Behind dominant two-way performances from its two senior guards, the Wolverine basketball team cruised to its second straight victory, defeating Carson (0-3 overall, 0-0 in Marine League) 73-39 in a pool play game at the Mira Costa Pacific Shores Tournament today.
Offensively, point guard Alex Copeland ’15 was successful scoring and passing, dropping 25 points and 7 assists on an 8-for-15 shooting performance, and classmate Spencer Perryman ’15 impressed again, following up his career-high scoring performance against Culver City with a career-best 12 assists and zero turnovers in today’s game. Ali Iken ’17 also improved on a previous personal best, setting his own career-high with 21 points in today’s game on 8-for-16 shooting in a mere 21 minutes of playing time.
However, despite these gaudy offensive performances, lockdown defense was arguably the most noticeable trait for the Wolverines today. Combined with Monday’s 61-31 victory over Culver City, this week has marked the first time in Harvard-Westlake’s 24-year history that the varsity boys’ basketball team has held its opponents under 40 points in two consecutive games. Copeland led the way with six steals on the night, Perryman contributed with four of his own, and center Noah Gains’ 15 also put up two steals and three blocks. Carson was in the game at the half, only down 31-25, but a dominant 25-7 third quarter by the Wolverines put the game out of reach.
The Wolverines (2-0, 0-0 in Mission League) next head into a matchup with tournament host and defending champion, Mira Costa (2-0 overall, 0-0 in Bay League). While the Wolverines had never participated in Mira Costa’s tournament before this season, the foes have played as recently as 2012-13, as Harvard-Westlake edged Mira Costa 80-77 in the El Segundo tournament title game that year.
The Wolverines will take on the Mustangs on their home floor on Dec. 4, at 7:30 P.M. The game will be a de facto tournament semifinal, as the winner will be guaranteed to have the top record in “Pool A” and subsequently advance to Saturday’s championship game against the Brentwood Eagles, who already clinched the “Pool B” title.
