Harvard-westlake overpowers Centennial to reach state final

CORONA >> The Centennial boys basketball program has made its gymnasium a fortress in recent seasons.

Harvard-westlake managed to break down the door Tuesday and conquer the Huskies.

Trent Perry, Nikolas Khamenia and Brady Dunlap combined to 63 points, as Harvard-westlake rolled past defending champion Centennial 80-61 in the CIF State Open Division regional championships game.

Harvard-westlake (32-2) will square off against Santa Maria St. Joseph (28-6) for the Open Division state title Saturday at 8 p.m. at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Centennial (30-4) saw its 52-game win streak against in-state opponents come to an end. The previous California team to knock off the Huskies was Harvard-westlake

on May 28, 2021. Centennial has lost 12 games over the past four season, and five of those have been to the Wolverines. Tuesday’s win marked the fourth time Harvard-westlake has won a game at Centennial over those four years.

“We have great players. They have great players,” Harvard-westlake coach David Rebibo said. “Styles are an important part of basketball games, and I think we do a great matching up against them. We presented a few issues and did a good job exploiting them.”

Centennial and Harvard-westlake have been the state’s top-ranked squads for much of the season, which made Tuesday night’s regional championship one of the most anticipated games of the year.

The teams were seeded No. 1 and No 2, respectively, for the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs and were expected to meet in the section finals. Centennial took care of business and eventually won the title. St. John Bosco stunned Harvard-westlake in pool play advanced to the championship game. Harvardwestlake avenged that loss Saturday to earn its shot at Centennial.

Harvard-westlake made nine of its first 12 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 shooting from behind the arc, to grab a quick 2316 advantage.

Perry led the way in the first quarter, making 5 of 7 shots en route to scoring 13 points.

Centennial managed to keep pace, making 9 of 13 shots in the opening quarter, including 6 of 8 to close out. Jared Mccain had eight points to get the Huskies within 23-30 after one period.

“We came out on fire, and so did they,” said Perry, who finished with a game-high 25 points before injuring his shoulder during the final quarter. “At the end, I think we did a great good executing and ended up pulling away.”

Perry picked up his second foul with 5:49 remaining in the second quarter and Harvard-westlake leading 28-24. Centennial could not take advantage of Perry’s absence, however, as the Huskies turned the ball over seven times in the quarter and were outscored 13-7 with Perry on the bench.

Both team were efficient with their shooting in the first half, Harvard-westlake made 16 of 27 from the field (6 of 13 on 3-pointers), Centennial made 13 of 21 shots (3 of 6 from distance).

Khamenia finished with 20 points, while Dunlap chipped in with 18 points.

Mccain capped his phenomenal career at Centennial by scoring a team-high 21 points. Eric Freeny added 15 points for the Huskies.

PHOTO BY ALEX GALLARDO