SoCalHoops Playoff News

CIF-SS IV-AA Preview: Harvard-Westlake HS
v. Daniel Murphy HS--(Feb. 25, 2002)

We're down to the next to the last two games in Division IV-AA before Friday night's finals.  And no, we're not jumping around in the brackets, but there are only five that will be playing the semifinals tomorrow night (I-AA, I-A, II-AA, IV-AA and V-AA), and the rest won't play until Saturday or Friday.

The finals for IV-AA (and IV-A and both of the V's) will be at LMU on Friday, but don't ask us what time, at least not yet:   According to the CIF-SS office, the times for the finals in Divisions IV and V at LMU on Friday (and the finals in Divisions I, II and III at the Pond on Saturday) have not yet been set.  The times for the finals will be announced on Wednesday, February 27, 2001.  Until then, we just won't know.

But we do know when the semifinals take place.   Here is a brief look at the semifinal game in the lower half of the bracket, Harvard-Westlake v. Daniel Murphy

No. 2 Harvard-Westlake v. Daniel Murphy
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place:  Sherman Oaks Notre Dame

The No. 2-seeded Harvard-Westlake Wolverines (24-5) will take on the unseeded Daniel Murphy (21-8)  Nobles tomorrow night at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, and this promises to be a very interesting matchup, with some of the best scoring guards in the CIF.  Murphy features Chukuma Awaji (6'-2" So. G) and Justin Turman (6'-2" Sr. G) who lead the Nobles in scoring, while Harvard-Westlake is unquestionably led in the scoring department by Bryce Taylor (6'-4" So. G), and a large collection of other ball-handlers, led by senior point guard Craig Weinstein (6'-0" Sr. G) who has largely subjugated his scoring for distributing the ball to others.

Murphy will also be at a distinct height disadvantage withg no player over 6'-3" (Kevin Freeman) whereas H-W has some decent size down low and they'll be expected to control the board with Evan Harris (6'-7" So. F), Zach Woolridge (6'-4" So. F) and Harris Chung (6'-3" Jr. F).  But height, especially in high school ball can sometimes be greatly over-valued and whoever is going to win this game will have likely be the team with the better guard play and the better perimeter shooting, at least in our humble opinion.

After blowing out first round opponent Village Christian 77-35, H-W faced two challenges and came away with two close victories, the first against Riverside Notre Dame, a 10 point win, 66-56 in which Bryce Taylor scored a career-high 37 points, and then an overtime win where H-W won the war of attrition, 66-60 over Oak Park in a foul-laden game where both sides lost a number of players to DQ during regulation.

Murphy had a fairly easy first round game against Milken, winning 81-50, and then pulled off the mild upset by beating No. 3 seed Rosamond 61-57 in the second round.  On Friday night, they won another four-point game against St. Paul, a great three point shooting team, but with not a lot of slashing and penetration offense.  The Wolverines love to penetrate, and draw the double to hit the open man on the backdoor or with two players on the blocks, and they have adept guards who will look off the defender, drawing him in only to hit the open guy for the score and in our view, this will be a craftier, cagier opponent than the Nobles have likely seen in a while. 

Both teams have played larger, deeper and well-regarded opponents, but again, we have to give the edge in terms of strength of schedule to H-W in this matchup.  The Wolverines have played (and beaten) teams like Canyon Canyon Country, which is now a darkhorse candidate in the Division I-A semifinals, Crescenta Valley, Oxnard, San Marcos, Westlake, Santa Barbara, North Hollywood, Chaminade, Loyola (they split in league) and Artesia, among others.   Murphy has also beaten North Hollywood, but their schedule has generally consisted of lower division enrollment teams or some of the second-tier City Section teams (i.e., Invitational-level)   with losses to Palisades, and Reseda, for example.  The Nobles managed wins against Cathedral, St. Genevieive, Salesian, Bell-Jeff, Don Bosco, and Hamilton, and they also beat St. Monica and several teams from outside the area, including Palmdale and Highland, but they are among Gardena Serra's victims, having lost 68-53.  Whether the past is any indication of the future is hard to say, but for what its worth, Murphy finished second in league to La Salle, and H-W finished tied for second (but lost the coin flip) and were designated the No. 3 team from the Mission League.   Again, whether this means anything is probably academic at this point....the only thing that will matter is what happens on the floor tomorrow night.

H-W is a team that has played together over summers, spring and fall, and they communicate very well on the floor, and tend to simply swarm over teams with their fairly deep bench and a seemingly endless supply of interchangeable guards who all shoot well and can handle it.   Murphy is a similar team in many ways, not as tall, probably as quick, and equally dangerous in the open court, maybe even more effective than H-W in the half-court offense.  This could be another of those "last standing" types of games, meaning the the team that fouls-out the least players and keeps its best players in the game longest is likely to survive to make it to LMU on Friday night.

The only bad part about this from our perspective is that one of these teams has to lose.....Hey, it's been a great season however it turns out.  Good luck to everyone, including the seniors who may be playing for the last time in their high school careers.

Here are the rosters for both teams (heights and weights were provided by the schools, so if they're wrong, talk to the coaches, not us):

 ©Copyright SoCalHoops 1997-2002
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com