Top seed secured, looking to playoffs
Birmingham routs Taft, but a match with Chino Hills not far from fans’ minds.
BIRMINGHAM 116 TAFT 81
“We want Chino. We want Chino.”
Birmingham High basketball fans were a little giddy on Friday night with their chant in the fourth quarter. Do they really want their team to play unbeaten Chino Hills?
“We’re ready when they’re ready,” standout guard Devante Doutrive said after scoring 34 points in a 116-81 victory over Woodland Hills Taft that locked up the No. 1 seed for the City Section Open Division.
It was almost a Chino Hills-like atmosphere. There were more than 100 fans left outside the Birmingham gym on Friday unable to get in. Then the Patriots (22-3, 8-0) came out and put on a show. They opened a 32-11 lead after the first quarter and 61-36 advantage by halftime. It was quite a reversal considering Taft (1910, 6-2) had taken Birmingham to double overtime before losing last month.
“We came out fired up,” Doutrive said. “The last game was close. We had to step up.”
It’s a changing of the guard in the West Valley League, long dominated by Taft. And it could be a big change coming in the City Section. Birmingham starts four seniors, and the Patriots have the experience and explosiveness to break up the Westchester-FairfaxTaft domination in City basketball; one of those three schools has won the championship in 16 of the last 17 seasons.
The Patriots showed off their many weapons. Devonaire Doutrive scored 26 points and did a smothering job defensively shutting down Taft point guard Kihei Clark in the first quarter. Mark Boland had 19 points and Deschon Winston 17.
Antwan January scored 31 points for Taft and Clark had 24. The Toreadors are loaded with quality young players but it’s going to be tough to overhaul the Patriots, who would welcome a game against Chino Hills in the state playoffs.
“We’ve played a lot of tough teams and have had a lot of tough situations,” Birmingham Coach Nick Halic said. “We stick together and play hard and step up when there’s a big game.”
Birmingham has wins over Westchester and Narbonne. Fairfax could be the No. 2 seed after learning on Friday that standout guard Ethan Anderson has been cleared to return after being sidelined because of a knee injury.
eric.sondheimer@latimes.com Twitter: @latsondheimer