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SACRAMENTO — Harvard-Westlake senior Brady Dunlap vividly remembers when he started dreaming of playing for a high school basketball state championship.
“I’ve wanted to play in a state championship since I was in kindergarten,” said Dunlap, the son of a college basketball coach. “I remember when I as a kid going to watch my dad’s teams in the NCAA Tournament and even going to high school state championships when I was in North Carolina. Just having the opportunity is a dream come true.”
That dream will come to fruition when the Harvard-Westlake boys basketball team plays in the CIF State Open Division final against St. Joseph of Santa Maria (28-6) at the Golden 1 Center Saturday at 8 p.m.
“We’ve been playing in big games all year. I think we’re ready for the moment,” Dunlap said.
The Wolverines (32-2) earned their spot in every sense of the word by beating top-seeded Corona Centennial 80-61 on its home floor Tuesday night.
“That was the epitome of Harvard-Westlake basketball,” Dunlap said. “We’ve been training for eight months, a lot of long practices, conditioning and work in the weight room. It all came together that night.”
The win accomplished something no other team in Southern California achieved this season: a win over every team that was in the CIF Southern Section Open Division field. The Wolverines have wins over St. Bernard, West Ranch, Notre Dame (twice), Sierra Canyon, St. John Bosco, Bishop Montgomery and Centennial.
“I told the team before the game (against Centennial), ‘This is just like a test, we’ve studied for this moment, and now we just have to go perform’,” senior Jacob Huggins said.
Huggins has been priming for a CIF State title run, too. But the dream came a little later than Dunlap’s did.
“It’s been a dream since I started at Harvard-Westlake,” he said.
Dunlap and Huggins making their dreams come true is one thing, but gifting coach David Rebibo an Open Division state title is another motivator for the two leaders.
“Being able to accomplish this for him is one of the driving forces for me and our entire team,” Dunlap said. “One of our dreams isn’t for us to get the trophy, but to see him lift it up, too. He deserves it.”
The two seniors, of course, have plenty of help. The team also has standout juniors Trent Perry and Robert Hinton, along with promising sophomore Nik Khamenia.
Huggins hopes to leave them something on his way out of the proverbial door of his high school career.
“It’s a great opportunity to leave a lasting legacy at Harvard-Westlake, one the younger guys can be proud to carry forward,” Huggins said.
Harvard-Westlake’s program is 3-1 all-time in CIF State title games, winning in 1996 and 1997 with Jason and Jarron Collins, and the last one coming in 2016 under Rebibo in Division IV when Cassius Stanley was a freshman.
