King 58, Taft 48
Jack Pollon
March 12, 2009
The Taft of Woodland Hills boys’ basketball team thought it was going to advance to UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion for the Division I southern
regional championship game on Saturday after taking a 13-point halftime lead against top-seeded King of Riverside.
But a teenager named Chris Harriel wouldn’t let it happen.
Harriel exploded for 22 second half points including 12 in the final quarter to lead the Wolves to a 58-48 come from behind victory.
Harriel had a three-point play to begin the third quarter, made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 41-41 near the end of the quarter and
scored all but three of King’s 15 points in the fourth quarter to stun the No. 4 Toreadors (27-5).
“I know what I’m capable of,” Harriel said. “With Kawhi (Leonard) in foul trouble we need somebody to step up. My teammates needed me to
come through. That was probably the best half of my life.”
After handling its business in the first half by shooting 57% from the field and confusing King with a zone defense, Taft was the
complete opposite in the final 16 minutes.
Harriel, Leonard and the rest of the Wolves (30-2) finally found touch from the outside, penetrated into the lane and Taft went cold
on its end.
Terran Carter only made one field goal in the second half after scoring 11 points in the first half and the Toreadors crumbled behind
missed shots, turnovers and poor decisions with the ball.
‘They made too good of a run,” Taft’s Michael Williams said. “Turnovers, bad plays, we just got outplayed.”
Added coach Derrick Taylor, “The game was too big for some of our guys. We wilted under the pressure and they started making shots.
That one guy was on fire.”
Taft had a sliver of hope during King’s third quarter comeback when the 6’7 San Diego St.-bound Leonard went to the bench with four fouls
with 1:16 remaining.
Taft simply could not make a basket, blowing lay-ups and letting Harriel go wild.
Leonard finished with 19 points and Taylor Cunningham and J.J. Campbell each added six apiece.
Justin Hawkins scored 13 points, carter had 13 and Williams had 10 for Taft.
Taft only scored 16 points in the second half. The Toreadors had 15 after the first quarter and outscored King 19-6 in the second for
what they thought was a safe 13-point lead.
Taft lost for the third time in the past six years in the regional semifinals. The Toreadors were hoping to reverse an 83-82 loss at
home last year to the same Wolves team.
“All we talked about at halftime was character and heart,” King assistant Jeremy Powers said. “At this time of year all the teams are
athletically the same. The heart factor determines who goes home and who will be champions.”
King, who upset the nations top-ranked team at the time, Mater Dei of Santa Ana last Saturday will play City Section champions Westchester
of Los Angeles Saturday at 8 p.m. for the right to go to Arco Arena for the state championship March 21.