Hamilton Scores 30, But Pasadena Can’t Overcome 22-Point Deficit; Harvard-Westlake Defeats Bulldogs, 68-58, in CIF Division 1-A Title Game

Pasadena had won 19 consecutive basketball games heading into Friday night’s CIF-SS Division 1-A title game.

Harvard-Westlake got off early, and its lead ballooned to 22 points in the first half.

Pasadena battled back and got the lead down to 8 points in the second half, but Harvard-Westlake claimed a CIF championship, 68-58, at Azusa Pacific University.

Bryce Hamilton led all scorers with 30 points and 10 rebounds, but the Bulldogs’ star was 10 of 33 from the field.

“We came out too slow and didn’t come out with much energy,” Hamilton said. “They moved the ball real well and shot 52-percent for the whole game. I think we can make a run at state again. We’re a good team, we just had a bad day.”

Cassius Stanley and Jonathan Juzang lived up to their billing, especially in the first half.

The Wolverines (21-11) duo finished with 37 of Harvard-Westlake’s 68 points.

“I thought we made Hamilton’s touches difficult and made him work for everything,” Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said. “Getting ahead early was huge, but the way we got ahead. We did it the right way. (Our main concern was) Hamilton. We wanted to make him shoot over bodies.”

Pasadena (24-6) outscored the Wolverines 36-26 and got the lead into single digits in the fourth quarter.

But Harvard-Westlake shot 48-percent from the field, and the Bulldogs finished at 36 percent.

Darius Brown II had 13 points on 5 of 12 shooting, including two 3-buckets.

“We were giving away too many second-chance shots and we weren’t getting back on defense,” Brown said. “We did everything we weren’t supposed to do. We’re looking to finish off the rest of the season on a good note.”

Brown was referring to Pasadena’s berth in the CIF State tournament that starts on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs will find out over the weekend if they’ve earned a home game for Tuesday.

Darius Mason had 10 points on a 5-of-7 effort from the field, and the sophomore grabbed 4 rebounds.

Harvard-Westlake also had a 41-29 advantage on the boards.

The tip off was set for 9 p.m. but the game before (Burbank-Brentwood) went to overtime and had a dramatic ending, so the game started closer to 9:30, and by the time it was finished, people were still in the gym well after 11:30.

A key stat to think about was the Wolverines’ 18-6 advantage in assists.

Pasadena, though, will not make any excuses and will be back at practice today (Sunday) to prepare for Tuesday’s first round of the state tournament.

And as disappointed as every player, coach and fan left APU, nothing, including this game, can take away from a magical season that the Bulldogs earned and enjoyed.

“I thought that we didn’t come out of the gate like we had planned to and had talked about,” Pasadena coach Tony Brooks said. “I thought we didn’t execute in the first couple quarters like we normally do. Their ball movement was really good and they found the open guy every time. It’s something we corrected in the second half, but it created a hole that was insurmountable.”

Box Score:
PHS: 11-11-19-17-(58):
HW: 24-18-10-16-(68)

PHS scoring: Hamilton 30, Brown II 13, Mason 10, Watkins 3, Morris 2.

HW scoring: Juzang 21, Stanley 16, Frank 15, Iken 8, Hubbard 8, Mueller 6.

3-Point shooting: Pasadena 4 of 15; Harvard-Westlake 6 of 18.

Free Throws: Pasadena 10 of 14; Harvard-Westlake 10 of 13.

High scorers: Hamilton (PHS) 30; Juzang (HW) 21.

High rebounder: Hamilton (PHS) 10; Juzang (HW) 11.

Assists: Brown (PHS) 2; Stanley (HW) 6.