MaxPreps Holiday Classic Day 3: Lincoln, Whitehead take out Harvard-Westlake

See complete championship schedule, Day 2 notebook, Day 1 notebook. Lincoln feature. Arik Armstead feature.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) coach Dwyane Morton thought about pulling his star sophomore point guard Isaiah Whitehead aside before Thursday's MaxPreps Holiday Classic showdown with Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) on Thursday.

"I was gonna tell him that this was the big stage and take over the game," Morton said. "But we sort of ran out of time."

Turns out he didn't need to.

Whitehead, a polished, complete, skilled and athletic 6-foot-3 point guard, did it all with 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as Lincoln roared into the MaxPreps Invitational Division final with a thorough and impressive 81-70 victory at Cathedral City High School.

The win sets up a much-anticipated East-West showdown between the Nailsplitters and nationally ranked Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 98-67 winner over Foothill.

Though Lincoln (9-0) was impressive in all facets and got contributions from just about everyone on their deep and talented roster, Whitehead definitely stepped it up and showed why he's one of the most coveted 10th graders in the country.

And that the moniker as Lincoln's and New York City's "next new big thing," as unjust as it might be, is probably warranted.

He's following in the large footsteps as former Lincoln guard greats Sebastian Telfair and Lance Stephenson, who led Lincoln to seven City championships. Before that was Stephon Marbury.

Whitehead isn't squeamish about the comparisons or the pressure one bit. He absolutely took control of this entertaining affair not only with his scoring – he tallied seven in the first, eight in the second, four in the third and six in the fourth – but he got the right people the ball at critical times, including Ian Vasquez who broke open a close game with four 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Fearless 5-11 junior guard Shaquille Davis added 14 for Lincoln (9-0) and 6-6 forward Travis Charles added 10.

It all offset big games from Harvard-Westlake's super sophomore Derick Newton with 25 points and Zena Edosomwan, who added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Harvard-Westlake (7-4) nailed 10 3-pointers including three by Francis Hyde, but it also missed more than 20 from beyond the arc. The Wolverines also had no one who could matchup with Whitehead.

"Sometimes I forget he's a sophomore out there," Morton said. "He did a really good job of knowing when to attack and knowing when to distribute."

Said Whitehead: "We all came to play tonight. I was ready for sure but we all were. Everyone stepped up."

Especially Vasquez, a 6-foot senior, who broke Harvard-Westlake's back with his 3-pointers in the third.

"He can do that," Morton said. "He's done it before in the past and people around where we play know it. I don't think (Harvard-Westlake) was planning on it."

Weren't planning for Davis, a 5-10 junior, to step up as well. He epitomized Lincoln's gritty and fearless approach when he grabbed a loose ball around the free throw line in the third quarter took one dribble and went soaring over the cup to attempt a massive slam dunk.

The dunk missed – he was fouled – but the sight of him flying through the air sent a giant rush through the gym.

"He can do that too," Morton said, noting that a local newspaper gave Davis the "dunk of the year," last year when he went over a 6-5 kid for a contest dunk, ala the famed "The Dunk" by the Knicks' John Starks in 1993.

"I just saw the lane and went for it," Davis said. "It's what I do. We all play that way."

SHOWDOWN SET: Lincoln now gets Mater Dei, which continued to toy with its overmatched pool bracket opponents as UNLV-bound Katin Reinhardt had 24 points and Colorado-bound Xavier Johnson added 19.

Like Lincoln, Mater Dei's depth, especially at the guard position, was impressive. Twelve different players scored for the seventh-ranked Monarchs (9-1), who won their three pool games by an average of 36.

They know they're facing a different beast in Friday's 7:15 p.m. finale.

"They're very, very good," Reinhardt said. "But it's not something we haven't seen before. They're tough and deep and athletic and (Whitehead) is a really good player. We'll have to play our very best."

The two teams faced off in an AAU summer game, Davis said.

"They beat us pretty good," he said. "They have a lot of confidence."

Morton took it a step further.

"They play with a swagger," he said. "They got a lot of experienced kids and have had a lot of success. It's a big opportunity for our kids. They're nationally ranked and we're trying to get there.

"The key for us is to play team ball, be aggressive and just play basketball."

Beyond national rankings, the East Coast-West Coast angle can't be overstated, Whitehead said.

"We'll talk about it," Whitehead said. "We want to show people out here what East Coast basketball has to offer. It's a big game for us. They're No. 4 or 6 or whatever in the country and we're trying to move up."

HISTORY TALK: The Lincoln-Mater Dei match-up also is a rematch of one of the most famous high school basketball games in California history - a 1994 championship showdown at the Torrey Pines Tournament.

Before an overflow crowd that included then college coaches Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick, Mater Dei, led by Shea Cotton, prevailed despite a remarkable 38-point effort by Marbury. Cotton, then a sophomore, had 36. At least that's what Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight recalls.

According to Torrey Pines tournament co-director Jon Moore, Marbury had 48 and Cotton had 45. Either way, Mater Dei won 92-77.

"It was unbelievable," Moore told Steve Brand of the San Diego Union Tribune. "That put the tournament on the map."

Said McKnight: "That was an amazing game. Earlier in the tournament we had to beat Lamar Odom and Christ the King. There were some real talented players that year."

Morton was an assistant at Lincoln at the time.

"That was definitely a memorable game," he said. "Stephon was amazing and Shea too. It was back and forth all night long."

Does he expect the same type of tempo tonight?

"We'll see," he said with a wry smile. "It all depends on how the game is called, what (Mater Dei) does, the foul situation. Could be."

THREE WORDS: That's all Harvard-Westlake injured standout Josh Hearlihy could mutter when asked what it was like watching Thursday's game with Lincoln.

"It's killing me," said the 6-7 senior wing heading to Utah.

He's out for the year with a pair of injured knees and now is the team's scorekeeper.

"No excuses," Edosomwan said. "They beat us fair and square. But Josh would have made a difference. He's a difference-maker. He just does so many things for us. (Lincoln) is a very good team for sure. But it would have been fun to play them with Josh."

BACK TO CATHEDRAL CITY: King (Riverside, Calif.) was gracious enough to step aside from the top division when Lincoln entered the tournament late.

The Wolves (10-2) moved to the DHTS division and then found out it had perhaps a tougher road to a pool title with games against Las Vegas power Silverado and Southern California juggernaut Crescenta Valley (La Crescenta, Calif.).

After surviving a tough game with Silverado on Wednesday (78-68), King used a strong second-half run to knock off Crescenta Valley 93-73 on Thursday.

Kurt Robinson had 25 points, Julian Clark 16 and Nikko Turner 15 for the Wolves, who play a strong Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove, Calif.) team in Friday's championship game at the host site Cathedral City (3:40 p.m.).

Cole Currie led five players in double figures with 22 points for Crescenta Valley (10-2). Tade Keshishyan had 16, Christian Misi13, Dylan Kilgour 11 and Davis Dragovich 10.

Pleasant Grove defeated Rancho Cucamonga 79-71 on Thursday.

All other SCORES Thursday and Friday's schedule.

SKYLINE BASKETBALL: The best 1-2 team in the tournament is undoubtedly Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.).

The Spartans (7-2) had a very tough draw, losing their first two games to Harvard-Westlake (70-58) and Lincoln (49-38). They had little trouble with Bishop Manogue on Thursday, winning 60-31.

Despite the losses, coach J. Jay Davis is more than upbeat with the trip.

"I told the guys as long as we come out of here and learn something, this is much more valuable than going somewhere else and winning by 30," he said after the loss to Lincoln on Wednesday. "Sure we want to win. But playing against this type of competition is good for us."

Skyline has a lot of superb pieces, led by 5-11 senior guard and co-captain Will Parker, who is committed to Seattle-Pacific, and 6-7 senior forward and co-captain Lucas Shannon (Saint Martin's).

The team's other co-captain is 6-6 junior Max Browne, who is one of the country's most coveted underclass quarterbacks in football.

The football team has won two straight state titles and along with track and field, swimming and girls basketball, among others, has had tremendous success on a state level. The best the basketball team has finished is eighth.

Davis, in his fifth season, has gone 66-40 in that time but feels the program has turned.

"There's a lot of banners up in our gym but basketball frankly is a little bare," he said. "We want to do something about that."