BOYS' BASKETBALL: CLEVELAND GETS REVENGE YOUNG SCORES 31 AS CAVALIERS END SKID AGAINST RIVAL TAFT CLEVELAND 69, TAFT 49.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer The moment the Taft High of Woodland Hills boys' basketball team stepped foot onto the court at Cleveland of Reseda's packed, standing-room-only gym Friday night, the Toreadors were greeted with James Brown's ``The Big Payback Payback The length of time it takes to recover the initial cost of a project, without regard to the time value of money. .'' For Taft, it was a loud, thumping, ominous warning of what lay ahead. By the end of the night, the Cleveland crowd was serenading the Toreadors with chants of ``Overrated Overrated was a Horde World of Warcraft guild, based on the US Black Dragonflight Realm. On November 2 2006, the majority of the guild members were indefinitely banned from the game for use of (or directly benefiting from) a third-party "wall-hack", used to bypass content .'' In between, Cleveland exorcised two years of frustration against its crosstown cross·town or cross-town adj. Running, extending, or going across a city or town: a crosstown street; crosstown traffic. adv. rival with a 69-49 West Valley League victory, halting halt·ing adj. 1. Hesitant or wavering: a halting voice. 2. Imperfect; defective: halting verse. 3. Limping; lame. an annoying losing streak to the Toreadors at four games and extracting a measure of revenge for its last-second loss to them two weeks ago. In that game, the Cavaliers handed Taft the game with a couple of bonehead plays in the final 1.9 seconds. On Friday, Cleveland never let it get to that. The Cavaliers jumped on Taft from the outset, racing to a 14-2 lead by forcing the ball out of the hands of Jordan Farmar Jordan Robert Farmar (born November 30, 1986) is an American professional basketball player at starting point guard for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. He was previously the starting point guard for the UCLA men's basketball team. and Matt Cook, then weathering a third-quarter Taft run to take control of the game and win going away. USC-bound forward Nick Young finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds, and Jason Hill chipped in 11 points. For Young, it was his first victory over his friend and rival Farmar, who had beaten Young in their first three meetings. The two stars will continue their battle in college next year, when Farmar joins UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX against Young and the Trojans. ``I wasn't going to leave here without beating them at least once,'' said Young, who played in front of future coach Heny Bibby. ``It was a long time coming, but it feels really, really good. We came to play tonight. We had a lot of frustration to get off our back, from last year's losses to the loss (this year). That's why we picked 'The Big Payback' for our song tonight. We had something for them.'' With the victory, Cleveland (16-3, 2-1) pulls even in the league with Taft (13-3, 2-1). Assuming neither team loses the rest of the way - a likely scenario - a coin flip at the end of the year will decide who goes to the City Section playoffs as the league's No. 1 seed. ``That's why this was such a big win for us,'' Young said. ``We had to have this win, not just for our confidence but for the playoffs.'' Cleveland did it despite another huge performance from the slashing slash·ing adj. 1. Bitingly critical or satiric: slashing wit. 2. Dashing; pelting: a slashing hailstorm. 3. Farmar, who shook free from double and triple teams to finish with a game- high 33 points, including 20 of the Toreadors' 25 first-half points and 18 of their first 19. ``He still got his points because he's that good, but we made it hard for him, and we tried to force the ball out of his hands and make other guys beat us,'' Cleveland coach Andre Chevalier said. The same focus was applied to Cook, who has hurt Cleveland over the years with big performances from the outside. Cook finished with just seven points and never was a factor. That left it to the rest of the Toreadors to pick up the slack, but besides freshman Pierce Brooks' seven points, nobody else was up to the task. ``We have some young guys on this team that don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how intense this rivalry really is,'' Cook said. ``I mean, they know it's intense, but until you actually play in a game like this, there is no way to really know what it's like. Hopefully they learned a lesson on what it takes. We'll be OK.'' In the first meeting Jan. 3 at Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, informally and commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men's and women's volleyball teams also play here. , Cleveland led 60-59 with 1.9 seconds left and possession of the ball, only to turn the ball over on an inbounds in·bounds adj. 1. Basketball Involving putting the ball into play by passing it from out of bounds to a teammate on the court. 2. Sports Within the designated boundaries. play to give Taft one last chance. The Toreadors answered with a half-court pass to Farmar, who was fouled with 0.1 seconds left and hit two free throws to win it 61-60. The loss has stayed with Cleveland ever since, and it all came to a head Friday, starting with a pep rally on campus and the party-like atmosphere inside the hot, packed gym. ``I wouldn't say we set a trap for them, but this place was rocking and rolling Rocking and rolling (also rock and roll; see Rock and roll (disambiguation)) is a name for cueing techniques used in sound recording and video recording, particularly in analog recordings. and we fed off it,'' Young said. ``We had some fun tonight. I'm gonna enjoy this one.'' Vincent Bonsignore, (818) 713-3612 vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: With 31 points and 11 rebounds, Cleveland's Nick Young (34) posted his first victory over friend Jordan Farmar of Taft. Michael Owen
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