Boys’ basketball: Things getting technical at Pauley

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Three technical fouls have been called in the first half of tonight’s Southern California Division I regional championship at Pauley Pavilion--two on King and one on Westchester, which leads, 29-16, at halftime.

King received the first technical before tip-off on Adam Smith for dunking during pregame warmups. Wolves Coach Tim Sweeney Jr. then picked up another early in the second quarter when he barked at officials following a questionable charging call on star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Westchester junior swingman Dwayne Polee got the third when he was called for hanging on the rim following a spectacular alley-oop dunk.

King looks nothing like the inspired team that beat Mater Dei last week and everything like the lackluster team that trailed Taft by 13 points at halftime Thursday before rallying for a 58-48 victory. That come-from-behind triumph required a spectacular second-half performance by Chris Harriel, who scored 22 points in the third and fourth quarters.

It’s going to be a lot harder to pull off that kind of comeback against a veteran team like Westchester. Dominique O’Connor, Jordin Mayes and Polee have six points apiece for the Comets, who are shooting 36.7% to King’s 25%. Leonard has nine points and seven rebounds for the Wolves.

--Ben Bolch