CHAMINADE TOURNAMENT : Upstart Harvard Shocks No. 1 Granada Hills, 75-74

When the mighty fall, they don’t always take it too well.

Look at Granada Hills High, for example. The Highlanders are ranked No. 1 in the area and were riding a 10-game winning streak. Losses come about as often as midterms, and they certainly don’t come at the hands of a team like Harvard.

Or so the Granada Hills players thought.

But tiny Harvard, a Southern Section 3-A Division school, held on to upset Granada Hills, 75-74, Friday night and advance to the final of the Chaminade tournament.

The Saracens (8-2) will meet Bishop O’Dowd, a winner over Chatsworth in the other semifinal, tonight at 7.

“Harvard. Who’s Harvard?” disgruntled Highlander guard Jevon Lee said after the defeat. “That’s a bad team.”

Perhaps someone should tell Lee that Harvard went 23-3 last season and advanced to the playoff semifinals.

And perhaps someone should tell him that Harvard played without Andres Carlo, its leading scorer and rebounder, who was in Miami, Fla., attending his brother’s wedding.

“We have a lot of gripers,” Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson said. “We do amazingly well considering we have so many gripers.”

Granada Hills (11-2) did well for two periods, shooting 57% from the field in the first half to take a 43-36 lead at intermission.

But the second half was another story.

The Highlanders shot a miserable 33% from the field in the third period and turned the ball over five times, allowing Harvard to close to within 60-59 heading into the final quarter.

Then Granada Hills went stone cold, missing its first nine shots of the fourth period.

A layup by reserve forward Rob Venick gave Harvard the lead for good at 63-62, and it was the beginning of a 10-0 run for Harvard, which built its advantage to 71-62 with under four minutes to play.

Jerry Allen took over from there, scoring nine of the Highlanders’ next 12 points. Allen’s layup with 17 seconds left cut the deficit to 75-74.

Granada Hills’ Gene Barshtak forced a turnover, knocking the ball away from Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, and the Highlanders called a timeout with 10 seconds to play.

When play resumed, Allen drove into the frontcourt and pulled up for a 16-foot jump shot that was too long, and Uwaezuoke rebounded as the buzzer sounded.

“I thought we were going to win it at the end,” Johnson said. “I thought we had the advantage, being one down with the ball and 10 seconds to play.”

Rejoicing at the buzzer, however, was Harvard.

“That was sweet, really sweet,” Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said. “We got a little tentative at the last part there. I think we realized who we were playing and started trying not to lose instead of trying to win.”

Allen finished with 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sagy Koren added 14 points off the bench and Lee had 11.

Center Spencer Miller led Harvard with 19 points and nine rebounds. Tarlin Ray (15 points), Markus Puhvel (11) and Uwaezuoke (11) also scored in double figures for Harvard.

In other games:

Bishop O’Dowd 65, Chatsworth 46--Bishop O’Dowd (8-2) built a 30-19 halftime and coasted into tonight’s championship game against Harvard. Damon Covington led Bishop O’Dowd with 12 points as 13 players scored for the Dragons.

Chatsworth (3-6), which will meet Granada Hills today at 5:30 for third place, got 15 points from Chad Manor and 14 from Christen Dunbar.

Marshall 51, Chaminade 50--Jahmin Assa scored 16 points to lead Marshall (7-6) into today’s 3 p.m. consolation final against Crossroads, a 64-63 winner over St. Monica on Friday.

Robert Holland (20 points) and Mark Wiltshire (14) led Chaminade (3-8).