Providence boys’ basketball captures league title in Westphal’s first season

BURBANK — When Providence High hired Michael Westphal to be its boys’ basketball coach in June, it was hoping to turn around the program.

During the 2015-16 season, the Pioneers had a losing record, didn’t win a game in the Liberty League and were bounced in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Westphal, who has an impressive basketball pedigree, has made his mark at Providence in short order, getting the most out of his Pioneers in his first season with the program.

The Pioneers rewarded their coach with a league championship Wednesday evening.

A big third-quarter push enabled Providence to take a substantial lead against de Toledo and earn a 67-57 Independence League victory at home.

The championship is the first since 2011-12 for the Pioneers (16-8, 8-0 in league) and their first in the new league. It is only the program’s third crown in 18 seasons.

“It feels amazing to be able to win it,” said Providence junior David Grigoryan, who led all scorers with 28 points to go along with nine rebounds. “It is going to be great when they put the banner up.

“We lost some seniors after last season. But we have been able to come together and we’ve really bonded this season, and I think that is the main difference from last year.”

Westphal, who played at Pepperdine and is the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Westphal, said the players have really bought into what he has tried to instill in them this season.

“I am extremely happy at how receptive they all have been,” said Westphal, who spent the two previous seasons at Moorpark High. “The whole idea with this squad is I won’t care who scores as long as somebody scores.

“We had some problems early in the season and I think we have gotten better as a team. And this is a team that is still learning. Once they started to adjust, we started to click and we started playing better as a team.”

Providence, which also received 12 points from junior Kirk Helling and 11 from freshman Bryce Whitaker, produced a 22-2 run in the third period to turn a three-point deficit into a 48-31 advantage.

It was a rough first quarter for the Pioneers against the Jaguars (8-10, 3-5). Providence committed seven turnovers in the first quarter, but was still able to go into the first break with a 14-11 advantage.

In the second quarter, it was shooting woes that hindered the Pioneers, who converted just three of 14 shots from the field. De Toledo outscored Providence, 16-12, in the second and the Jaguars went into halftime with a one-point lead, 27-26.

“I really don’t care about the shooting, because the shooting is going to come and go,” Westphal said. “But what I was more concerned about was the turnovers. You take care of the ball, you get more attempts to take shots.

“At halftime, we talked about taking care of the ball and getting the ball inside, because we were taking too many three-point shots. When we can get the ball to David Grigoryan inside good things happen.”

In the third, Grigoryan caught fire, scoring 11 points in the stanza. The Pioneers also took care of the ball in the third, committing just one turnover.

The Jaguars scored the first basket of the third quarter to increase their lead to 29-26. But the Pioneers responded in a big way. Providence embarked on a 22-2 run to steal all the momentum with a 48-31 lead. During the run, the Pioneers converted eight of their nine shots from the field.

Providence ended the third with a 13-point lead, 49-36.

De Toledo pushed back in the fourth quarter, however, cutting the lead to eight three times, the last with 3:01 left, 58-50. But the Pioneers weathered the comeback attempt, hit their free throws down the stretch and held on to secure the title.