Identical Finish for Duarte in Loss to Harvard, 82-56

Duarte High thought it had a Southern Section championship in sight.

But Harvard-Westlake made sure its view was obstructed in a Southern Section Division III-A boys’ semifinal rematch Friday night, played in front of a capacity crowd at Notre Dame High.

The defending champion Wolverines trounced Duarte, 82-56, to advance to next Saturday’s championship game at 9:30 a.m. at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.

Harvard, which beat Duarte by seven points in the same game at the same site last season, held a 16-15 lead after one quarter. But then it went on a rampage, outscoring the Falcons, 44-23, over the next two quarters and building a 32-point advantage with 1 minute 11 seconds remaining.

The Wolverines made 61% of their shots and, with twin towers Jason and Jarron Collins creating havoc, they outrebounded Duarte, 42-16.

Jarron Collins, a 6-foot-10 forward, had 17 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

Jason Collins, a 6-11 center, had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots.

There was no getting around the Collins brothers for Duarte (23-6), which made less than 40% of its shots. Forward Terry Battle threw a layup over the backboard in one venture into Collins country.

“When they put their hands up, they’re nine feet tall,” said Willie Brown, Duarte’s sophomore forward who had 17 points. “You have to alter your shots.”

Brown, standing 6-feet, provided some thrills with three dunks.

But Harvard (25-2), which stretched its winning streak to 17 games, was unfazed.

It was Wolverine precision over Falcon acrobatics, as Harvard’s imposing defense created scoring runs of 8-0 and 8-2 that produced a 33-25 lead at halftime.

The lead grew to 19 points as the Wolverines opened the third quarter with a 17-6 run, and they extended the lead to 22 by quarter’s end.

In the quarter, Harvard made 12 of 18 shots and held a 14-1 rebounding edge.

“At the end of the second quarter, we went to a zone defense, and we stayed with it,” Jarron Collins said. “And the third quarter was incredible.

“We were expecting a physical battle, and we came in really focused.”

Harvard did not lose focus, despite losing Leo DaCosta.

DaCosta, a 6-1 junior guard who runs the offense, left the game with an ankle injury in the first quarter. He will have it X-rayed today.

Guard Ryan Smiley added 16 points for Harvard, forward Alex Gelbard chipped in with 14 and reserve forward Rico Cabrera also had 14, all of them in the second half.

The Wolverines looked like champions. Coach Greg Hilliard said it might have been their best game this season.

“In terms of overall contribution, it was our best,” he said. “Especially after Leo got hurt.”

Said Duarte center Dion Mays, who finished with 15 points: “We couldn’t run our plays. The twins were taking up too much of the court.”