Smiley Provides the Spark for Harvard-Westlake, 66-35

Nine of the 10 faces on the floor were the same as a year ago--and so was the result.

Sparked by guard Ryan Smiley’s 14 points in the third quarter, Harvard-Westlake overcame a sluggish start and beat Tehachapi, 66-35, Thursday night in a Southern California Regional Division III semifinal game before a capacity crowd at Harvard-Westlake.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been that spark,” Smiley said. “Each game it’s somebody different.”

But the state’s top-ranked Wolverines (34-1), who will face San Diego University in the regional final Saturday at Cal State Fullerton, sure didn’t look like the fifth-ranked team in the country in the first half.

“That was probably the worst first half we’ve ever had,” Smiley said.

Tehachapi (22-4), with all of its starters back from last year, lost only three times since losing to the Wolverines, 81-42, in last year’s Southern California Regional opener.

Thursday, the Warriors came out in a spread offense and slowed Harvard-Westlake with a zone defense.

Both teams shot 50% in the first half. Harvard-Westlake, which had 11 turnovers in the first half, outrebounded the Warriors, 19-4, but had only a 28-21 lead to show for its efforts.

“They took us out of our tempo and established theirs,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Greg Hilliard said. “We haven’t played four quarters of our basketball in the last three games.”

Stanford-bound 6-foot-10 twins Jason and Jarron Collins kept the Wolverines in the game in the first half, combining for 15 points and 16 rebounds.

The rest of the Wolverines, who have won their six playoff games by an average of 34.8 points, must have gotten the inspiration they needed at the break because Harvard-Westlake ran off 22 unanswered points in the first six minutes of the third quarter.

Fourteen of those points came from Smiley, who made six of seven shots in the third quarter. He shot one for three in the first half.

“That’s the thing about our team,” Smiley said. “If we find the person who’s hot or in the groove, we go to that person all the time.”

The Wolverines took a 50-21 lead on a layup by Smiley and the game was all but over.

Tehachapi made four of nine three-point shots in the first half but cooled in the second.