruited by UCLA and Washington, standing between him and the basket.
Green went up and over Gant with a one-handed dunk while being fouled and made the subsequent free throw to complete the three-point play.
"We always tease Garrett about being a practice dunker and not being able to dunk in games," Taft sophomore Larry Drew said. "Guess we won't do that anymore. That one should give him a confidence boost."
Calvin Haynes finished with 24 points and four 3-pointers, and Bellfield scored 16 points. Drew added five points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
Sean Ceglinsky, (818) 713-3607
sean.ceglinsky@dailynews.com
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