TAFT'S DREAMS ENDS WESTCHESTER DEFENDS CITY TITLE WITH WIN.

Byline: Sean Ceglinsky Staff Writer

Anthony Edwards hunched over in his seat on the bench with arms crossed and a look of disappointment on his face as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

For Edwards, a senior forward at Taft High of Woodland Hills, dreams of a championship slowly came to an end.

Fourth-seeded Westchester made sure of that Saturday, leading from the opening whistle to the final buzzer, spoiling the third-seeded Toreadors' title aspirations with a 68-58 victory in the City Section championship final at the Sports Arena.

``They're a good team. Hey, they've been here before,'' Taft coach Derrick Taylor said.

Indeed, the Comets (24-6) have.

They successfully defended their City title and extended their postseason winning streak to 24 games. The championship was Westchester's seventh in the past nine years, which includes a run of four consecutive from 2000-2003.

``We didn't play exceptionally well, and got lucky in some ways because that's a very good team we played tonight,'' Westchester coach Ed Azzam said. ``Taft is going to be good for years to come.''

Taft (23-6), the Daily News' top-ranked team, trailed by 13 points at halftime but showed some signs of life in the opening seconds of the third quarter, scoring the first four points. Things fell apart over the next three minutes, though, as the Toreadors missed layups and committed several turnovers leading to nine consecutive empty trips down the floor, forcing Taylor to call a timeout.

Calvin Haynes hit a jump shot to end the scoring drought and make it a 42-29 game at the 3:06 mark, Eugene Phelps made three of four free throws and Haynes converted a pair of layups to cut the deficit to six points with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

``We crawled back into the game,'' Taylor said.

An Isaiah Jenkins basket just before the buzzer gave Westchester a 48-40 lead and plenty of momentum heading into the fourth, a quarter in which the Comets built the lead back up to as many as 13 points and sealed the victory with free throws down the stretch.

``We couldn't finish,'' Taylor said. ``We couldn't seal the deal.''

Taft opened the game sluggishly, and Westchester took advantage. Brett Goodwell and Dane Suttle got out in transition for easy baskets and Jarred Dubois scored six points from the perimeter to give the Comets a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Ahmaad Cook provided a spark in the second quarter. The senior guard made a pair of 3-pointers and converted a layup to give the Comets a 15-point lead at the 5:17 mark.

Haynes answered for the Toreadors, scoring 10 points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers, during a five-minute stretch to cut the deficit to 11 with just more than two minutes left in the half.

Cook, however, forced a turnover at midcourt and converted a layup just before halftime to give Westchester a 36-23 lead at intermission.

``It's tough playing from behind, trying to come back the whole game,'' said Haynes, who finished with 27 points. ``We came out and played Taft basketball. They were just better.''

Larry Drew scored 16 points for Taft.

Sean Ceglinsky, [phone]

sean.ceglinsky(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Taft's Calvin Haynes scores two of his 27 points in the loss in the City final.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News