Prep basketball roundup: Westchester gets win over Palisades in Western League game

After not playing for more than a week, Westchester’s boys’ basketball team was expected to have bouts of inconsistency in its important Western League game Wednesday against Palisades at St. Monica. If you followed the visible reactions of its coach, Dewitt Cotton, the frustration level and blood pressure kept rising.

The Comets gave up 19 consecutive points after leading 8-0. They closed to within two points at halftime and finally pulled away in the fourth quarter behind the duo of Tajh Ariza and Jordan Ballard to secure a 68-58 victory to improve to 2-0 in league and 10-8 overall.

Ariza, a 6-foot-9 junior, had nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Ballard also scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth. Ty Ingram added 14 points for Westchester, which should be in position to win the league title once Cotton gets the team to regain its focus.

Tommy Pickens and Jack Levey each scored 13 points for Palisades (12-7, 3-1), which gave one of the City Section’s Open Division title favorites something to think about.

Manual Arts 92, Santee 69: Devin Moody continued his scoring barrage with a 56-point performance and 23 rebounds for the Toilers. He tied a school record last week with 64 points.

Washington Prep 86, King/Drew 50: Donald Thompson, who helped King/Drew win the City Section Open Division title, scored 16 points in his first game against his former teammates. Josahn Webster had 20 points and 10 rebounds for King/Drew.

Rancho Cucamonga 65, Damien 47: Aaron Glass finished with 25 points for a key Baseline League win. Rancho Cucamonga is 20-7 and 4-0 in league.

Sierra Canyon 71, Crespi 62: Gavin Hightower scored 21 points and Bryce James 13 for the 17-3 Trailblazers.

Chaminade 54, St. Francis 41: Jonas Thurman scored 32 points for Chaminade.

Harvard-Westlake 84, Loyola 39: The Wolverines set up a Friday showdown with Sherman Oaks Notre Dame by rolling to the Mission League win. Nikolas Khamenia had 24 points and Joe Sterling 22 points.

Notre Dame 93, Bishop Alemany 54: Lino Mark, in his return from an injury, scored 24 points for the Knights. Tyran Stokes added 17 points and 10 rebounds. Mark Lewis had 14 points and Zachary White finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

San Juan Hills 77, San Clemente 66: The 6-foot-7 Mason Hodges scored 38 points to lead San Juan Hills.

St. Anthony 80, Bishop Montgomery 66: Aman Haynes led St. Anthony with 26 points.

Brentwood 66, Crossroads 55: Shane Frazier finished with 25 points for Brentwood.

Mater Dei 62, Santa Margarita 59: The Monarchs pulled out the Trinity League victory, which means Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Santa Margarita all have one loss. Luke Barnett scored 30 points. Kaiden Bailey scored 28 points for Santa Margarita.

JSerra 85, Servite 21: BJ Davis-Ray had 24 points for JSerra.

St. John Bosco 58, Orange Lutheran 44: Christian Collins had 17 points and Brandon McCoy Jr. 16 for the Braves.

South Pasadena 63, San Marino 44: Jacob Arias led South Pasadena with 19 points in a Rio Hondo League game.

San Pedro 70, Banning 40: The Pirates improved to 3-0 in the Marine League. Zach Saavedra and AJ Bobich each had 12 points.

Oaks Christian 76, Thousand Oaks 54: Troy Mcgovern finished with 20 points to help the Lions improve to 5-0 in the Marmonte League.

Girls’ basketball

Brentwood 80, Crossroads 33: Payton Sugar had 14 points for the 15-5 Eagles.