Harvard-Westlake beats West Ranch, but St. John Bosco advances in Pool B Southern Section Open play
It was the ultimate good news, bad news for the Harvard-Westlake boys basketball team on Friday.
The Wolverines (30-2) got 20 points from Brady Dunlap, 16 points by Jacob Huggins and 14 from Trent Perry in an impressive 59-50 Southern Section Open Pool B home game over West Ranch.
Harvard-Westlake held West Ranch to its lowest point total of the year. Photo: Nick Koza
Harvard-Westlake needed its 'A' game to beat the Wildcats, which dropped to 29-2 and had won 16 straight.
But the Wolverines learned immediately after the game they wouldn't be advancing to the finals.
That goes to St. John Bosco, a 50-47 winner over St. Bernard behind 20 points from Jack Turner.
Bosco, Harvard-Westlake and West Ranch all finished 2-1 in pool play, but Bosco won the tie breaker, a point system based on wins over higher seeds. In this case, the least amount of points prevailed.
Bosco had wins over No. 2 seed Harvard-Westlake and No. 7 St. Bernard. Adding the seeds together, Bosco had nine points. Harvard-Westlake had wins over No. 3 West Ranch and No. 7 St. Bernard for 10 points. West Ranch had wins over No. 6 St. John Bosco and No. 7 St. Bernard for 13 points.
The Braves will face Corona Centennial, which finished off Pool A play with a 73-55 winner over Bishop Montgomery to finish 3-0. No tiebreaker was needed. The championship is Feb. 25 at the Honda Center.
All teams selected to the Open automatically qualify for the CIF Southern California regional.
Bosco (26-5) and the Centennial (28-3) have not played this season and have played only three times since 2004, all Centennial wins, 62-56 in 2021, 75-71 in 2019 and 69-66 in 2015.
Centennial is the defending state Open Division champion and ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 6 nationally by SBLive.
Bosco's 62-55 win at Harvard-Westlake on Wednesday proved to be the decisive victory. West Ranch defeated Bosco 55-53 in first-round play on Feb. 10.
West Ranch, which got 15 points from James Evans, never led after taking a 13-10 lead on a 3-pointer from Zach Bauman to start the second quarter.
Harvard-Westlake went on a 9-0 run on two midrange jumpers from Dunlap, a 3-pointer from Perry and another midrange make by Nikolas Khamenia to go up 19-13.
Trent Perry (0), Harvard-Westlake, had 14 points on Friday. Photo: Nick Koza
West Ranch went on a 7-2 run to close to 21-20, but back-to-back 3-points from Perry and Dominique Bentho extended the lead to seven, which the Wolverines maintained most of the way.
Harvard-Westlake's defense was superb, allowing no more than 14 points in any quarter. They held leading West Ranch scorer Andrew Meadors to five points and 7-foot post Jazz Gardner to eight.
The Wolverines held West Ranch to a season low in points.
In three previous games with West Ranch, Harvard-Westlake had won two, 83-54 in 2021 and 80-62 in 2017. West Ranch won the first-ever meeting between the two in 2013, 71-64.
Final Pool play results: Pool A: Centennial (3-0), Notre Dame (2-1), Bishop Montgomery (1-2), Sierra Canyon (0-3). Pool B: St. John Bosco (2-1), Harvard-Westlake (2-1), West Ranch (2-1), St. Bernard (0-3).
Other games Friday: Duke bound Caleb Foster had 23 points leading Notre Dame to a 70-53 win over Sierra Canyon, which got 17 from Osiris Nalls and 11 by Bronny James. ... Aaron McBride had 20 points, Eric Freeny 14, Mike Price 13 and Jared McCain 11 as Centennial defeated Bishop Montgomery 73-55.
All photos below from Nick Koza
