Boys’ basketball: Harvard-Westlake takes care of business

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Calabasas put up a good fight during Friday’s Southern Section Division III-A playoff game. But good wasn’t quite good enough against Harvard-Westlake, which kept things close for much of the first half before ultimately putting the host Coyotes away after intermission en route to an 86-66 second round victory.

USC-bound Evan Smith scored seven early points as Calabasas opened up a surprising 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Wolverines, however, responded. And Austin Kelly was largely repsonsible for the comeback. The sharp-shooting guard scored 17 points in the first half to give Harvard-Westlake a 37-31 lead at hafltime.

Damiene Cain took over from there. The Wolverines’ big man scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half. Not surprisingly Harvard-Westlake extended its lead from six points to 14 by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. The Coyotes never found an answer for Kelly either. He finished with a game-high 29 points.

-- Sean Ceglinsky