BOYS’ BASKETBALL GRANT TOURNAMENT : Near-Perfect Carlisle Leads Grant Over Kennedy in Final, 44-42

Wayne Carlisle didn’t get the ball as much as his coach would have liked Saturday night, but he made the most of what he got.

Carlisle, a 6-foot-6 senior center, was perfect from the field and near-perfect on free throws, propelling Grant High to a 44-42 victory over Kennedy in the championship game of the Grant basketball tournament.

Carlisle, the tournament most valuable player, was five of five from the field and five of six from the line, finishing with a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“They did a pretty good job guarding (Carlisle),” Grant Coach Howie Levine said. “We don’t pass the ball well enough to get it to him.”

Kennedy’s Vidale Little fronted Carlisle defensively, forcing the Lancers (8-5) to move the ball around the horn and shoot outside.

In the second half, Kennedy opted to stay tight on Carlisle inside and give Grant point guard Darwin Alfelor free shots from three-point range. Alfelor made Kennedy pay dearly.

Alfelor, a 5-7 junior, made three of three three-point shots in the fourth quarter. His last three-point basket broke a 40-40 tie with 1 minute 45 seconds to play, and the Lancers never relinquished the lead.

Kennedy was placed at a disadvantage from the start. The Golden Cougars (11-5) were without their two leading scorers, junior forward Joe Wyatt and senior guard Bobby Wynn.

“Those two guys between them average about 30 points,” Kennedy Coach Yutaka Shimizu said.

Wyatt, who scored 21 points against Grant last week in the Birmingham tournament, reportedly was stranded in Lancaster when his father’s car would not start.

Wynn injured his knee early Thursday and has not played since.

Kennedy’s Ronnie Gipson, who missed Friday’s tournament opener because he was on a football recruiting trip to Pacific, scored a team-high 14 points. Gipson scored eight points in the fourth quarter but shot an air ball from three-point range with two seconds left on Kennedy’s final shot.

In the consolation final:

Palisades 50, Birmingham 39--The Braves trailed by just two at halftime but Palisades outscored Birmingham, 18-10, in the third quarter.

Carlos Avelar scored a team-high 10 points for the Braves (6-7).