STUDIO CITY — With back-to-back trips to the CIF-Southern Section Open Division championship game on the line, St. John Bosco basketball coach Matt Dunn wanted his team to enjoy the moment against Harvard-Westlake.
However, the Braves (24-7, 1-2 Open Division) struggled mightily to score, being held to two points in the first quarter and nine in the first half.
Bosco trailed 29-9 at halftime and never was able to make it a game in their 64-40 loss at Harvard-Westlake in an Open Division semifinal game Friday night.
“We were never in the game,” Dunn said. “We weren’t prepared. You think you (would be), and obviously we weren’t. As a coaching staff, we didn’t do a good enough job getting our guys ready to be successful. (Harvard-Westlake) is a really good team and we weren’t even close.”
The team’s lone bright spot was sophomore guard Brandon McCoy Jr., who finished with a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
“He told me before the game he was going to try and get 20 (rebounds),” Dunn said. “He’s an incredible competitor. He played so hard the whole game.
“Honestly, I thought our effort was fine. That wasn’t an effort issue that was we just got beat. They were more physical, they were more organized and we got beat in every way possible.”
Harvard-Westlake (29-3 overall), which went 3-0 in Open Division pool play, was led by senior guard Trent Perry, a McDonald’s All-American and USC signee. He scored eight of his 14 points in the first quarter.
Junior guard Nikolas Khamenia had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Before the game, Dunn said he wanted the Braves to be themselves, which meant making the extra pass on offense, locking down on defense and consistently rebounding the ball for all four quarters.
“It’s an Open Division semifinal,” Dunn said pregame. “If you can’t play with great energy and great urgency then you probably don’t deserve to win so I fully expect our guys to be ready to go.”
Harvard-Westlake jumped out to a 9-0 lead. McCoy’s putback made it 9-2 with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Bosco, which struggled to score in the first half, trailed 15-2 in the second quarter.
Bosco junior forward Kade Bonam’s layup made it 15-4. McCoy’s jumper made it 15-6, which was the closest the Braves would get to the Wolverines in the first half.
Perry, who received his McDonald’s All-American jersey pregame, swiped the ball before a fast-break dunk, which made it 17-6. A 3-pointer by Wolverines sophomore guard Amir Jones made it 20-6. Harvard commit Robert Hinton’s breakaway dunk made it 22-7 as the Wolverines closed the first half on a 12-3 run.
Bosco trailed 29-9 at halftime. McCoy had six points and eight rebounds in the first half.
“It’s hard to score on them ever,” Dunn said. “They’re very well coached. They play their scheme very well. They have some really good individual defenders and that makes it a hard team to score against.”
A 3-pointer by Harvard-Westlake senior guard Christian Horry (UCLA commit) made it 32-9 early in the third quarter.
Bosco senior guard Jack Turner (Loyola Chicago signee) made a 3-pointer, which cut the Wolverines’ lead to 40-21 midway through the third.
McCoy’s layup made it 43-24 with 54.8 seconds left in the third. Harvard-Westlake forced a shot-clock violation on the Braves with 4.8 seconds remaining in the third. Bosco trailed 45-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Bonam’s putback made it 45-26 with 7:27 left in the game.
Horry’s third 3-pointer of the game put Harvard-Westlake up 58-30 midway through the fourth, as the Wolverines secured a 64-40 victory.
St. John Bosco will have next week off before starting the CIF State playoffs.
“We have a lot to think about… and see if we can find something that we can do successfully,” Dunn said.
St. John Bosco basketball coach Matt Dunn on his team’s 64-40 loss at Harvard-Westlake in the Open Division playoffs. pic.twitter.com/Tcw7Twv375
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) February 17, 2024
Pregame interview with St. John Bosco basketball coach Matt Dunn on @BoscoBasketball’s game at Harvard-Westlake for a spot against Roosevelt in the CIF-SS Open Division Championship game. #LongBeachVarsityReport pic.twitter.com/QYPssz3F10
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) February 17, 2024