REDONDO BEACH – The Harvard-Westlake boys’ basketball team – a couple of days before what should be its toughest challenge of the young season so far – improved to 7-0 Thursday night with its second win of the week during the Ryse Williams/Pac Shores Showcase at Redondo Union High.
The Wolverines, who knocked off St. Anthony Tuesday night, trailed by a point after the first period Thursday night before taking a 10-point advantage at intermission on route to a 72-51 decision against San Gabriel Academy.
The comp should amp Saturday night (6 o’clock) in the final game of the event when Coach David Rebibo’s squad faces Rancho Christian.
Ray Barfield’s Eagles are 2-2, with two- and three-point losses to Santa Ana Foothill and St. Bernard, respectively.
But one of those two wins was a whopper – 63-60, in overtime, last Saturday night at Burroughs High in Burbank against Sierra Canyon.
The Wolverines got their usual balanced effort, with 11 players getting into the game and nine of those scoring – seven of them with six to 14 points.
Six-foot-nine, Princeton-bound Jacob Huggins led them in scoring and grabbed eight rebounds, while 6-4 junior point guard Trent Perry added 13 points and six assists.
Huggins (pictured) figures to be one-half of a terrific individual matchup Saturday, with 6-11 Martin Gumwell (who signed with Pepperdine last month) on the other side for the Eagles.
In other games at Redondo Union Thursday:
*St. Bernard 75, Windward 68: The Vikings broke out to a 15-4 lead before the Wildcats – with key contributions from their strong, Gavin Hightower-led sophomore class – tied the score with about three minutes to go before 6-5 senior James McCallum put St. Bernard (4-0) ahead to stay with a layup.
McCallum – who is only 16; Hell! There are some freshmen older than he is – scored 17 points with 12 rebounds while senior guard Tyler Rolison (last season’s CIF SS Division I Player of the Year) scored a game-high 33 points.
The 6-foot Hightower – who went toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with Rolison a lot of the game – scored 15 of his team-high 19 points after intermission.
Junior Nasir Luna added 12 points – all via 3s – for Windward (3-2) while two of Hightower’s classmates, Jeremiah Hampton, and J.J. Harris, scored 10 apiece.
*Campbell Hall 68, L.A. Washington Prep 63: Senior center Isaiah Brewington had eight points and 12 rebounds while underclassmen guards Aaron Powell (19), Aliaun Iscandari (13) and Isaiah Johnson (11) combined for 43 points as the Vikings improved to 4-0.
Six-nine Zyier Beverly scored 15 points for the Generals, who played their season opener.
*Leuzinger 71, LB Jordan 66: Amire Jones and Joshua Garland scored 21 points as the Olympians improved to 4-1.
The 6-2 Jones, averaging 22 ppg, is one of the Southland’s underrated Class of 2023 guards while the 6-3 Garland is a terrific sophomore.
Dennis Redmond Jr. scored 23 points for the 2-3 Panthers.
*Pacifica 53, Sage Hill 50 (OT): Six-five junior Gio Cangiano-Tiberand came off the bench to score 15 points as the Mariners improved to 4-1 in the first game of the day.
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