The Cubs played the Harvard-Westlake High School Wolverines in Studio City. They won 66-61. They are now 1-1 in the Mission League and 17-5 overall.
Pregame Notes
The Cubs (16-5 pregame) took on the Wolverines (14-4 pregame). The Cubs looked to bounce back from a 69-61 loss against the Notre Dame Knights. Harvard-Westlake has better size, with four players that are between 6’6” and 6’10”.
Starting Cubs
PG: Neil Owens (Sr., 6-1, #3)
SG: Mason Butler (Sr., 6-1, #10)
C: James Keefe (6-9, Sr., #22)
SF: CJ Jones (6-5, Sr., #13)
PF: Anthony Lucenti (Sr., 6-4, #30)
1st Quarter
The Wolverines won the opening tip, but lost the ball out of bounds. They got on the board first with a two-pointer at the 7:14 mark. Mason Butler put the Cubs on the board with a three-pointer with 7 minutes to go. The Wolverines regained the lead on a two-pointer, 4-3, with 6:40 to go. The Cubs responded with a two from Neil Owens at the 6:20 mark. The Wolverines made a three to take a 7-5 lead with 5:50 to go. Loyola responded with a game-tying two to tie the game at 7. They took the lead off of a Keefe dunk, 9-7, with 4:17 remaining. An Owens layup increased the lead to four with 4 minutes to go. Colby Brooks subbed in for Keefe with 2:58 to go in the quarter. The Wolverines made a two to cut the Cubs’ lead to two at the 2:32 mark. Butler’s two made it a 13-9 game in favor of the Cubs with 2:17 to go. Jared Cox subbed in for Jones at the 1:50 mark. The Wolverines made two free throws, but the Cubs still led 13-11 with 1:40 left. They made a game-tying two with 1:12 to go. The Cubs regained the lead off of a two-pointer to end the quarter.
Score: Loyola 15, Harvard-Westlake 13
2nd Quarter
With the game tied at 15 after a Wolverines two, Harvard-Westlake made a three to gain a 18-15 lead with 7 minutes left. Keefe’s layup cut the lead to one with 6:38 to go. Jones subbed in for Cox at the 6:26 mark. The Cubs went on a 4-0 run with a Jones three and Keefe dunk to go up 22-18 with 5:39 to go. The Wolverines responded quickly, going on a 7-0 run to eventually lead 25-22 with 4:14 to go. A James Keefe poster jam got the Cubs within one, and his free throw afterwards tied the game at 25 with four minutes to go. The Wolverines buried a three and led 28-25 with 3:35 left. A Jones steal and Keefe layup cut the lead back to one with 2:51 left. Keefe made one of two free throws to tie the game at 28 with 2:07 left in the first half. Keefe was fouled again at the 1:42 mark. He made one of two free throws to give Loyola a 29-28 lead. The Wolverines made a two and led 30-29 with 1:20 left. Keefe stole the ball with 43 seconds left, but Brooks traveled and put the ball back in the Wolverines’ hands with 25 seconds left. They missed a shot at the buzzer.
Score: Harvard-Westlake 30, Loyola 29
3rd Quarter
The Cubs caught fire from three, and led 41-35 with 3:41 to go. The Wolverines made two free throws to cut the Cubs’ lead to four. Owens made several free three throws and the Cubs led 44-37 with 3:17 left. Keefe got a block at the 2:45 mark, but Butler missed a three. The ball went out of bounds off of the Wolverines and the Cubs retained possession with 2:27 remaining. An Anthony Lucenti layup increased the lead to nine, 46-37, with 2:18 left. Harvard-Westlake called timeout soon after. Keefe got a block at the 2:13 mark, but the Wolverines returned the favor with a block on the other end at the two-minute mark. The Wolverines made one of two free throws at the 1:55 mark, but the Cubs still led 46-38. The Wolverines got a putback layup to cut the lead to six with 1:20 remaining. Keefe made two free throws to give the Cubs a 48-40 lead with 57 seconds left in the third quarter. The Wolverines responded with a layup at the 44-second mark. The Cubs turned the ball over with 30 seconds to go and fouled shortly after. After a missed shot attempt by the Wolverines, Butler missed a deep three at the buzzer.
Score: Loyola 48, Harvard-Westlake 42
4th Quarter
The Wolverines made one of two free throws at the 7:50 mark to bring the game to a five-point deficit. Brooks made a layup to give the Cubs a 50-43 lead with 7:30 to play. The Wolverines went on a brief 4-0 run to cut the Cubs’ lead down to three with 6:40 left. Owens’ two put the Cubs up five, 52-47, with 6:15 to play. The Wolverines made a layup to cut the lead back to three with 6:05 left, prompting a timeout by the Cubs. Later on, Brooks got a steal, but Butler lost the ball out of bounds at the 5:39 mark. Owens buried a three to give the Cubs a 55-49 lead with 5:07 left. They took a timeout at the 4:56 mark. After a brief scoring drought by both teams, the Wolverines made a putback layup to cut the Cubs’ lead to four, 55-51, with 3:30 left. Owens increased the lead by hitting one of two free throws at the 2:08 mark. The Wolverines called timeout with 2:02 to play, in hopes of coming back to win the game. Butler drained a three to put the Cubs up eight, 59-51, with 1:20 left. The Wolverines answered with a two with 1:12 to play. The Cubs got a steal and Keefe threw down a monster dunk as the Cubs went up 61-53 with a minute left. The Wolverines completed a three-point-play to come back within five with 47 seconds left. Another Keefe dunk put the Cubs up 63-56 with 40 seconds remaining. The Wolverines made a three to come within four with 21 seconds left. Butler was fouled with 13 seconds left, and the Cubs went into the bonus. Butler knocked down two free throws as the Cubs went up 65-59. Harvard-Westlake hit a two-pointer to cut the game to a four-point deficit. The Wolverines committed another foul, sending Owens to the line. He made one free throw to ice the game.
FINAL: Loyola 66, Harvard-Westlake 61
Postgame
James Keefe said that he was very proud about how the team played. "We really moved the ball and played well together and guys just made big shots in big moments, especially Mason." He also said the team can improve on defense and working on getting deeper into their playbook. "Because teams are really starting to scout and know our plays in the league, it's super important to have a lot of options when running plays."
On playing their biggest rivals, Keefe said, "It was an amazing environment to play in and it's definitely a game I'll never forget. Beating Harvard-Westlake is always fun, and especially doing it on the road and shutting down their crowd was special."
Cub of the Game
The Cub of the Game was James Keefe, who had 23 points, 7 rebounds, and one assist.
Stats
Aside from Keefe's 23 points, Mason Butler and Neil Owens had 16 points each. Butler had 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist. Neil Owens rounded out the top 3 Cub scorers with 16 points, 4 rebounds, and one assist. The Cubs shot 24/51 (47%) from the field, 6/18 (33%) from three, and 12/16 (75%) from free throws. They had 28 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals, and 9 turnovers
The Next Game
The Cubs will play Chaminade back in Leavey Gymnasium on January 16 at 7:00 PM.