OJ Popoola soars for a layup in Palisades’ 75-42 victory over El Camino Real in the Open Division quarterfinals.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
Pali High Boys Hoops Is Right at Home
By STEVE GALLUZZO
CTN Contributor
The Palisades High boys basketball team showed why it is the favorite to win the City Section Open Division championship last Wednesday night.
Looking like a No. 1 seed should, the Dolphins (18-11) raced to a 25-5 first-quarter lead on the way to a 72-45 quarterfinal rout of eighth-seeded El Camino Real—their first playoff win in their own gym in two seasons under coach Jeff Bryant.
“It felt good to be playing at home,” said Bryant, whose team hosted its postseason games at Birmingham High last year in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire.
EJ Popoola led the way with 23 points and twin brother OJ had 12 for the Dolphins, who face
No. 5 San Pedro Saturday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals at LA Southwest College. The Pirates (23-6) upset No. 4 Washington in the quarterfinals and are riding a six-game winning streak. Palisades has won 10 in a row.
AJ Neale, Jack Levey and Phillip Reed each scored 11 points for the Western League champions, who are two wins away from their first section crown since 2020. They took their foot off the gas with sloppy play in the fourth quarter but by then the issue was long decided.
“I liked our start and that we had a sense of urgency,” Bryant said. “We just have to play all four quarters.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Palisades’ Riley Oku (right) in the opening tip-off against Birmingham’s Jaydin-Lynn Walker.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
Thursday night was the girls’ turn to book their spot in the semifinals and they stayed close for eight minutes before second-seeded Birmingham shifted to a higher gear, outscoring
the seventh-seeded Dolphins 24-6 in the second quarter and beginning the second half with a 13-0 run on its way to a 75-39 win.
Riley Oku scored 10 of her team-high 11 points in the first half, Sumaya Levy added nine and Angela Locke had six for Palisades, which dropped to 12-13.
BOYS SOCCER
The Dolphins’ boys soccer team scored twice in the second half to beat Bell in the quarterfinals.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
Crew Norris tallied the equalizing goal on a header off of a corner kick early in the second half and Diego Diaz scored the game-winner on a rebound from 15 yards away in the 60th minute as the fourth-seeded Dolphins survived a scare to beat fifth-seeded Bell 2-1 in the City Open Division quarterfinals Thursday at Birmingham.
“The ball came right to me and I had to think quick,” Diaz said of the go-ahead goal, whichsomehow went in through a maze of players. “I was there in front, it bounced once and I shot it as hard as I could.”
The Dolphins found themselves trailing 1-0 at halftime after an unlucky bounce led to the Eagles’ goal in the 34th minute. Bell players thought they had tied it on a free kick with less than four minutes left but the referee ruled the play offside and Palisades held on to win.
“When Crew scored it gave us energy to start attacking more and I scored not long after that,” Diaz added. “I’m a senior, this is my last season and I really want to win, especially after losing in the first round last year.”
The fourth-seeded Dolphins (17-4-2) advanced to the semifinals to face defending City champion El Camino Real, the No. 1 seed, Thursday in Woodland Hills.
The teams last met in the Division I quarterfinals two years ago when the Royals prevailed 2-1 in overtime. The year before El Camino Real edge Palisades 4-1 in a shootout in the semifinals after neither side was able to score in regulation or overtime.
The Palisades-ECR winner plays either No. 6 Marquez or No. 2 South East in the finals Feb. 27 or 28 at a site to be determined.
“What it’ll take to win is pure confidence, strength and aggressiveness,” Diaz said.
GIRLS SOCCER
Stella Robinson and the girls soccer squad kicked into the semifinal round with a win at San Pedro.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
Having learned their lesson in a 2-2 draw with Venice that ultimately cost them the outright league crown one week earlier, the Dolphins traveled to San Pedro last Wednesday in the City Open Division quarterfinals and stayed aggressive the entire 80 minutes.
The result was a 5-3 victory in a rematch of the teams’ 3-3 stalemate in a nonleague matchup February 2 on the same field. This time, leading scorer Mechal Green had two goals and two assists, Harper Given had two goals and one assist, Danaya Williams had a goal and an assist and goalie Maria Knierim made three saves.
The fifth-seeded Dolphins (14-3-4) advanced to the semifinals versus No. 1-seeded Cleveland (15-2-3) at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Taft High in Woodland Hills. This is the third straight season the teams have faced each other in the semifinals, the Cavaliers prevailing 5-4 in a shootout in 2024 and winning 3-1 last winter.
The Palisades-Cleveland victor will meet either sixth-seeded New West Charter or No. 7 Granada Hills for the championship Feb. 27 or 28.
GIRLS WATER POLO
PaliHi water polo Captain Yasmine Santini and the team will play for the City Division I title.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
The Dolphins will attempt to duplicate what the boys program did in the fall by winning the Division I title on Wednesday at the Valley College pool.
Palisades got humbled by Birmingham 22-3 in the City Open Division semifinals but in the new playoff format the Dolphins dropped to the Division I bracket and beat Banning and
Cleveland to earn a berth in the finals at 5 p.m. against league San Pedro. The teams split their two league meetings.
The Dolphins (12-15) are vying for their fourth section title, having defeated Birmingham in the finals in 2019 and 2022 when there was only one playoff division and again in 2024 in the inaugural Open Division final.
BOYS AND GIRLS WRESTLING
Matthew Suh won the 175-pound division at the City Championships in downtown Los Angeles.
Photo: STEVE GALLUZZO
On the mat, Palisades’ boys placed second in the team standings—matching their best finish ever—last Saturday in the City Section Championships at Roybal Learning Center.
Senior captain Matthew Suh won the 175-pound title with a 7-5 decision in the finals against Birmingham’s Akosha Okenov. Suh built a 12-2 lead before pinning El Camino Real’s Aron Moeller 53 seconds into the third period in the quarterfinal round, then scored a major decision (9-1) over Cleveland’s Domenik Fuentes in the semifinals.
After taking third in the 190-pound division last season, Suh became Palisades’ first individual City champion since James Van Wagenen won at 126 in 2024.
Birmingham continued its City supremacy, racking up 333 points. The Dolphins, who tied San Fernando with 171.5 points, previously came in second in 2015 (six weeks after the program’s first coach Randy Aguirre died of brain cancer) and in 2022 under present coachMike Lawlor.
Other Dolphins placing in their weight classes were Jude Perez (third at 113); Vincent Meiseles (third at 165); Bladimir Hernandez (fourth at 106); Connor Kang (fourth at 138); Panyarat Litmen (fourth at 215); Caleb Kim (fifth at 126); Rocco Falcione (fifth at 132); and Zane Lazar (sixth at 144).
Three Palisades girls also medaled. Jaden Mehrdad was sixth at 115, Sofia Townsley took fifth at 135 and Emma Bolch reached the finals at 140.