Cleveland boys basketball wins first league showdown with Birmingham

LAKE BALBOA — In a battle between two of the top boys basketball teams in the CIF LA City Section, Cleveland prevailed over Birmingham 81-70 on Friday night to take sole possession of first place in the West Valley League.

Guard Charlie Adams had 22 points, five rebounds and four assists to lead the way for Cleveland (13-8 overall, 4-0 league), with 12 of his points coming in the third quarter.

His backcourt running mate, TJ Wansa, had 17 points and did a great job defensively on guard Tekeio Phillips of Birmingham (13-5, 3-1).

“The game plan from the beginning was just to attack them in the paint,” said Adams who scored all 12 of his third-quarter points in the paint. “Another part of the whole game plan was ball movement. If they want to pressure us we’re just gonna go at you full speed and attack you all game.”

Cleveland struggled a bit in the first half, as starting center Sergine Deme dealt with foul trouble, but the Cavaliers led 37-35 at the break.

Deme had two fouls at the end of the first quarter and did not play most of the first half.

Wansa had 11 points in the first half and Andrew Berry had nine points and six rebounds in the half for Birmingham.

In the third quarter, Cleveland outscored the Patriots 22-15 with Adams’ 12 points in the quarter leading the way.

Deme played the whole third quarter, while Birmingham starting forward X’Zavion McKay got in foul trouble during  the third quarter.

“Charlie’s just a magician with the ball, coming off screens and having so many options makes it very difficult to guard us,” Cleveland coach Dagem Asfaw said. “Sergine’s the most dominant force in the City Section, if he plays the way he plays and dominates the paint it’s hard to beat us.”

Deme finished the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds. He had nine of his points and 10 of his rebounds in the second half.

“When I got in foul trouble, I needed my teammates to hold it down and I trusted them,” Deme said. “Their big man got in foul trouble too, and we were able to take advantage of that a bit.”

Cleveland closed out the game with Harout Posheyan scoring eight points in the fourth quarter.

Posheyan finished the game with 11 points and Emmitt Claiborne had eight points for Cleveland.

The two teams will play again in the second-to-last game of the regular season on Feb. 4 at Cleveland.

McKay had 23 points and four rebounds, and Phillips had 22 points and two steals.

“They were better tonight, they just did everything a little better and executed better tonight,” McKay said of Cleveland. “League’s not over. Just because they won tonight doesn’t mean they’re gonna win the next one and we’re prepared.”

Both teams play league games on Monday. Cleveland plays at Taft and Birmingham will be at home against El Camino Real.