ENCINO – Two dominant performances led the Chaminade and Harvard-Westlake squads to Mission League boys basketball semifinal playoff victories Wednesday night at Crespi High.
The squads’ respective 83-78 (over St. Francis in Wednesday’s opener) and 91-73 (against Alemany) victories propelled the Eagles and Wolverines into a Friday night (7:30) final at Crespi – a game scheduled to be televised by KDOC.
It will be a rematch of a league game won by host Harvard-Westlake, 76-66, on Jan. 29.
There has only been one round of league play (there are seven teams, give each six games) since the Mission League adopted a post-season tournament for last season.
Regardless of the Friday’s outcome, the Wolverines (22-4 overall) are likely heading to the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division pool and the Eagles (23-6) to a Top 4 or so seed in the 2AA bracket.
Chaminade’s K.J. Simpson came into November as one of the more high-profile (among college recruiters) Class of 2021 players in Southern California – and, for the most part, everything he’s done on the floor since has justified that standing.
And that’s never been more so the case than Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-1 Simpson (pictured) missed five of his seven shots and committed two turnovers as his team fell behind, 24-11, before reserve sophomore Caden Cantwell was fouled while attempting a follow shot with two seconds to go.
Cantwell hit both free throws to trim the deficit to 11 points going into the second quarter and the final 24 minutes were mostly about Simpson taking over things – and St. Francis’ UC Irvine-bound Andre Henry trying to respond in kind.
Simpson hit his first four shots from the floor in the second quarter – two of those 3s – while Henry hit a pair of 3s in trying to stem the “Simpson Surge”.
Simpson scored 13 of his eventual career-41 points in the fourth quarter but Henry (who finished with 25 to go with nine rebounds and six assists, despite flu symptoms) scored out of a timeout on a back-cut and ensuing free throw to put his team up, 78-77, with 1:32 to go.
Those were to be the final points for the Golden Knights (22-7 and also headed for a strong 2AA seed), though.
Six-ten Abe Eagle scored after a pass from Keith Higgins III (who scored 12 of his 15 points after intermission) to put Chaminade in front to stay, then Simpson came up with a blocked shot and steal on the next St. Francis possessions, capping each with a pair of free throws for the final score.
In the second semifinal, it was basically a case of too much Mason Hooks for Alemany to overcome.
The 6-10, 260-pound Hooks (a brilliant student headed for Princeton University) was a model of low-post consistency – at both ends – scoring no less than seven points in each quarter while hitting 16 of 23 shots from the field to finish with 35 points while grabbing 15 rebounds for the Wolverines.
Alemany (19-8) – another squad equipped to do some damage in the 2AA playoffs – got 32 points from University of Montana-bound guard Brandon Whitney while junior teammate Ricky Rivas added 21, 15 of those via five of the Warriors’ 13 3s.
Senior point guard Spencer Hubbard had eight points and nine assists while sophomore Cameron Thrower (six assists) and junior Adam Hinton (three 3s) combined for 25 points off the bench for Coach Dave Rebibo’s Wolverines’ club.
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