Pac Shores hoops action resumes at Redondo High

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REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – The first three championship quarterfinals Wednesday during the 64^th Dijon Thompson/Pacific Shores Tournament were decided by margins of 18, 15 and 26 points, respectively.

The last of those quarterfinals played at Redondo Union High, between Long Beach Poly and Inglewood, didn’t follow that M.O. at all.

Trailing by seven points with a little less than a minute to go, Inglewood got a very deep 3 from senior guard Terrell Gomez then, after a steal, Jordan Bell dunked to get the Sentinels within two points with 28 seconds remaining.

The Jackrabbits turned the ball over again four seconds later but Inglewood gave the ball away and Poly added a free throw with 9.6 seconds remaining.

The Sentinels then committed another turnover before launching a potential overtime-inducing shot and the Jackrabbits held on, 62-59.

Junior Zafir Williams (23) and senior Drew Buggs (22) combined for all but 17 of Poly’s points with Williams (the Most Outstanding Player winner after the Jackrabbits won this event a year ago) grabbing 11 rebounds and Buggs – who signed a letter of intent with the University of Hawaii a few weeks ago – chipping in four assists.

In the first three quarterfinals:

*L.A. Westchester cruised past Compton, 72-54, behind the 23-point effort of all-L.A. City forward Keith Fisher.

Javonntie Jackson, who signed with Long Beach State, led the Tarbabes with 20 points.

*Eastvale Roosevelt, playing a Palos Verdes Peninsula squad that stunned Encino Crespi Monday night, pulled away down the stretch for a 57-42 victory behind the play of juniors Jemarl Baker and Matt Mitchell and senior Tawon Elston.

*The host Redondo Seahawks, trailing by two points at intermission, outscored Oak Park by 28 points over the final 16 minutes and prevailed, 86-60.

The Seahawks got double-figure scoring from six players with senior forward Cameron Williams leading the way with 19 points while hitting nine of 13 from the field – all but one of those buckets being a jump shot.

The only starter who didn’t score in double figures, senior guard Morgan Means, played a solid floor game in directing the team’s half-court offense.

Exceptional sophomores Riley Battin and Wesley Slajchert scored 15 and 13 points, respectively, for Oak Park.

The Eagles’ hopes for an upset – already wobbly against the Seahawks who had pulled in front by 12 points at the time – were completely dashed when Battin had to go the bench with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter after being hit with a technical foul after arguing the call on his fourth personal foul.

A tech counts as a personal foul in high school meaning it was his fifth and disqualifying foul.

Those results set up a couple of potentially tantalizing championship semifinals Friday night between Westchester and Redondo (6:30) and Poly and Roosevelt (8).

The Comets are the early favorites to win the L.A. City Section Open Division title while Redondo, Poly and Roosevelt are strong contenders to land in the Southern Section’s Open Division playoff field in mid-February.

Friday’s complete schedule:

Auxiliary gymnasium (12^th-place semifinals), Noon, Lakewood Mayfair vs. Lynwood; 1:30 p.m., Harbor City Narbonne vs. North Hollywood Campbell Hall.

Main gymnasium (Consolation semifinals), 12:30, Newhall Hart vs. Encino Crespi; 2, Temecula Rancho Christian vs. Woodland Hills El Camino Real; (Fifth-place semifinals), 3:30, Palos Verdes Estates Peninsula vs. Inglewood; 5, Oak Park vs. Compton; (Championship semifinals), 6:30, Redondo vs. Westchester; 8, Poly vs. Roosevelt.