Boys’ basketball: El Camino Real trio changed program

When Evan Wardlow, Maleke Haynes and Julian Richardson arrived at Woodland Hills El Camino Real four years ago, they joined a program that had never done anything particularly impressive in high school basketball.

On Saturday, they’ll be playing in their second consecutive City Section Division I championship game after winning the City Division II title as sophomores. They have helped turn the program into the best in the West Valley League the last two seasons.

But standing in the way of trying to become the best in the City Section is 12-time champion Westchester. The game is set for 8 p.m. at L.A. Southwest College.

Wardlow, Haynes and Richardson know what it will take to topple the Comets: strong man-to-man defense, rebounding and toughness.

First-year Coach Joe Wyatt, who was an assistant to David Rebibo, has done a good job getting the Conquisadores into the championship game. Now he must figure out a game plan to deal with the Comets, who have lots of weapons, good chemistry, great coaching and lots of experience in championship games.

Regardless of what happens, the El Camino Real trio will go down in school history as trend setters for the basketball program.

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