Boys’ basketball: Duvall, Crenshaw pull it out
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Emmett Duvall really made the grade for Crenshaw in his season debut.
Playing for the first time since attaining academic eligibility, Duvall scored 10 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the host Cougars pull out a 79-76 victory over Los Angeles Jordan tonight in a City Section Division I first-round playoff game.
Duvall’s putback with less than two minutes remaining gave sixth-seeded Crenshaw (19-3) a 75-74 lead and started a 6-0 Cougars surge in which the 6-foot-5 junior forward scored every point.
‘Never be surprised,’ said Duvall, a transfer from L.A. Community Harvest. ‘Expect the unexpected.’
Duvall also had a tip-in and made a pair of free throws during the run. Crenshaw advanced to play at third-seeded Woodland Hills Taft, a 104-39 winner over Gardena, in the second round Tuesday.
Junior swingman Duece Zaid scored 18 points and senior forward Moriah Johnson had 12 for the Cougars, who rallied from a nine-point, second-quarter deficit to avoid a repeat of their 2005 home first-round upset loss against 11th-seeded Jordan.
‘We wanted to avenge the loss we had four years ago when they were the first team to knock us out at home in the first round,’ Crenshaw Coach Ed Waters said.
The Cougars defeated the Bulldogs in the first round of the playoffs last year and beat them again in a December tournament.
Senior forward James Boyd had 23 points and 21 rebounds and junior guard Davian Wilson had 22 points for Jordan (22-5), which had two chances to tie in the final seconds after trailing by 12 points with 6:03 left. But Chris Ashanti’s three-pointer missed and Boyd’s follow was partially blocked.
Crenshaw rotated five defenders on Boyd, who played the entire game. He made only five of 13 free throws.
‘Because he plays the whole game, he’s going to get tired at some point,’ Waters said. ‘He got his numbers, but we were still able to eke it out.’
Waters said Duvall could push for a spot in the starting lineup after his clutch performance.
‘He’s a hard guy to defend,’ Waters said. ‘We would have loved to have had him all season.’
The Cougars are just glad to have him now.
--Ben Bolch