Every starter makes an impact as Harvard-Westlake completes 33-2 season with top title in California
SACRAMENTO - After a wild road through the playoffs, No. 14
Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) is the CIF Open Division champions, defeating St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 76-65 Saturday at Golden 1 Center.
The premier game of the weekend didn’t disappoint as the Wolverines led by just four at halftime before pulling away in the second half to win their first state crown since 2016.
“It’s been the last 8 months, even three years,” senior
Brady Dunlap. "We’ve built a bond with all these guys. Been through a lot. We are all just one big family. We are all supporting each other, we are all each others number one fans.
Junior
Trent Perry led the way for Harvard-Westlake (33-2) with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists.
“He is the catalyst, he is the guy who gets us going,” said Harvard-Westlake head coach David Rebibo. “He’s just scratching the surface of how good he is going to be. The biggest thing is that he’s a winner and he made winning play after winning play after winning play.”
The game was a complete team effort as Perry dished it around. Sophomore
Nikolas Khamenia had 18 points and 6 rebounds, senior Brady Dunlap had 18 points, senior
Jacob Huggins had 15 points and 12 rebounds and junior
Robert Hinton had 8 points.
Junior
Christian Horry also made an impact off the bench while father Robert Horry — a seven-time NBA champion — cheered on enthusiastically from courtside.
Despite falling to St. John Bosco in Southern Section Open Division pool play that knocked the Wolverines out of the section title contention, Harvard-Westlake got its revenge in the Southern Regional semifinals against the Braves, winning 69-64.
“Losing in the sectionals was tough, sometimes a reset is a great thing, rarely do you get a second chance when you need a reset, but we got a second chance,” Rebibo said.
Next up was Centennial (Corona) — the No. 4 team in the nation with a trip to the Golden 1 Center at stake. The Wolverines, ranked No. 14 in the country, went on the road and stormed out to a big lead before winning 80-61 to pull the upset and advance to Sacramento for the state championship.
“Our area was unbelievable this year, let alone the entire southern section,” Rebibo said. “To get through that gauntlet is incredible.”
After leading by four at halftime against St. Joseph, Harvard-Westlake extended its lead to 10 heading into the fourth helped in big part by Perry who had 5 of his 10 assists in the third quarter.
Khamenia was the recipient of multiple Perry passes, knocking down 8 of his 16 points in the third frame.
Harvard-Westlake continued to grow its lead and had its biggest lead of the night 62-47 with 6:07 to play and closed out the game with a 76-65 victory.
