LOS ANGELES – The more than year-long pandemic prevented the usual packed house for the latest renewal of one of California’s best high school rivalries Saturday afternoon.
But that didn’t lessen the stakes – nor the competitiveness – during the Westchester at Fairfax basketball game.
Senior guards T.J. Wainwright and Zion Sutton – starters on the Comets’ latest L.A. City Open title squad last spring – helped Coach Ed Azzam’s team improve to 7-0 with a 62-54 victory over the host Lions, who slipped to 6-1.
The 6-foot-3 Wainwright (pictured) – who played for Fairfax Coach Reggie Morris Jr. as a freshman at Culver City High – scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter while burying two of his trademark-deep left-handed 3s.
Sutton, who played his first two seasons at Narbonne High, spent most of the first three quarters in foul trouble and didn’t score his first bucket until 2:58 remained.
But it was a critical one, a deep 3 that pushed his team ahead to stay, 51-48, after senior guard Ahmad Brooks had scored six consecutive points to tie the score for the Lions.
The Comets also got productive second half from senior Tim Lofton, who scored 12 of his 14 points after intermission, along with nine points – including two 3s – from Darius McClain, who spent two years at Narbonne before attending Lynwood in 2019-20.
Guards Barry Wilds, D.J. Dudley and Brooks led the Lions with 20, 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The “regular season” – at, roughly three weeks, anything but – concludes for the L.A. City this week, with playoff brackets set to be released Saturday.
The Comets and Lions will have their final playoff tune-ups on Friday at Westchester for their second Western League meeting, with the result no double having significant impact on how the Open Division’s eight-team field is seeded.
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