Westchester beats Fairfax in two overtimes
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Basketball is a game of runs. But the duel between Westchester and Fairfax on Wednesday night was a series of crawls.
Because each team spent the majority of the night playing the half-court game and fastbreaks were at a premium, it was no surprise that nothing was decided quickly. It took two overtimes, but Westchester finally ended its five-game losing streak to Western League rival Fairfax with a 71-70 victory. The game was played at Loyola Marymount University.
Comets junior guard Dominique O’Connor led all scorers with 26 points, and senior guard Oscar Bellfield added 13 for Westchester (25-3, 10-1). Fairfax junior center Renardo Sidney had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Lions (21-4, 10-1) and senior forward Darius Singletary added 17.
After a Sidney dunk with 54.8 seconds left in the second overtime drew Fairfax within 71-70, the Lions got the ball back with 19 seconds to play. Fairfax let the game clock run down, and Sidney lofted a three-pointer with two seconds left. He missed, but Lions guard Lance Bailey got the rebound and was fouled by Westchester’s Kareem Jamar with two-tenths of a second to play.
Bailey, however, missed both free throws.
The win puts Westchester in a tie for first in the Western League with Fairfax. Assuming both teams win their final games Friday -- Westchester plays host to Palisades and Fairfax plays at home against University -- a coin flip will determine which team will be first for purposes of playoff seeding.
In the first overtime, the Lions led, 67-65, until Comets center Cordell Hadnot tipped in a missed shot with a second left.
Westchester guard Jordan Mayes’ five-foot bank shot with 1:11 left in the second overtime gave the Comets a 71-68 lead.
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