Warriors win 20th game in basketball

Overall, it’s been a solid season of boys’ basketball for the Westlake Warriors and their first-year head coach Tom Donahue.

With a 20-8 record before losing to the Inglewood Sentinels of the Bay League on Tuesday night earlier this week, 84-67, Westlake had done something it hadn’t accomplished in two decades; win 20 games.

"I am proud of that fact," Donahue said. "I think we could have been better. We lost a one-pointer to Moorpark and some two-pointers. We lost four or five games by a total of eight points. I think that says a lot for us. When we’re on our game, we’re very good," he said. "We’re a very, very good basketball team."

The Warriors had won two games last week to reach the second round of the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division IIAA playoffs. One was a tightly fought home win over the Dos Pueblos Chargers of the Channel League, 55-54, earlier in the week in a wild card game.

Then at Monterey Park came a victory over the Mark Keppel Aztecs of the Almont League, 76-58, on Friday in a first-round game.

In the Dos Pueblos game, three of the starting seniors scored in double figures: guard Jonathan Wiley had 22 points, forward Rob Daniel added 15 points and guard Ryan Burke scored 13 points, including a three-pointer.

"We went up with a huge lead," Donahue said. "When I scouted them, I thought we had a little better players. (Dos Pueblos) is kind of young. However, basketball is a game of peaks and valleys, and we hit a valley and couldn’t make a shot. (But) we pulled through and we were lucky to win . . . I thought DP did a good job."

Westlake was never headed, but it came down to a single-point lead three times in the fourth quarter (50-49 at 3:55 remaining, 55-54 at 3 minutes and 55-54 at the final buzzer).

The Warriors were up by 19 points, 30-11, midway through the second quarter, then fell off in the second half. "That’s happened to us quite a bit this year, getting a big lead and letting them dwindle down."

A disappointment for Donahue against the Chargers was that P.J. Isaacson, who normally scores 19 to 20 points per game, was held to only eight. "He was off," the coach said. "He maybe was thinking a little bit too much. If you don’t shoot well, anybody can beat you."

But several Warriors did came through, Donahue said. "I thought Amir Mazarei made a big play at the end with that steal and then he passed it to Wiley who got fouled. And Wiley’s foul shooting was crucial down the stretch. So that helped quite a bit."

Before Friday night’s game vs. Mark Keppel, Westlake’s coach warned it "will be tough. They are No. 1 in their league. Every game is difficult. I’m sure they’ll be quick and play hard, so it should be a rather difficult game."

When the game was played, Rob Daniel scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds, Isaacson put 19 points in the basket—including four three-pointers—and pulled down seven rebounds and Burke added 16 points (one basket on a three-pointer).

The quarterfinals continue tomorrow night and the semifinals will be next Tuesday.