Boys' basketball: Harvard-Westlake all alone in first place after victory against Crespi

Just when Harvard-Westlake was considered third fiddle to Crespi and Loyola in the Mission League this year, the Wolverines rose to the occasion Monday in a 56-47 victory against Crespi.

With the win, the Wolverines (14-2, 3-0) are alone in first place and looking every bit like another league championship is well within reach.

"We know what we can do," Colorado-bound forward Dameine Cain said.

Harvard-Westlake came out hot and the Celts, which were riding a 12-game winning streak, were simply cold.

Crespi had plenty of good shots in the first half against the Wolverines zone defense but couldn't knock them down.

Junior Josh Hearlihy scored 16 points to lead Harvard-Westlake, Cain and Jordan Butler each had 11 points and junior Zena Edosomwan had 10 in a balanced effort.

"Being the underdog was motivation for us," Cain said. "We really felt like we had nothing to lose. We knew we could do it."

Sheng and Butler each made a basket and 3-pointer in the first quarter and Hearlihy had two baskets as the Wolverines jumped out to a 16-7 lead that grew to 31-16 by haltime.

Justin Rubia kept Crespi in the game in the third quarter with 11 points, including eight in a row to cut an 18-point deficit to 10 with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Celts had a golden opportunity to get even closer but Christian Johnson missed a layup and Reggie Coates missed the follow-up tip-in at the third quarter buzzer.

Crespi played catch-up from there and Rubia hit two more 3-pointers to trim the deficit to five points with under a minute remaining but that was as close as the Celts would get.

"Shots didn't fall," season leading scorer Matt Mounier said. "Their length probabaly had something to do with it."

Rubia had 17 points, Coates had eight but Mounier was held to five as Crespi struggled to score all night.

Harvard-Westlake took advantage of its size advantage with Cain (6-7), Edosomwan (6'7), Hearlihy (6'7) and David Burton (6'6).

Crespi had trouble getting the ball inside and had an off night shooting from outside, despite still making seven 3-pointers.

"Their length bothered us for sure," Coates said. "We weren't ready for it. We have to get more serious in practice."

Harvard-Westlake improved to 28-9 against Crespi under current coach Greg Hilliard and won its fifth consecutive since losing in the second round of league play in 2008.

The Wolverines have a busy week ahead with games against Chaminade and Loyola but they are in first place all by themselves.