BOYS' CITY SECTION: HOT SHOOTING GETS CLEVELAND ITS SHOT AT TAFT.

Byline: Daily News

Corey Duncan was in a shooting slump coming into Cleveland High of Reseda's first-round City Section playoff game against Monroe of North Hills.

It's safe to say the junior guard is out of it.

Duncan scored 22 points - including five 3-pointers - as the host Cavaliers pulled away from the Vikings in the third quarter and won 86-66.

Cleveland (20-6) advances to the quarterfinals and will play host to West Valley League rival Taft of Woodland Hills on Wednesday in one of the most anticipated Valley showdowns.

Duncan hopes to carry his hot shooting into that game.

``It's gonna be wild, and we are all looking forward to it, '' Duncan said. ``I hadn't been shooting the ball very well recently, but I hit my first few shots tonight and started feeling it.''

Cleveland also got 29 points and 20 rebounds from Cal State Northridge- bound forward Jason Hill, who credited Monroe with preparing Cleveland for the quarterfinals.

``We knew they were scrappy, and we knew they were well-coached, so for us it was the perfect kind of game to get us ready for the next round,'' Hill said.

Brandon James scored 20 points, Rolando Nunez added 15 and Justin Ritter 14 for Monroe.

Cleveland used a 22-4 run to start the third quarter. Behind James and Nunez, Monroe had pulled to with in 35-31 at halftime.

But the Cavaliers used a pressing defense and the hot shooting of Duncan to pull away in the fourth quarter.

``We always look for him - he's a shooter and has the ability to get on rolls,'' Cleveland coach Andre Chevelier said. ``And tonight he definitely got on a roll.''

Most of the Taft team was in attendance Friday. Taft beat Kennedy of Granada Hills in their first-round game Thursday. Cleveland and Taft split their regular-season meetings, with each team winning at home.

- Vincent Bonsignore

In other City Bracket games:

--Fremont 91, Poly 66: No. 15-seeded Poly of Sun Valley was defeated by host Fremont of Los Angeles (20-2).

Poly (18-8), which won the Sunset Six for the first time in 19 years, could not survive the efforts of No. 2-seeded Fremont's Robert Colema, who scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds.

CITY SECTION INVITATIONAL 

--Granada Hills 94, SOCES 80: Savoy Fraine had a season-high 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks as host Granada Hills (13-14) defeated SOCES of Reseda (15-6).

Justin Ector scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds; Aaron Gbewonyo added 14 points, eight assists and four steals; and Jared Dacey added 19 points, six assists and three steals.

SOCES was led by Cameron Nash, who scored 32 points, and Andre Moore, who scored 30.

--Garfield 67, Hollywood 37: Henry Campos scored 23 points and had eight rebounds as Garfield of Los Angeles (15-7) defeated visiting No. 14-seeded Hollywood (15-11).

Ray Ramirez added 14 points and five assists for Garfield, which meets Granada Hills on Wednesday. Hollywood fell behind early when Garfield took a 25-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.