Sports

Column: Time to celebrate history being made in City Section basketball

Published

2 years ago

February 21, 2024

Column: Time to celebrate history being made in City Section basketball

There’s a historic inflection point taking place in high school basketball this weekend that has been more than 50 years in the making.

Since Marques Johnson led Crenshaw to the 1973 City Section championship, a group of powerhouse teams, coaches and players have dominated for decades.

The legendary coaches such as Willie West (Crenshaw), Dave Yanai (Fremont), Reggie Morris (Manual Arts), Ed Azzam (Westchester), Harvey Kitani (Fairfax) and Derrick Taylor (Taft) were fortunate to be part of programs that produced such standout players as Johnson, John Williams (Crenshaw), Ivory Ward (Fremont), Kevin Ollie (Crenshaw), Dwayne Polee (Manual Arts), Chris Mills (Fairfax), Jordan Farmar (Taft), Larry Drew Jr. (Taft), Trevor Ariza (Westchester) and many more.

From 2000 through last season, only five schools won upper division titles — Westchester, Fairfax, Taft, Birmingham and El Camino Real.

That will change Saturday, when King/Drew plays Los Angeles CES for the Open Division title at Pasadena City College. Their sports programs hardly existed until the 1990s. Call it the rise of the magnet schools that once were only good enough to compete in the old Magnet League and compete for small school titles.

It has been called a season of parity in the City Section and one of the weakest in terms of overall team talent, but history will be made. The powerhouse programs are nowhere to be found. King/Drew and LACES are the last teams standing, and one will win its first upper division title.

One of the players on LACES is star point guard Donovan Cornelius, a four-year standout. His father, Trent, is in charge of the Los Angeles Unified School District athletics programs. He played for Cleveland High in 1990 when his teammate was Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier. They lost to Crenshaw and Ollie in the semifinals.

His takeaway from this historic meeting in which No. 8-seeded LACES meets No. 2 King/Drew is that filling rosters with transfer students doesn’t have to happen. Many of the players for LACES have been together since sixth grade. King/Drew has a long waiting list because of its strong academics. Neither team has a transfer. The head coaches, David Trujeque of LACES and Lloyd Webster of King/Drew, have reached this point by building from within.

LACES point guard Donovan Cornelius has been a four-year varsity player.

(Nick Koza)

“It’s good, old-fashioned coaching and teaching and nurturing teams,” Cornelius said. “You don’t have to rely on transfers and breaking a bunch of rules. People need to develop their JV kids and do it the old-fashioned way, building up your program and teaching kids to play.”

South Pasadena coach Ernest Baskerville graduated from LACES in 1992. One of his classmates was Leonardo DiCaprio. Baskerville became coach in 1997 and ran the program for 12 years.

“This is historic, two Magnet League schools playing for an Open Division title,” he said. “I never would have dreamt it. We’d lose players to Westchester, Fairfax and Hamilton.”

Harvard-Westlake great Alex Stepheson lived across the street from LACES. The three Shipp brothers from Fairfax— Joe, Josh and Jerren — went to middle school at LACES. The former center at Colorado, Evan Battey, was at LACES until transferring.

“We always had players, but people would leave,” Baskerville said. “It shows growth. It shows parents do value the education.”

No one is expecting the eventual City champion to be placed in the Open Division or Division I for the state playoffs. Division III would be appropriate, which would be a first. But this could be the future. Top players have left LAUSD, lured by promises of exposure or whatever their private coaches are telling them. Hall of Fame coaches have retired or moved on to the Southern Section, such as Kitani, who has Rolling Hills Prep playing for a 2AA championship.

Ryan Conner made two clutch shots, one to tie game and one to win in final seconds of LACES 52-49 win over Chatsworth in City Section Open Division semifinal.

(Nick Koza)

There’s still good City players. For two years, one of the best young players in Southern California has been Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth. His father, Gilbert, played at Grant, then Arizona and in the NBA. Whether Alijah stays for a third year remains to be seen. He came close to getting Chatsworth into the Open Division final until Ryan Conner of LACES made consecutive three-point shots in a matter of two seconds to snatch victory from defeat.

There are still good coaches and good academics in the City Section too.

“They’re great people,” Baskerville said of Webster and Trujeque. “It’s great to see those guys. I’m proud of them.”

It’s time to celebrate history being made in the City Section.

Sports

Charles Barkley scolds sports fans for getting wrapped up in Olympic hockey frenzy

Published

5 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Charles Barkley scolds sports fans for getting wrapped up in Olympic hockey frenzy

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Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley sounded off on the frenzied reactions to the U.S. men’s hockey team getting invited to the White House by President Donald Trump.

Trump talked to the Olympic gold medal-winning team immediately after they defeated Canada in overtime last weekend. He said they would be invited to his State of the Union address and added that he needed to invite the women’s team as well or he would be “impeached.”

Charles Barkley sits courtside against the Minnesota Timberwolves during an NBA Cup game at Mortgage Matchup Center on Nov. 21, 2025. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)

Trump critics took the joke as a shot at the women’s team, which sparked questions from NHL and Professional Women’s Hockey League reporters as the players returned to their respective club teams.

“I’m proud of the United States men. I’m proud of the United States women. You should have invited both of them to the White House, but it shouldn’t have been disrespect, misogyny,” Barkley said on the “Steam Room” podcast. “Like, yo, man, why do y’all have to mess everything up? Everything isn’t Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal. That’s why we got this divided, screwed up country. Stop it man. Because, you know, the public, they’re idiots. They’re fools. They can’t think for themselves. I know y’all say stuff to trigger them. Y’all say stuff and y’all know they’re going to be fools.”

Barkley lamented that the average person would get riled up over the supposed controversy.

The U.S. team poses for a group photo after defeating Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Milan, Italy, on Feb. 22, 2026. (Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

“We don’t have to fall for stupidity. But we do – that’s my point. These people out here are stupid. They need something to trigger them. Just because they want us to be stupid. We don’t have to be stupid. He should have invited both teams to the White House. Simple as that. Guys who didn’t want to go shouldn’t have to explain why they didn’t go.”

The former Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns star made clear he would go to the White House regardless of whether Trump was in office.

“I’ve said this before, I’m not a Trump guy. But if I got invited to the White House, I would go. I’m not a Trump guy – I want to make that clear. But I respect the office,” Barkley said. “He’s the president of the United States. But if guys don’t want to go, I understand that too. It doesn’t have to be a talking point. It doesn’t have to be un-American.

Megan Keller (5) celebrates with a flag alongside Cayla Barnes (3) of Team United States after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime during the women’s gold medal match against Canada on Day 13 of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

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“I just wish y’all would stop falling for the stupidity.”

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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

Sports

Prep talk: Birmingham’s Slava Shahbazyan celebrates winning state wrestling title

Published

6 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Prep talk: Birmingham’s Slava Shahbazyan celebrates winning state wrestling title

Three years ago, as a 14-year-old freshman, Slava Shahbazyan made it to Bakersfield for the state wrestling championships.

“It was good to get experience that young,” he said.

Then came Saturday night when he had a breakthrough moment, winning the state 165-pound championship as a 17-year-old senior for Birmingham High.

“It means everything to me,” he said. “It took four years.”

Shahbazyan, who transferred from Chaminade after his sophomore year, is set to attend Stanford and still in the hunt to be valedictorian at Birmingham. Coach Jimmy Medeiros said he was close to winning last season before finishing fourth.

“He got a lot better,” Medeiros said.

Shahbazyan has been wrestling since he was 8. “My father loves wrestling,” he said.

Two St. John Bosco wrestlers, Jesse Grajeda at 144 pounds and Michael Romero at 150 pounds, also won state titles.

Here’s the link to complete results.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Sports

Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

Published

17 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.

“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”

Ponder was 23 years old.

Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)

Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.

Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.

The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.

Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)

“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”

Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.

Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)

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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.

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