{"id":156222,"date":"2026-01-30T07:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156222\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T07:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:21:11","slug":"palisades-boys-basketball-team-returns-to-campus-and-routs-fairfax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156222\/","title":{"rendered":"Palisades boys’ basketball team returns to campus and routs Fairfax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday night, the Palisades High boys\u2019 basketball team savored something it had not experienced since midway through last season: homecourt advantage.<\/p>\n

Hosting a game inside their own gym for the first time in 388 days, the Dolphins did not let their fans or their classmates leave disappointed, beating Fairfax 75-28 to stay on track for their first outright league title in 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be back \u2026 it was cool,\u201d junior center Julian Cunningham said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a game here in over a year. There\u2019s no way we were gonna lose. It was a great atmosphere and we beat \u2019em by 50, so that\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palisades\u2019 boys had last taken their home floor for an official contest on Jan. 6, 2025 \u2014 one day before the Palisades fire broke out and dealt severe damage to their campus and community. First-year coach Jeff Bryant had to scramble to find someplace \u2014 anyplace \u2014 to practice for what would turn out to be 42 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought it would be this long,\u201d Bryant admitted. \u201cWhen the fire happened, I was thinking we\u2019d have some access to our gym in the summer. I remember at a parent meeting saying we\u2019ll 100% be playing our league games at home. When the new [school year] started we were told September, then October, then November, then the start of the second semester. It kept getting pushed back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team held its first practice at Palisades on Monday and students returned to campus Tuesday morning after attending classes for nine months at what came to be known as \u201cPaliHi South,\u201d the old Sears department store building in nearby Santa Monica.<\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans were treated to a blowout win in the Palisades boys\u2019 basketball return to the school gym for the first time in 388 days.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cUCLA, Memorial Park, Paul Revere, St. Bernard \u2026\u201d Bryant said, rattling off just a few of the sites his team practiced at while waiting for the green light to return to campus. \u201cWe\u2019ve been road warriors for over a year now and I definitely think it\u2019s been an advantage, but now we\u2019re looking forward to being home and we\u2019re going to feed off that energy starting tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacing the Dolphins on Thursday were 6-6 junior twins OJ and EJ Popoola, who got the home crowd cheering by combining for six dunks. They were raised in Las Vegas and transferred to Palisades in June. Two of the most highly touted prospects in the 2027 class, the brothers shined in their first game at their new school, scoring 19 and 16 points, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing \u2014 I\u2019ve been thinking about this game for so long,\u201d said OJ, who had 10 points in the first quarter as Palisades stormed to a 45-14 halftime lead. \u201cEven though we weren\u2019t here last year, we feel like it\u2019s our community too. EJ and I have been playing with each other for so long and I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

EJ Popoola is averaging 21 points per game, OJ Popoola is averaging 18 and junior Jack Levey, the most outstanding player in the Western League last winter, is the section\u2019s most dangerous long-range shooter, averaging 45% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

Another reason Palisades is one of the favorites to win the Open Division is the all-around play of freshman guard Phillip Reed, who is averaging 17 points, six assists and six rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt surreal \u2014 I was really nervous,\u201d EJ Popoola added. \u201cThe energy was there, the fans showed up and we\u2019re finally finding our rhythm as a team. It\u2019s a work in progress, but me and OJ have been through it all together and I thank God I\u2019m a twin!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OJ <\/p>\n

OJ Popoola soars for one of his two dunks in the Dolphins\u2019 first home game since the Palisades fire.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

AJ Neale scored 13 points and Reed added 10 for the Dolphins, who scored 10 seconds into the contest on Levey\u2019s alley-oop to EJ Popoola and never trailed.<\/p>\n

Guards Kameron Augustin and Jomari Marshall scored seven apiece for the Lions (15-8, 5-2).<\/p>\n

Palisades went 12-7 in its last 19 games of 2024-25, falling to Chatsworth in the City Section Open Division semifinals before reaching the Division III regional semifinals (hosting three games at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa). The Dolphins are off to a 13-11 start in 2025-26 while playing the toughest schedule of any team in the City. They have grown accustomed to playing in hostile environments and hope their \u201cus against the world\u201d mentality works in their favor once the playoffs start.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s win kept the Dolphins alone atop the Western League standings at 8-0, 2\u00bd games ahead of Fairfax with only four left. If Palisades seals the deal, it will mark the program\u2019s first league crown since it finished in a three-way tie for first place with Westchester and Fairfax in 2011-12 under then coach James Paleno.<\/p>\n

What a difference a year makes. Westchester, which beat Palisades twice on its way to winning league and capturing the City Open Division title last February, is fifth in league at 4-5 and lost its first meeting with Palisades by 38 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment was amazing and I was a little stiff on my shots for the first 20 minutes or so, but after that I was feeling it,\u201d said Levey, who swished two of his team\u2019s 10 three-pointers. \u201cThis was personal. We can\u2019t lose our first game back. Winning City is the standard, but [state] is what we really want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Palisades <\/p>\n

Palisades High\u2019s Phil Reed makes a layup against Fairfax in the first half Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Palisades lost 10 of its first 13 games, including six straight while several key players recovered from injuries \u2014 but Bryant never lost faith. \u201cThat losing streak strengthened us,\u201d he said. \u201cI could\u2019ve lost the team. Instead, guys stuck to the plan. Now we\u2019re trending in the right direction. We haven\u2019t played our best game yet. Our biggest challenge is what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through this ordeal, Bryant has learned patience and perseverance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part has been communicating with the parents,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cYou have to go with the flow. They want answers and sometimes you honestly don\u2019t know. When games are canceled, it hurts the younger kids most because lower-level games aren\u2019t going to be made up. So they really miss out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Popoola twins are motivated to lead Palisades to its first undisputed league championship since their father, Chris, helped the Dolphins to a third consecutive Western League title in 1995-1996. One of Popoola\u2019s teammates that year was Donzell Hayes, who piloted the program from 2016-23 and attended Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Palisades is chasing its third City title and first since winning Division I in 2020. Chris Marlowe, who captained the USA volleyball team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, led the Dolphins to a 21-1 record and the City Section basketball championship in 1969, beating Reseda in the final at Pauley Pavilion under the program\u2019s first coach, Jerry Marvin.<\/p>\n

\"Jack <\/p>\n

Jack Levey celebrates a big win in the Dolphins\u2019 return to their home court against Western League rival Fairfax.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday night, the Palisades High boys\u2019 basketball team savored something it had not experienced since midway through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48966,56067,2791,1545,1538,76509,10101,423,48,52,51,76510,47,50,49,8320,1417,4576,4695,41303,72],"class_list":["post-156222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-basketball-team","tag-bryant","tag-campus","tag-dolphin","tag-dolphins","tag-ej-popoola","tag-fairfax","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-league-game","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-palisades","tag-point","tag-program","tag-thursday-night","tag-westchester","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}