CHAMINADE TOURNAMENT : Harvard Falls in Final, 71-51

Harvard High’s basketball team includes some pretty smart kids, guys who can usually beat a team with brains as well as brawn. Funny thing about erudition, though. Sometimes the more you know, the less you understand.

School was in session in the Chaminade tournament final against Oakland Bishop O’Dowd on Saturday night. Harvard supplied the wide-eyed pupils.

“We were taught a lesson in how to play defense,” Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said. “I only hope our guys were taking notes.”

Bishop O’Dowd thoroughly shut down Harvard’s inside game and won in a runaway, 71-51.

Harvard center Spencer Miller, a 6-foot-7 senior who scored 19 points in a semifinal victory over Granada Hills, was held to one point and fouled out. Forward Markus Puhvel, who also fouled out, had 13 points but scored only five in the second half.

“They taught us a few things about how the game is meant to be played,” Hilliard said. “That’s a very fundamentally sound team.”

Toss out the performance of Harvard’s Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, who scored a game-high 20 points on nine-of-15 shooting, and those were the sounds of silence.

The Saracens (8-3) trailed, 36-27, at halftime and never trimmed the Bishop O’Dowd lead to less than 10 until there were 6 minutes 6 seconds to play.

Harvard’s best shot at clawing its way back into the game came with 3:51 left when Miller made a free throw and Harvard rebounded his miss on the second attempt. Puhvel misfired from three-point range, however, and Bishop O’Dowd’s Steve Benasso converted inside and made two free throws on the Dragons’ next possession for a 59-47 lead with three minutes to play.

Senior forward Damon Covington ruined Harvard inside, scoring 17 points despite sitting out most of the fourth quarter. Point guard Zuri Williams, who along with teammates Covington and Kareem Jackson was selected to the all-tournament team, added 15 points for Bishop O’Dowd (9-2).

Uwaezuoke and Miller made the all-tournament team for Harvard. Other than Uwaezuoke and Puhvel, no other Harvard player scored more than five points.

In another game:

Granada Hills 98, Chatsworth 54--After two consecutive poor performances, Granada Hills (12-2) got well in a hurry, making 12 three-point baskets in the third-place game.

Gene Barshtak scored a team-high 18 points and Jerry Allen added 15 for Granada Hills.