Prep basketball roundup: Harvard-Westlake wins seventh straight Mission League title
The Knights had the ball down by one point with under 35 seconds left. There was a missed shot, then a traveling call. Harvard-Westlake's Joe Sterling and Nikolas Khamenia made free throws under pressure, and the Wolverines prevailed 67-64 for their seventh consecutive league title.
Notre Dame (22-6) rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit, taking a 62-60 lead on a Tyran Stokes basket with 1:35 left. Then Khamenia made a three-point shot for a 63-62 Harvard-Westlake lead. Stokes was called for an offensive foul while being guarded by Khamenia with 1:01 left, fouling out.
'Too many small mistakes down the stretch,' Khamenia said. 'I had to make that shot. I had to continue fighting. I owed that to my team.
Throughout the second half, the Knights were out-hustling Harvard-Westlake. They scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter and forced six turnovers. They almost overcame foul trouble to Stokes, who picked up his fourth foul less than two minutes into the third quarter.
'We're tough,' Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant said. 'We're resilient. We don't quit.'
Khamenia finished with 24 points and Joe Sterling had 20 for Harvard-Westlake. Zachary White scored 18 points, NaVorro Bowman had 14 points and Stokes 13.
'It's one of the best leagues around,' Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said. 'Notre Dame is arguably one of the best teams in California.'
Now Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame await Saturday's Southern Section playoff pairings to be released. The Wolverines should be the No. 1 seed for the Open Division and Notre Dame, after winning consecutive Division 1 championships, should be in the the Open Division, too, which means a third meeting is possible. Harvard-Westlake has won both.
A late-breaking discussion is whether there should be eight or 10 teams selected for the Open Division. With the Southern Section guaranteeing only eight teams for the state playoffs from that division, two teams would be eliminated with a 10-team bracket. That would create more issues. Should teams that had terrific regular seasons loose out from participating in state playoffs for having the worst records in pool playoff play? That's motivation alone to stick with an eight-team bracket.
Inglewood 98, Culver City 74: Jason Crowe Jr. finished with 45 points in the Ocean League championship game.
Anaheim Canyon 64, Cypress 56: Brandon Benjamin had 29 points to help Canyon secure an automatic playoff berth in the Division 1 bracket.
Rancho Cucamonga 62, Etiwanda 58: Aaron Glass scored 38 points to help Rancho Cucamonga win the Baseline League championship.
Damien 66, Los Osos 43: Eli Garner finished with 21 points as Damien earned an automatic playoff berth out of the Baseline League.
Palisades 64, Hamilton 49: Jack Levey had 14 points for Palisades, which plays at Westchester on Friday to determine first place in the Western League.
Westchester 75, Fairfax 67: The Comets remained unbeaten in the Western League. Tajh Ariza finished with 40 points.
King/Drew 51, Crenshaw 33: Josahn Webster had 22 points for King/Drew.
Chatsworth 64, El Camino Real 55: Alijah Arenas had 26 points for the Chancellors.
Birmingham 77, Taft 68: Mandell Anthony scored 32 points and Andre Smith 24 for the Patriots.
Hart 41, Canyon 40: The Hawks won the Foothill League championship behind Morgan Mack, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Is this the year De La Salle football ends season with another state title?
It's one thing to reach the final destination. It's quite another to finish. De La Salle-Concord senior two-way star and North Carolina commit Jaden Jefferson says it's time. 'It's my fourth year on varsity — we've been talking about it for three years — and I'm ready to do whatever I need to to carry the team to a state or national championship,' said the defending state 100-meter sprint champion and record holder at 10.01 seconds. 'I'm ready for us to be that team. I'm excited.' This year's Spartans would be the first since 2015 — a span of seven attempts — to win a state title game. De La Salle lost for the third time in that span to Mater Dei-Santa (37-15) last season and has also lost twice to St. John Bosco (2016, 2019) and once each to Lincoln-San Diego (2022) and Mission Viejo (2023). Before that, the Spartans had won seven of 10 state title games, including four straight starting in 2009. They own state records for appearances (17), wins (seven) and losses (10). Have the losses affected the program? 'It's a talking point, for sure,' said head coach Justin Alumbaugh. 'A lot of these guys were on the field last year and they still feel it. But as far as going back to 2015, most of these guys were 3 and 4 years old. We don't hold on to it. We're right where we're supposed to be.' Chronicle preseason top 25 football Rk. School W-L 2024 1. De La Salle 12-1 1 2. Riordan 7-5 7 3. Pittsburg 12-3 2 4. Serra 5-6 9 5. St. Francis 10-3 5 6. Los Gatos 10-3 6 7. McClymonds 8-5 14 8. Cardinal Newman 10-2 10 9. San Ramon Valley 11-2 3 10 Amador Valley 10-5 12 11. Clayton Valley 6-5 24 12. St. Ignatius 10-3 5 13. Wilcox 11-3 8 14. Liberty 8-4 16 15. St. Vincent 14-1 18 16. Bishop O'Dowd 10-3 15 17. California 8-3 11 18. Marin Catholic 8-3 13 19. Valley Christian 5-6 21 20. San Marin 7-4 23 21. Campolindo 7-6 NR 22. Antioch 5-6 NR 23. Moreau Catholic 11-4 20 24. Sacred Heart Cathedral 4-7 NR 25. Balboa 9-5 25 The Spartans enter 2025 once again at the top of the Chronicle's preseason rankings, joined on the list by other top programs that have dealt with state-championship losses. Third-ranked Pittsburg is 0-3 in state-title games, No. 4 Serra is 1-5 and fifth-ranked St. Francis, No. 6 Los Gatos, No. 8 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa, No. 9 San Ramon Valley-Danville, No. 11 Clayton Valley Charter-Concord and No. 19 Valley Christian are a combined 4-9 in state championship games. 'New season, new kids, new outlook,' said Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez, whose team is coming off a 28-26 Division 1-AA state title loss to Lincoln-San Diego. The Pirates lost at least five college-bound players to graduation but return a strong nucleus, including Arizona-bound wide receiver RJ Mosley, Oregon State defensive back commit Truly Bell and one of the state's top sophomores, Kenny Moore, a receiver and DB. 'We're excited to continue to focus on ourselves and develop an inexperienced and talented group,' Ramirez said. 'Even though we lost the last one, it had a positive outcome for the program and for the community. The entire city was proud of the 2024 Pirates, and there's great enthusiasm heading into 2025.' Tenth-ranked Amador Valley-Pleasanton was defeated 18-14 in the state final by Frontier-Bakersfield and lost All-Metro quarterback Tristan Ti'a to graduation — he's at Oregon State — but 10-year head coach Danny Jones said the loss was only a blip. He returns 15 starters — including college prospects Cole Goldsworthy, a defensive end-tight end headed to BYU, WR-S Nehemiah Funguala (Northern Arizona), RB-SS Ismael Duenas and TE-DE McKay Kenitzer — but finding a new quarterback is top priority. His top candidates are senior Tyson Jetter, juniors Bradley Canfield and Ethan Riley and sophomore Nicco Kovacs. 'Of course we would have loved to end on a win,' Jones said. 'But our (2026) class is really strong, we learned some things (from the loss) and frankly, our guys come in hungry.' Second-ranked Riordan was upset in the Central Coast Section Open semifinals by Los Gatos, which was beaten by St. Francis 27-7 in the CCS finals. The Lancers then dropped a tough 32-30 Northern California 2-AA title game to Grant. All three figure to rebound nicely, especially Riordan, led by fourth-year starting QB Michael Mitchell (Vanderbilt) and six other Chronicle top 50 players to watch. St. Francis lost career rushing leader Kingston Keanaaina but returns his brother Motu to pick up the slack along with a number of top prospects like two-way standout Sefanaia Alatiniluding (BYU), offensive lineman John Fifita (USC) and linebacker Chase Cahoon (Stanford). Los Gatos returns Cal Poly-bound offensive lineman Garrett Bertsch, 1,000-yard rusher Grayson Doslak and linebacker Austin Krug, who has received several Division 1 offers. Among the teams to watch coming off state titles are smaller schools such as No. 15 St. Vincent de Paul-Petaluma, with San Diego State-bound tight end Jack Ellis and 2024 North Bay Co-Player of the Year QB Gabe Casanovas (3,747 total yards, 47 TDs); No. 23 Moreau Catholic-Hayward, led by versatile Seth Evans (133 tackles), and No. 25 Balboa with last season's Sophomore of the Year, tailback Joseph Smith. As they've been for the last three decades plus, De La Salle still rules the region, but dearly wants to finish the season with a victory. 'I think we have the playmakers, the size, the physicality and the team to do it,' said third-year quarterback Brayden Knight, who saw spot duty behind starter Toa Faavate the last two seasons. 'We haven't finished just how we wanted, but now we know what it takes.'
USA Today
9 hours ago
- USA Today
Notre Dame sees two of its stars getting named to the AP Preseason All-American team
It should come as no surprise that a pair of Notre Dame football stars continue to get a ton of preseason hype. On Monday, the AP released its preseason All-American team and both Irish stars Jeremiyah Love and Leonard Moore made the list. Notre Dame was one of five teams to place two players on the list, trailing only Texas and Penn State who led the nation with three each. It's been quite the preseason for Love and Moore, as both of them have consistently made multiple All-American teams, showing that many across the country believe that they are two of the best players nationally. The pair were the only Notre Dame players listed, but there could be more when the season concludes. Don't be surprised if more than Moore and Love make other All-American lists following the conclusion of the season, as there will most likely be other Irish players that shine this fall. There could also be some freshman named to All-American lists as well. Love enters the year with tons of hype after rushing for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns, numbers which could get topped this fall. As for Moore, he dominated during his freshman year with 48 tackles and 2 interceptions. Those numbers don't tell the whole story of his excellence, as he consistently shut down the opponents top wide receiver. Hopefully this isn't the end for these two claiming awards, as Irish Nation expects big seasons from both of them. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen
New York Times
9 hours ago
- New York Times
Submit your question for Pete Sampson's Notre Dame football mailbag
With less than two weeks until the Fighting Irish kick off against Miami, Notre Dame is working to settle its final few depth chart and gameplan questions before another College Football Playoff push. What questions do you still have as Week 1 approaches? Submit them below, and Notre Dame writer Pete Sampson will answer the best ones in the next Fighting Irish mailbag.
