Mission Is All Wrapped Up

On a night Jason and Jarron Collins dropped by to offer support, Harvard-Westlake High celebrated its first Mission League basketball championship in the post-twins era.

“It shows there’s going to be life after the twins,” said senior guard Russell Lakey, who scored 19 of his 24 points in the final 11 minutes to lift the Wolverines past Notre Dame, 58-43, on Friday night.

Harvard-Westlake (19-4, 10-0 in league play) took a 2 1/2-game lead over second-place Notre Dame (19-6, 8-3) with two to play.

The Wolverines won because of their pressure man-to-man defense.

Notre Dame, which never led, repeatedly threw up off-balance, forced shots, preventing a sustained rally.

Cody Pearson, averaging 24.1 points, had seven points on two-of-12 shooting.

Michael Luderer, averaging 16.3 points, scored 12 points on four-of-11 shooting.

“We were tight from beginning to end,” Coach Rob DiMuro of Notre Dame said. “We came out shooting on the first pass and they didn’t shoot until they made several passes. We never did anything to help ourselves.”

Notre Dame made one serious threat at the outset of the third quarter. The Knights trailed by 12 points at halftime, then closed to 33-30 on an 11-2 spurt that was keyed by two three-pointers from Matt Lutz.

Lakey was having a miserable game shooting to that point, making two of 12 shots and five points.

As soon as the Knights made their challenge, Lakey responded. He connected on four consecutive shots and took control of the game.

Harvard-Westlake played without guard Craig Weinstein, who was on crutches after suffering an ankle injury tripping in the bleachers before the game.

Making up for Weinstein’s absence was John Karavas. Karavas, who didn’t play last season, scored 14 points and kept the Wolverines ahead in the first half when Lakey was struggling.

Eric Geffner contributed 11 rebounds and frustrated Pearson with strong post defense.

“We decided we’d come out with the most aggressive defense we could,” Coach Greg Hilliard said. “We switched every time Luderer came off a screen and got a hand in his face.”

Hilliard deserves congratulations for a performance that has been nothing short of brilliant. He took a team without a true center and without anyone who can dunk and has guided them to an improbable 10-game winning streak.

“It’s been a lot of fun just because this particular group of guys have over-achieved,” Hilliard said. “They play together better than their separate parts. I’m real happy for the guys. There wasn’t anybody who had them at the top of the Mission League when it started.”

But there’s no longer any doubt who the league player of the year is--Lakey. Even when he’s missing shots, he finds other ways to contribute, whether it be rebounding, making steals or setting up other players with pinpoint passes.

“The summer was the first time he started showing flashes of an all-around game,” Hilliard said. “He’s built on it and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Russell Lakey.”