The Wolverines defeated the Crespi Celts 74-66 in the team’s second meeting this season.
In the first edition of the matchup between the Mission League rivals, the Celts bested the Wolverines in overtime on a one-handed runner by Brandon Williams ’18.
Harvard-Westlake started out the game lethargically, giving up an easy layup to Mitch Mykhaylov ’16 and a three pointer to Billy Oxley ’17. Mykhaylov missed the first game between the two teams due to an illness.
However, the Wolverines came out firing up threes and making them efficiently. Cassius Stanley ’19, Ray Mueller ’17 and Henry Vogel ’16 made three consecutive threes for Harvard-Westlake, giving them a 9-5 lead.
To respond to the Wolverines’ sudden three point shooting, De’Anthony Melton ’16 went on a 5-0 run of his own to put the Celts up 16-14. Despite Melton’s domination, the score at the end of the first quarter was tied at 19.
To begin the second quarter, Williams made two consecutive layups, but Ali Iken ’17 and Wolfgang Novogratz ’16 responded to put the Wolverines up 24-23. After a Melton layup, Stanley hit from deep three point range, but Taj Regans ’18 answered with three of his own, cutting the Wolverines lead to 29-28.
At the half, the Celts led the Wolverines 36-32. Stanley had 11 first half points and Henry Vogel ’16 had six. Melton had 11 and Regans contributed eight points.
To begin the second half, Iken made two three pointers and a midrange jumper to give the Wolverines a 42-39 lead.
With the Wolverines leading 48-44 after a Novogratz layup, Stanley went up for a wide-open monster slam, but he missed the dunk attempt, which ricocheted off of the back rim and hit the ceiling, giving Crespi the ball. Melton promptly had a dunk of his own following the Stanley miss, cutting the Wolverines advantage to 48-46.
But the dunk off was not over yet, as Stanley came down on the very next possession and made an and one dunk to put Harvard-Westlake up 51-48.
Just before the third quarter buzzer sounded, with the Wolverines leading 53-52, Stanley chased down Anthony Booker ’18 from behind, blocking his layup attempt.
Stanley led the way for the Wolverines in the fourth quarter, with 12 points and was the focal point of the offense throughout the final period. Melton attempted to give the Celts their 22nd consecutive victory, however ultimately came up short.
The Celts did not score during the final three minutes of the contest, while the Wolverines scored 14 points during that stretch. A Stanley three and layup, along with a Mueller layup foiled Crespi’s aspirations of a perfect Mission League record.
Stanley finished the game with 28 points, Iken had 15 and Novogratz chipped in with 12. For Crespi, Melton scored 28 and Regans had 12.
The Wolverines made 78% of their free throws, only missing four out of 18 attempted.
The Wolverines, who have won four league games in a row, will play at home against Notre Dame on Fri. at 7 p.m.
