Harvard-Westlake headed to CIF-SS Open title game
Before Friday night's boys basketball game between Harvard-Westlake and St. John Bosco, Wolverines star guard Trent Perry was presented his McDonald's All-American jersey by Harvard-Westlake alum and 10-year NBA veteran Jarron Collins.
Perry joins Collins and his brother Jason as the only boys basketball players in program history to receive the honor.
And the USC commit showed exactly why he earned the illustrious distinction, leading Harvard-Westlake to a 64-40 win over St. John Bosco in the final game of pool play in the CIF Southern Section
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Open Division playoffs.
“It's a dream come true,” said Perry, who finished with a game-high 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. “I always had a lot of talks with my dad about this and I'm just very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in.”
“All-American has a new meaning and it's winner, because that's who he is and that's what he's about,” Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said. “I couldn't be prouder.”
Harvard-Westlake wrapped up a 3-0 record in pool play, holding both Sierra Canyon (38 points) and St. John Bosco to a season low in points in back-to-back games.
Perry said that offensive struggles early in the season forced the team to focus even more on defense, and use it to propel the offense.
It's been working as it did Friday night, as HarvardWestlake's smothering defense forced St. John Bosco into difficult shots all night.
“The ball was sticking a little bit early in the season and we said we can't let our offense be our defense, we have to have our defense be our offense,” Perry said. “It's just a great mindset and it feels good to get stops, get easy buckets and have fun as a team.”
While Perry orchestrated the offense, Nikolas Khamenia made his presence felt in the paint. The junior excelled in halfcourt sets and scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, using an array of moves in the post to score.
Christian Horry added nine points via three 3-pointers and Robert Hinton scored nine points.
Brandon McCoy Jr. led St. John Bosco with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Harvard-Westlake will face Roosevelt in the CIF-SS Open Division championship game at Cal Baptist University next Friday.
The Wolverines are one game away from checking off their second goal for the season, the CIF-SS Open title that alluded them last year.
“I'm happy but I'm not satisfied,” Perry said. “We still have one more game to complete and I know we're focused right now as a team to get that job done.”