High School

Section 7 basketball: Harvard-Westlake, St. John Bosco win openers; Day 1 top performers

Nik Khamenia, Elzie Harrington, Brandon Benjamin and Trent MacLean shined at Section 7 on Day 1

Tarek Fattal

Joe Sterling, Harvard-Westlake
Joe Sterling, Harvard-Westlake /

GLENDALE, ARIZONA — It’s wall-to-wall high school basketball. That’s the best way to describe Section 7, which boasts 12 basketball courts in State Farm Stadium, home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.

Thirty-five CIF Southern Section schools are participating in this weekend’s event, including two-time defending CIF State Open Division champion Harvard-Westlake.

Here’s a quick recap and notable highlights from Day 1, which was played in air conditioning while temperatures reached 117 degrees.

Anaheim Canyon’s Brandon Benjamin had one of the biggest games on Day 1, tallying 32 points and 10 rebounds in the team’s 84-71 win. Collin Haugh of Dana Hills had 31 points with five 3-pointers in a 59-55 loss to Chandler (Ariz.).

Thousand Oaks’ Trent MacLean is Section 7’s rebound leader after Day 1 with 18. He also added 20 points in the Lancers’ 50-49 loss to Chaparral (Ariz.).

Harvard-Westlake trailed for a majority of its first-round game against Timpview (Utah) before pulling out the 49-44 victory thanks to Nik Khamenia’s 16 points and 10 rebounds. New transfer Joe Sterling added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Chris Komin scored 27 points in St. John Bosco’s 81-70 win over Rainier Beach (Wash.). Komin was five of six from downtown, including a halftime buzzer beater from three-quarter court. Elzie Harrington had 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Sierra Canyon defeated St. Marys (Ariz.) 83-68, led by Kade Bonam’s 20 points and eight rebounds. Bryce Cofield added 17 points and eight rebounds. New transfer Chris Nwuli had eight points.

Blake Davidson had a monster double-double in Mater Dei’s 72-61 victory over The Villages (Fla.), notching 22 points and 15 rebounds.

Crespi topped Apollo 57-47. Isaiah Barnes had 14 points and Peyton White had 11 points and 10 rebounds,

Nate Garcia had 16 points and nine rebounds. Jacob Allen had 20 points in Damien’s 71-67 win.

Tae Simmons and Dillan Shaw led Heritage Christian to a first-round victory. Simmons notched 27 points and 11 rebounds while Shaw poured in 19 points in the Warriors’ win over New Mexico Volcano Vista 62-55. Heritage lost its second game of the day 49-48 to North Tampa Christian.

Gene Roebuck had 21 points and four rebounds in La Mirada’s 59-48 win over Sunnyslope (Ariz.).

St. Francis’ Mazi Mosley had 22 points and seven rebounds in a 71-59 win over Santa Ana Calvary Chapel. Kaiden Bailey had 28 points on 11 of 18 shooting.

Douglas Langford led St. Pius in its 62-54 victory over Windsor with 23 points and four rebounds.

Dallas Washington had 20 points and eight rebounds in Santa Margarita’s 67-56 loss to Woodlands Christian Academy.

For the full schedule of the event, click HERE.

For brackets and scores, click HERE (scroll to bottom of page)

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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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