After defeating FAB 50 No. 2 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) in Friday’s semifinals, No. 31 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) stamps itself as one of the nation’s best teams by downing No. 49 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) in the Hoophall West championship game, 58-44. Gonzaga takes third place.
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Attention to detail makes a difference in championship level high school basketball. For the team at Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), it’s the attention to detail on the defensive end that was a key factor in its back-to-back California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Open Division titles. In a similar token, it put forth a pristine defensive effort in knocking off De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), 58-44, in the title game of the Nike Tournament of Champions featuring Hoophall West on Saturday evening in Gilbert, Ariz.
After Duke-bound Nik Khamenia hit a fall-away jumper to give Harvard-Westlake a 35-17 lead with 9.4 seconds to go in the second period, Wolverines’ head coach Dave Rebibo quickly called a timeout. Even though his team was playing terrific defense, he wanted to make sure he had the proper defensive alignment for the situation. The result? A De La Salle airball 3-pointer in the closing seconds as the Spartans were held to five made field goals in the first half and no made 3-pointers.
Harvard-Westlake made seven 3-pointers in the first half and continued to connect on good looks in the second half even though De La Salle (14-1) picked up its defensive pressure and made the game interesting in the third period. De La Salle trialed at one point by 20 points (47-27) after a 3-pointer by junior sharpshooter Joe Sterling (9 points) with 2:34 to go in the third period, but the Spartans continued to fight to get back in the game.
The game’s key moment came early in the fourth quarter when De La Salle star forward Alec Blair had a step through basket in the key that made the score 48-36 and De La Salle came up with a defensive stop. Blair then drove the key and dished it to the corner for a potential open 3-point look but he was called for his fourth personal foul on an offensive charge after the pass. De La Salle head coach Marcus Schroeder had to remove his two-sport star committed to Oklahoma from the game with 6:59 remaining and from there the outcome was never really in doubt.
