Countdown Begins for Huskies : Prep basketball: North Hollywood starts its playoff bid to reach City 3-A final with rout of Sherman Oaks CES, 81-52.

One down, two to go.

That’s the prevailing attitude among the members of the North Hollywood High boys’ basketball team after routing Sherman Oaks CES, 81-52, Wednesday night in a first-round game of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs.

The Huskies (25-1), who have advanced to the 3-A final the last two seasons, need to knock off two more opponents to get there once again.

Sherman Oaks CES did very little to stop the Huskies’ quest.

Despite North Hollywood’s poor shooting in the first half (14 of 39), the Huskies owned a 36-17 halftime lead.

“In the first half, we came out too intense--we tried too hard,” North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said. “However, our defense was great. Defense kept us in the game.”

The Huskies’ defense was indeed a game saver. North Hollywood’s swarming full-court press, which Miller never called off, forced Sherman Oaks to turn the ball over seven times before the Knights could even attempt a shot.

The Knights (13-13) committed 15 turnovers in the first half, the Huskies just five.

To make amends for their poor shooting in the first half, the Huskies nearly couldn’t miss in the third quarter.

North Hollywood buried 12 of 14 shots (86%) in the period, including eight of its first nine. Senior guard DeShawn Harvey, who finished with a game-high 26 points, scored 11 of the Huskies’ 30 points in the third quarter.

“I had to go in at halftime and get refocused,” Harvey said.

The game was all but over after three quarters, but the Knights’ Khalif Muhammad did his best to keep up the pace. Muhammad, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half.

Miller cleared the bench midway through the fourth quarter when the Huskies led by as many as 40 points.

North Hollywood, the Times’ No. 1-ranked team in the region, tried to break the game open with three-point baskets in the first half, but only four of 19 fell.