It was way back in early November when The Times’ preseason basketball rankings came out with St. John Bosco ranked No. 1 and Harvard-Westlake No. 2. Three months later, after ups and downs, twists and turns, the two teams met Friday night in Studio City to decide a spot in the Southern Section Open Division championship game.
It was elite player vs. elite player, top coach vs. top coach, All-American vs. future All-American. Except Harvard-Westlake (29-3) has been playing at a different level and showed it in a devastating performance. St. John Bosco missed its first eight shots, fell behind 15-2 after one quarter, 29-9 at halftime and never caught up. The Wolverines prevailed 64-40 to set up a championship game against Eastvale Roosevelt on Feb. 23 at California Baptist.
Several weeks ago Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said, “Not all of our players are firing at the same time yet and that’s OK. It will happen and when it does, we think we’re going to be pretty dangerous.”
It’s pretty clear the Wolverines are beginning to peak. They held Sierra Canyon to a season-low 38 points Tuesday and were even better on defense Friday. They’ve become more dangerous because young players off the bench have started to contribute. Junior Isaiah Carroll made two three-pointers in the first half. Sophomore Amir Jones made a three. Trent Perry, who received his McDonald’s All-American jersey before the game, continued to rise up when needed. He was smiling guarding St. John Bosco’s outstanding sophomore Brandon McCoy, who had 14 points.
Perry and Nikolas Khamenia each finished with 14 points. Khamenia, a 6-foot-8 junior, will be particularly important in the final weeks of the season. With his size, Harvard-Westlake needs him to contribute with points inside and rebounding, and he knows it.
As for Harvard-Westlake’s defense holding Sierra Canyon to 38 points and St. John Bosco to 40 points this week, Khamenia said, “The coaches emphasized defense. We’ve been super locked in.”
Added Rebibo: “It’s who we are. The stakes are incredibly high, the focus even higher, and guys have bought in.”
Neither Harvard-Westlake nor Roosevelt has won an Open Division section title.
“They’re really good and we’re going to have our hands full,” Rebibo said.
In other Open Division games, Sierra Canyon defeated Corona Centennial 61-55. St. Pius X-St. Matthias defeated JSerra 70-58. Roosevelt defeated Mater Dei 80-76 in overtime.
Windward 67, Damien 60: The Wildcats (28-3) went on the road and knocked off Damien to advance to the Division 1 championship against top-seeded Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Feb. 24 at the Toyota Center in Ontario. Windward trailed by five points at halftime and went on a 12-0 run in the third quarter. Nasir Luna made six threes and finished with 20 points. Jeremiah Hampton had 14 points and Gavin Hightower 10.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 67, Redondo Union 60: Mercy Miller scored 23 points and Zach White had 18 to send Notre Dame (27-3) into the Division 1 final.
Long Beach Poly 57, Corona del Mar 54: The Jackrabbits held on in a 2A semifinal despite 33 points from Sea Kings freshman Maxwell Scott. Jovani Ruff made a game-winning three for Poly and finished with 24 points.
St. Anthony 75, Heritage Christian 57: St. Anthony gained a spot in the 2AA championship game against Rolling Hills Prep.
Rolling Hills Prep 57, Thousand Oaks 50: Mateo Trujillo scored 24 points for Rolling Hills Prep in a 2AA semifinal.
Bosco Tech 59, Santa Barbara 57: Ryan Osborne had 21 points and 22 rebounds for Bosco Tech in a 3A semifinal. Bosco Tech will play Bishop Alemany, a 60-45 winner over Woodbridge. Jared Mims scored 18 points for Alemany.
San Pedro 70, Crenshaw 63: The Pirates advanced to the City Section Division I championship game next Saturday at Pasadena City College. Nate Cigar and Chim Emegwa each scored 16 points.
Washington Prep 58, Fairfax 46: The Generals will play San Pedro for City Division I championship. Dewayman Martin scored 27 points for Washington Prep.
Bernstein 86, Wilson 46: Troy Agtang finished with 37 points to help Bernstein advance to the City Division IV final.
Baseball
Taft 3, Viewpoint 2: Brandon Warner struck out nine for Viewpoint. Elijah Gaviola struck out four in four innings for Taft.
Villa Park 2, San Clemente 1: Jake Nobles had a walk-off single for Villa Park in the eighth inning.
Soccer
Birmingham 3, South East 0: The No. 2-seeded Patriots advanced to the City Section Division I semifinals.
Granada Hills 1, Garfield 0: The No. 1-seeded Highlanders got their second shutout of the City Section Division I playoffs. Diego Monreal scored for the Highlanders.
El Camino Real 2, Palisades 1: Anthony Villa tied the score with a goal late in regulation and won it with an overtime goal for El Camino Real, setting up a semifinal showdown on the road with West Valley League rival Granada Hills.
Contreras 1, Orthopedic 0: Erick Vargas scored to send top-seeded Contreras into the City Section Division IV semifinals against Dymally.
Servite 5, Crossroads 0: Parker Buetow scored three goals for the Friars, who advance to the Southern Section Division 1 finals. Servite will play Trinity League rival Orange Lutheran, which needed two overtimes to prevail over Harvard-Westlake 2-1.
Newport Harbor 3, Loyola 2: Newport Harbor advances to the Division 2 final.
San Clemente 2, Mater Dei 1: The Monarchs lost the game but won the two-game series to advance to the championship match of the Open Division.
Arlington 3, Mira Costa 1: Jesus Palma scored two goals for Arlington (25-0), which plays Mater Dei for the Open Division title Feb. 23 at Long Beach Veterans Stadium.