The Wolverines defeated the Mira Costa Mustangs 66-60 in overtime to advance to the finals of the El Segundo Winter Classic despite not having freshman phenom Cassius Stanley ’19 due to illness.

In a back-and-forth affair, the Wolverines led the Mustangs 14-10 at the end of one quarter, behind seven points from Ali Iken ’17.

During the second quarter, Harvard-Westlake could not convert on their three point attempts. The Wolverines did not score in the last 4:24 of the first half, allowing Mira Costa to take a 23-22 lead into halftime.

Despite the halftime deficit, the Wolverines came out of the locker room and ended up leading the Mustangs 35-30 at the end of three periods.

In the fourth quarter, several lead changes ensued, but Mira Costa hit two late free throws to even up the score at 50 and eventually push the game into overtime.

The overtime period was controlled by Wolfgang Novogratz ’16 who scored 13 of his 28 points in the extra session, which the Wolverines ended up winning 66-60.

Along with Novogratz’s 28, Iken added 18 points and Ray Mueller ’17 scored 9 points.

Mira Costa, which did not have school today due to two email threats this week will play Santa Monica at 4:30 on Saturday in the third place game.

Harvard-Westlake moves to 6-1 overall with the win, and will play La Salle in the championship game of the tournament at 6 p.m.