Late free throws sink Carlsbad in SoCal Regional semifinals

For some, 13 is an unfortunate quantity.

For Trent Perry, it was a superb omen Saturday night time.

The Harvard-Westlake star level guard tried 13 free throws and made all 13 — together with two of them with 3.8 seconds left within the sport on his option to a 40-point efficiency to assist lead his crew to a 73-72 victory over Carlsbad within the CIF Southern California Regional Open Division semifinals.

“I didn’t need to lose,” stated Perry, who had seven rebounds and 5 assists to associate with his 40 factors. “Not only for me, however for the opposite seniors, the juniors, everybody on the crew who works so arduous. I couldn’t allow them to down.”

With Harvard-Westlake down by eight factors at halftime, Perry kicked it into excessive gear, scoring 13 factors within the third quarter to convey the Wolverines and Lancers to a tie on the finish of the body.

Whereas Perry was elevating the offense within the third quarter, the Wolverines keyed in on protection too, holding the Lancers to 11 factors within the quarter after giving up 41 within the first half.

“Basketball is a crew sport. It wasn’t only one man, all the crew locked down on protection,” Perry stated. “The primary half was a battle, however as a crew we simply got here collectively.”

For in addition to Harvard-Westlake performed within the second half, that antithesis was true within the first two quarters.

Carlsbad got here out with the next degree of vitality and sense of urgency that Harvard-Westlake struggled to match.

Tony Duckett, Jake Corridor and Euan Davis every scored 9 factors within the first half, and large man Jael Martin had seven factors with a handful of blocks.

A 3-pointer by Duckett within the second quarter gave Carlsbad a 30-19 lead, because the Lancers’ scorching begin put them in an important place to succeed.

“I advised them within the locker room I’ve by no means been as happy with a crew as I used to be tonight. We advised them for the final couple days getting ready for this sport that if we didn’t come out right here pondering we might win, they had been going to blow us out,” Carlsbad head coach Clark Allard stated. “You possibly can inform within the first half that our guys took that to coronary heart. They battled on each possession, they rebounded, we received 50-50 balls. We didn’t come down right here simply completely satisfied for the bus trip, we got here right here to win.”

Carlsbad didn’t take its foot off the fuel pedal within the second half. The Lancers continued to play aggressively on each ends of the court docket.

The distinction was Harvard-Westlake picked up the vitality and execution on its finish, swinging the momentum in its favor as the sport progressed.

Aiding Perry within the scoring class was junior ahead Nikolas Khamenia, who completed with a loaded field rating of 15 factors, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Isaiah Carroll added seven factors off the bench, together with a 3-pointer, and Robert Hinton scored 4 factors to associate with 9 rebounds.

Duckett led Carlsbad with 23 factors and Corridor completed with 18 factors, 4 rebounds and three assists. Martin added 15 factors and 5 blocks.

Harvard-Westlake will host Roosevelt, who defeated St. Joseph 58-41 on Saturday, within the regional last Tuesday night time, with the winner incomes a visit to Sacramento to play within the state championship sport.

It will likely be rematch of the CIF Southern Part Open Division championship sport, which the Wolverines received 54-47 a little bit over every week in the past.

Lovi is a reporter with Southern California Information Group.