Birmingham Frees Up Victory

Reserve Sime Skoblar’s free throw in the final seconds gave Birmingham High a 54-53 victory over University in the first round of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs Friday night at Birmingham.

Skoblar, who finished with nine points and five steals, made three free throws in the last minute, allowing the Braves (19-7) to overcome a 53-51 deficit.

University had a chance to win but missed a shot as time expired.

Forward Emmanuel Evans led Birmingham with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Raymond Kizzee had 11 points for Birmingham, the North Valley League champion.

In other boys’ 3-A Division first-round games:

Sylmar 75, Huntington Park 64--Jeremiah Turner had 24 points and 15 rebounds and Daron Wilson had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Spartans (15-9) at Sylmar.

Poly 84, Roosevelt 65--William Wilson scored 21 points and Gilberto Ramos added 13 to lead the Parrots (18-7) at Poly.

BOYS’ 4-A DIVISION

Cleveland 59, Carson 56--Donald Holt took an inbounds pass from guard Jerome Grant and made a three-point basket with three seconds to play to lift the Cavaliers (20-6) against host Carson (14-13).

Holt, a senior forward, had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Ben Edwards added 14 points and four assists and four steals.

Grant had eight assists and Mike Schultz scored nine points and had five blocked shots.

Westchester 94, Monroe 58--UCLA-bound Billy Knight scored 16 points to lead the Comets (22-5) over the Vikings (9-15) at Westchester.

Mark Cumbiss had 20 points to lead the Vikings (9-15).

Crenshaw 88, Taft 54--Brandyn Fisher had 15 points and Sam Shokati had 13 for the Toreadors (13-11) at Crenshaw.

Alastair Faux led the Cougars (20-3) with 20 points.

GIRLS’ 4-A DIVISION

Kennedy 48, Dorsey 29--Vanessa Dunn had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Tammy Barber added 10 points, 15 rebounds and eight steals for the seventh-seeded Golden Cougars (23-3) at Kennedy.

Palisades 53, Grant 16--The Lancers (16-9), who finished second in the Valley Pac-8 Conference, were blown out at Palisades (24-1).

GIRLS’ 3-A DIVISION

Fairfax 54, Poly 28--Ciara Jeffries scored 14 points for the host Parrots (11-10), but Fairfax (15-8) got 20 points from Michelle Tompkins at Poly.

Poly forward Monie Simmons was sidelined with a knee injury.

Hamilton 47, Granada Hills 42--The Highlanders (8-9) were eliminated by the Yankees (16-5) at Hamilton.