Harvard-Westlake Falls to Marshall Plan

The Harvard-Westlake High boys’ basketball team, one of the biggest surprises in the region, ran into a wall Saturday--a wall that had already claimed two other top-10 area teams this week.

Pasadena Marshall, winner of seven in a row, took control from the opening tip-off and didn’t stop until it had pinned the Wolverines with a 71-59 loss in the quarterfinals of the La Salle tournament.

The Eagles (9-3), who defeated No. 8 Burroughs on Monday and No. 10 La Canada on Tuesday in the Bell-Jeff/La Canada/St. Francis tournament, were never threatened by No. 4 Harvard-Westlake.

Using a 3-2 zone and a box-and-one defense, Marshall took Harvard-Westlake out of its game with pressure inside and out.

The Wolverines (10-2), whose only previous loss was to highly regarded Long Branch (N.J.) in the Las Vegas tournament, committed 24 turnovers and shot 34% from the field, looking every bit the team it is was supposed to be with only one returning starter.

Harvard-Westlake players often threw errant passes instead of shooting, resulting in a rash of turnovers. When the Wolverines did get a shot off, it was routinely an airball or rejected by forward Miles Alexander, who finished with seven blocks.

“We didn’t play well because we didn’t finish the shots we had,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Greg Hilliard said. “We became reluctant to shoot because [the shots] wouldn’t go down.”

The Wolverines, who trailed by as many 16 in the second quarter, attempted three-point shots to get back in the game, but made only four of 25.

“[Three-point shooting is] what we’ve been living and dying with all season and we died with it today,” Hilliard said.

Harvard-Westlake used a 13-0 run to pull to within 34-29 at halftime.

But the start of the second half was strikingly similar to the start of the first: Harvard-Westlake made only three of its first 12 shots and turned the ball over seven times in the third quarter, allowing Marshall to surge farther ahead, 51-36.

Senior guard Victor Munoz made seven of 17 shots and finished with 18 points for the Wolverines. After scoring 10 points in the first half, sophomore center Alex Holmes did not make a field goal in the second half and finished with 12.

Sophomore Russell Lakey, who was the focus of Marshall’s box-and-one defense, scored 10.

Brandon Marshall and Brian Holifield led four Eagles in double figures with 16 points each.

In other tournament games:

Montclair Prep 67, Reseda 41--Jed Hall scored 20 points and Jules Thompson had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Mounties (9-3), who built a 33-15 halftime lead and coasted into the semifinals.

Kevin Bentley added eight points and 17 rebounds for Montclair Prep.

Notre Dame 60, La Salle 48--Joe Donnelly had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Knights (7-3), who built a 10-point halftime lead and played the host Lancers even the rest of the way in a quarterfinal game.

Chris Williams had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Notre Dame.

Montebello 81, Village Christian 63--Paul Tait had 27 points, but the Crusaders (3-5) fell in a consolation game.