Tag: Harvard-Westlake

4-star USC commit Trent Perry scores 42 in Harvard-Westlake quarterfinals win

Trent Perry, a top-tier point guard prospect committed to USC, scored 42 in Harvard-Westlake’s playoff win.

USC men’s basketball is struggling to push through a variety of injuries this season and continue winning after three straight years of NCAA tournament appearances and high expectations entering the season. Near the bottom of the Pac-12, the program’s scouting department must have been watching the Harvard-Westlake regional semifinals game on Saturday with a gleam in their eye.

Trent Perry, a four-star point guard committed to the Trojans, put up 42 points and made important free throws at the end of the game to lead the Wolverines to a 73-72 win over Carlsbad and secure an appearance in the regional finals.

According to Dan Lovi with the LA Daily News, Perry had 29 points in the second half. He also had seven rebounds and five assists in the game, according to the outlet.

Harvard-Westlake’s next game will be against Roosevelt, a team the Wolverines beat less than two weeks ago to win the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship. Their upcoming matchup will be on Tuesday: the State Open Division semifinals.

Perry, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, will look to show out once again.

This season, USC has not lived up to expectations after returning multiple starters and recruiting elite prospects Isaiah Collier and Bronny James. A large part of that is due to injuries — Collier and veterans Boogie Ellis and Joshua Morgan have missed significant time this season, throwing rotations into flux.

With Perry, ranked the No. 38 player and No. 5 point guard on the 247Sports rankings, leading a Trojans recruiting class that also includes three-star power forward Brody Kozlowski and three-star shooting guard Liam Campbell, USC will hope to finish this season by showing progress in the conference tournament, and then pick it up next year in the Big Ten with some new talent.

Robert Horry’s son Christian Horry commits to UCLA as walk-on

Harvard-Westlake guard Christian Horry, son of former Laker Robert Horry, announced he will continue playing basketball at UCLA.

A key player on one of the consistently great teams in the nation, Christian Horry of Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) has been in the eye of recruiters and analysts all season. He announced on social media platform X last week that he’s made his collegiate decision, and it’s to a region that knows his family very well.

Horry, son of former Los Angeles Lakers player Robert Horry, accepted an offer from UCLA to join the team as a walk-on, according to the Los Angeles Times. The class of 2024 shooting guard posted to X “Thank you to Coach Savino and everyone on the UCLA staff for believing in me and helping me reach my dreams.”

This season, Horry is averaging 10 points and five rebounds per game while shooting 42% from 3 for Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), according to 247Sports. The recruiting outlet wrote that Horry is a 3-and-D style player who is “a very good three-point shooter while playing tough, hard-nosed defense,” while LA Times reporter Ben Bolch wrote Horry “might be capable of making an impact given his toughness and defensive determination” as a walk-on.

Robert posted a congratulations to his son on X, saying, “One dream accomplished, many more to go:”

Horry adds to UCLA’s class of 2024, which includes four-star guard Eric Freeny. The Bruins are currently 14-11 and have won six games in a row.

The sons of Scottie Pippen and Master P took down the No. 3 team in back-to-back games

Justin Pippen, the son of Scottie, and Mercy Miller, son of Master P, lead their respective teams to wins over No. 3 Harvard-Westlake.

Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) was rolling as the best team in California. Coming off a 34-2 championship season, the Wolverines leapt to a 20-1 record and No. 3 spot in the USA TODAY Super 25 national rankings.

All it took to take them down were the sons of two well-known people, one of whom with deep basketball roots and one with music (and a touch in basketball)

Harvard-Westlake lost its second game of the season on Wednesday to Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), a close battle that ended at 59-54. Houston commit Mercy Miller, the son of rapper and producer Master P, scored a game-high 29 points — essentially half of his team’s output — to upset the juggernaut. Miller has been crushing it this year, proving his four-star rating on 247Sports with his school-record 68-point performance on Dec. 11, according to Marca.

Miller may be able to one-up his dad. Master P rose to fame in the 90s through his rapping and producing, and is the founder of the record label No Limit Records, but he also ventured into hoops and came very close to breaking into the NBA — according to Marca, he was on the preseason team of the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets.

Mercy Miller is working to accomplish what his dad couldn’t.

Harvard-Westlake couldn’t bounce back on Friday, falling to Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) and guard Justin Pippen, the youngest son of Scottie and Larsa Pippen. A three-star guard, he’s taking the mantle from Scotty Jr., the eldest son of the pair who graduated from Sierra Canyon in 2019 and is now on a non-guaranteed contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Justin led the Trailblazers over Harvard-Westlake by scoring 21 points in the second half to finish with 24 overall, helping elevate the team to a 74-68 win. He and Bryce Cofield, who had 15 points, helped the Trailblazers go on an 18-0 run in the fourth quarter to get the lead and the win.

With those victories, there’s a new question about the king of California basketball. Do Notre Dame (22-0) or Sierra Canyon (21-1) take hold of that title for the time being? Is it Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), with a record of 20-1? If we’re including prep schools, perhaps it’s Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.), whose record is 19-3.

Luckily for us, we’ll have a stronger answer next week: Notre Dame and Sierra Canyon face off on Jan. 26.

High schooler Alyssa Thompson debuts on U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team

At just 17 years old, Alyssa Thompson become the youngest player to debut with the U.S. National Women’s Soccer Team since 2016.

Still a month shy of her 18th birthday, Californian high school student Alyssa Thompson has made her U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team debut.

Thompson subbed into the friendly on Friday against England in the 83rd minute, becoming the 70th teenager to earn a cap for the team and the youngest to step on the pitch since Mallory Pugh in January 2016.

This is just the latest of Thompson’s forays into soccer at the national level. She was the second-youngest player on the U.S. U-20 World Cup team in August. Currently, she plays for both Total Futbol Academy’s U-17 team in MLS Next and Santa Clarita Blue Heat in the United Women’s Soccer League, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Thompson broke out as a sophomore at Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), where she recorded 48 goals and 14 assists over just 18 games, leading the Wolverines to an undefeated championship season. She was named Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year, just the second sophomore girls soccer player to do so.

She did not play soccer at Harvard-Westlake in the 2021-22 season.

Thompson, like her younger sister Gisele, is committed to play for Stanford at the collegiate level. The pair became the first high school students to sign a name, image and likeness deal with Nike.

She told the Daily News that she intends to play at Stanford and hopes to be on the national team in three to four years.

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Alyssa and Gisele Thompson become first to sign high school NIL deal with Nike

Alyssa and Gisele Thompson make history as Nike’s first high school NIL athletes.

Two California soccer standouts, sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, are the first high school students to sign a name, image and likeness deal with Nike.

The groundbreaking, multiyear agreement—with terms that have not yet been disclosed—was announced Tuesday, and quickly spread around social media:

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It’s Nike’s third major NIL deal, with UCLA sophomore Reilyn Turner signing this past December, followed by Stanford sophomore Rachel Heck, who was Pac-12 Golfer of the Year in 2021.

The deals signal another progression in the NIL space for both men and women athletes, perhaps more so when considering Nike’s clout in the sports world.

As for Alyssa (a junior) and Gisele (a sophomore), both will suit up for Harvard-Westlake (Los Angeles, Calif.) in 2022 and have committed to play soccer at Stanford after graduation. 

The sisters’ representation, Evan Sroka of A&V Sports, told the Los Angeles Times that they structured the deal with Nike alongside Stanford to guarantee that both would maintain NCAA eligibility.

Meanwhile, the Thompsons continue to shine. Alyssa, who started for USA’s U-20 team, and Gisele, a starter for the U-17 USA team, both earned Concacaf Championship nods in the past three months. 

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LeBron James and Drake show up to cheer Bronny in playoffs

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and his buddy Drake showed up to watch Bronny and Sierra Canyon in a big game.

LeBron James has an especially busy weekend, facing off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday before taking on the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow afternoon, but just because he’s busy doesn’t mean he’s taking it easy on Saturday night as he went to go watch his son Bronny’s Sierra Canyon squad in the playoffs with a guy who knows plenty about working on the weekend.

One of LeBron’s favorite artists and a friend of his, Drake, joined LeBron as the two showed up to see Bronny and Sierra Canyon face off against Harvard Westlake in the CIF Regionals on Saturday night. Drake, of course, is a noted Sierra Canyon fan, according to Tarek Fattal of the L.A. Daily News.

Sierra Canyon is looking to continue their run to what they hope will be their third consecutive CIF Open Division state championship. With tonight’s game being against a fellow valley-area school in Harvard-Westlake, the game should be even more intense than your typical winner-take-all playoff game.

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