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High School Sports

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

By Ben Bolch

No. 10 Etiwanda 50, No. 3 Woodland Hills Taft 44

Leading contributors: Senior guard DeRonn Scott scored 16 points and senior guard Jordan Finn had 11 for Etiwanda in the featured game of the Greenway Fairfax State Preview Classic. Senior guard Michael Williams led all scorers with 19 points for Taft.

The scoop: Finn scored six points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws with 13 seconds left, after Taft had whittled a nine-point deficit to two points on Pierson Williams’ three-point basket with 15 seconds remaining.

SATURDAY’S RESULT

Why it matters: Etiwanda ended Taft’s winning streak at 13 games and showed how much it has improved since a 63-61 setback to the Toreadors in late December. “We’ve really challenged our kids to take care of the little things that become so important,” said Etiwanda Coach Dave Kleckner, whose team’s losses have all come by five points or fewer. “Suffering all those losses was probably a good thing because it made us a better basketball team.”

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Records: Etiwanda 18-4, Taft 18-3.

-- Ben Bolch

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High School Sports
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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