STUDIO CITY — The Harvard-Westlake boys basketball team is used to adversity.
So when Campbell Hall brought the game to within six points in the second quarter in a nonleague matchup Wednesday night, the Wolverines didn’t flinch.
The defending CIF State champions withstood the run and then put together a run of their own behind three consecutive corner 3-pointers by Isaiah Carroll.
The Wolverines pushed the lead back to double digits and maintained that advantage the rest of the game, defeating the Vikings 92-66 to remain unbeaten (10-0) this season.
“Maturity is seen in moments where you make bad mistakes and you’re able to respond,” Harvard-Westlake head coach David Rebibo said. “We’re showing maturity because we know teams are going to go (on a run) and I think at times we wait to feel them out and when we get that feel, that’s when we start to become who we are.
“You expect teams to make a run and adjust and give you their best shot, but then you adjust and you got to give them your best shot. I was proud of our guys. I thought they adjusted and did a really good job of competing and guarding.”
Seniors Robert Hinton and Trent Perry ignited the offense for the Wolverines in the first quarter, scoring a combined 15 points of the team’s 27 total points in the quarter.
Campbell Hall responded in the second quarter offensively behind the trio of Aaron Powell, Isaiah Johnson and Aliaun Iscandari. All three players were able to hit tough, contested shots and made the majority of their free throws to keep the game close.
Powell, Johnson and Iscandari combined for 57 of Campbell Hall’s 66 points.
The Vikings also used their press in the second quarter to try to knock the Wolverines off balance, but Carroll was able to shut it down with his corner 3s. Carroll hit four first-half 3-pointers and finished the game with 22 points and five rebounds.
Harvard-Westlake made 14 3-pointers as a team.
“With so many talented teammates you can play team basketball, you don’t have to force things,” said Hinton, who connected on five long-range shots. “You have teammates who can hit any open shot and it makes our team elite. It’s why we have a target on our back.”
Hinton finished with a game-high 28 points, four rebounds and three assists. Perry logged a double-double with 14 points and 13 assists, adding six rebounds. He made a 3-pointer, as did Nikolas Khamenia and Niccolo Kalischer-Stork. Christian Horry hit two 3s.
The Wolverines finished with 23 assists as a group, highlighting their team chemistry. This year’s entire roster played on last year’s state championship team.
“All of us have been together for multiple years now. We’re all best friends off the court and we’re all in sync,” Hinton said. “The key is communicating. We look to each other to play our basketball. We know who we are and we know we can get through anything together.”
Harvard-Westlake continues to face noteworthy competition, with games against Rancho Christian (Saturday, Dec. 16) and Valencia (Wednesday, Dec. 20) on the docket over the next week.
Rebibo said his team is always looking to play the best teams available, like Campbell Hall and St. Pius X-St. Matthias, which Harvard-Westlake defeated 72-71 last week.
“We’re still figuring ourselves out. We’re figuring out who we are and what we need to get better at and how teams are going to play us on a night-to-night basis. Getting in the mind frame of executing at a high level, these games are vital to that,” he said.
“We were up 19 against Pius and they came back and had an opportunity to win the game, but I was proud of our character. We still defended, we still did a lot of good things, and bigger than that we’ve responded in our practices. It kind of woke us up a little bit, so I think that was great for us.”
