LAKE BALBOA — No. 6 seed Fairfax upset No. 3 seed Birmingham 64-58 in the Open Division of the L.A. City Section boys basketball playoffs Wednesday night at Birmingham High School.
Fairfax advances to the semifinals, where it will face Cleveland on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Cleveland was a 57-52 winner over Narbonne on Wednesday.
Junior guard Chris Stokes was the leading scorer for the Lions with 23 points.
“We knew they were a tough team,” Fairfax coach Jamal Hartwell. “We felt like we could come over and win one.”
Fairfax scored the first nine points of the game, and its defense held Birmingham scoreless for over four minutes to start the game.
Sophomore guard Jomari Marshall had five of the Fairfax’s nine points in the first quarter.
“He just goes out there and make plays,” Heartwell said, “and he’s a gamer all day. And we just gotta let him do his thing today.”
Birmingham’s first four points came off of free throws, and then the home crowd erupted when junior guard Tekeio Phillips hit a 3-pointer to pull the Patriots within three points of Fairfax, 10-7.
The second quarter started much better for the Patriots. Senior guard Charles Eleri and Phillips hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
Birmingham then stole the ball from the Lions, leading to a layup by Eleri layup. Junior guard Andrew Berry scored three points off a layup and a free throw to give Birmingham a 20-13 lead.
Fairfax didn’t let Birmingham pull away though, as a junior forward Kentrayl Roberson made a 3-pointer. The two teams battled for the rest of the quarter, with Fairfax tying the game 25-25 after a Stokes steal and layup.
“I wasn’t going out there without winning,” Stokes said “I know I had to make plays. I know how to make shots, and that basically gave me motivation to keep going.”
The score was 28-27 entering the third quarter.
Marshall scored six points to give the Lions a 36-34 lead.
Toward the end of the third, Fairfax started to pull away. The Lions led 44-39 entering the final period.
After the Patriots pulled within two points, Stokes hit three free throws and junior guard Jake Uuganbileg made a layup to give the Lions a 53-45 lead.
Moments later, both teams exchanged 3-pointers before sophomore forward Jimi Osiname gave the Lions two more points to make the score 58-50.
The lead was too big for the Patriots to overcome. The Lions stayed one step ahead for the remainder of the game, eventually the clock ran out.
“They played a solid game, but they didn’t play out of their minds,” Birmingham coach Nicholas Halic said. “We just beat ourselves.”