In its opening game of the Maxpreps Holiday Classic late on Friday night, the varsity boys’ basketball team couldn’t keep up with highly-ranked Galena (11-1 overall, from Reno, NV), as the Wolverines dropped a 71-57 matchup to Nevada’s 7th best team according to Maxpreps.

Wolfgang Novogratz ’16 continued his momentum from a first-team all tournament performance at University’s Jim Nakabara Classic in early December, as he led the team with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, five assists, four rebounds, and three steals on the night. Novogratz has shot at least 50% from the field in all five of his games, and scored in double-digit figures in all of them. Alex Copeland ’15 contributed with 16 points of his own, as his record-setting streak of seven straight games with more than 20 points came to an end, and Ali Iken ’17 was close behind with 11 points. It was a rough night shooting the ball for much of the team, as the Wolverines combined to go 2-for-17 from three point range.

Defensively, Noah Gains ’15 led the way with 10 rebounds, while also adding 7 points on 3-for-6 shooting. Also notable was the season debut of Carter Begel ’17, who was limited to 10 minutes of time but contributed with two points and two assists.

The Wolverines (6-3 overall, 0-0 in Mission League) are now 0-1 in pool play, needing to win out to remain in title contention for the Gatorade Division of the tournament. The team’s next game, against a fellow CIF-SS team in Palm Desert (5-5 overall, 0-1 in Desert Valley League), will be available for the whole nation to watch for free via the “High School Cube” company. For those using computers, the link to the game is at:

http://www.highschoolcube.com/event/harvard-westlake-vs-palm-desert-maxpreps-holiday-c-425191

and for those on phones, the "High School Cube" application is available both on iTunes and in the Google Play store. The game will start at 1:30 P.M. today, at Rancho Mirage High School in Palm Springs. General information about the tournament, including schedules, division breakdowns, and game locations, can be seen at: 

http://www.desertheatholidayclassic.com