Harvard-Westlake basketball surges past La Mirada to win spot in Open final

STUDIO CITY — After a shoe malfunction, Harvard-Westlake’s Joe Sterling switched his sneakers at halftime and proceeded to dominate the third quarter along with Amir Jones. The Wolverines turned a two-point halftime deficit against visiting La Mirada into a 13-point lead.

Those eight minutes changed the momentum for good, as Harvard-Westlake finished with a 71-57 victory over La Mirada in the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals on Tuesday.

Harvard-Westlake, which won the Open Division title in 2024, will play in the championship game Saturday. It will take on Sierra Canyon at the Toyota Arena in Ontario at 6 p.m.

Sierra Canyon defeated Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 70-46, in the other semifinal Tuesday night.

Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo talks about playing for the Open Division title after pulling away in the second half to beat La Mirada, 71-57 pic.twitter.com/0PpBft4kww

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) February 25, 2026

Sterling, a University of Texas commit, scored 10 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter. Jones, a Georgia Tech commit, nailed two clutch 3-pointers during a quarter where the Wolverines outscored the Matadores 22-7. They limited the Matadores to just two field goals during the period.

Jones finished the game with 16 points.

La Mirada coach Randy Oronoz said his team didn’t meet the moment in a close game.

“Third quarters have been good for us all year. I was surprised, to be honest,” Oronoz said. “They hit two 3s to start the quarter and we didn’t defend very well. We started playing hero basketball and that’s why we only had seven points.

“The ball didn’t move well, and against a team like that you can’t take quarters off. This is the Open Division, you have to play four quarters to win games like this.”

Who knows if it was the sneakers, but clearly Sterling came out ready to make a statement in the second half.

“The bottom of my shoe, the sole, fully came off. It was in two pieces, I couldn’t wear them,” said Sterling, who missed the final minute of the second quarter with his shoe problem. “I changed it at halftime and then we came out hot in the second half.”

Sterling didn’t like how Harvard-Westlake played during the first 16 minutes of the game.

“We just wanted to come out strong in the second half and blow the game open,” Sterling said. “We knew it was too close in the first half and we could have played better. So, we wanted to come out with some energy and we got a big lead.”

Harvard-Westlake’s Joe Sterling finished with 25 points in their 71-57 victory over La Mirada. He changed his shoes at half and came out on fire in the third. pic.twitter.com/0Zm9LGfV2B

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) February 25, 2026

The Matadores opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to pull within six points, but the Wolverines countered with a 12-2 run and that was that.

Matadores junior Gene Roebuck finished with a game-high 29 points and Cisco Munoz finished with 12, but they couldn’t get a rhythm going in the second half.

Plus, the combination of Sterling and Jones, along with Cole Holden’s 14 points, were too much.

Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo thought it was simply a matter of details.

“I thought we settled in offensively and the ball started moving,” Rebibo said of his team’s play in the second half. “Defensively, we kind of settled in and made some catches difficult for their guys. It pushed them a little further out of position and made their shots a little different than they like to do and that helped us.”

The Wolverines held Roebuck to 12 points in the second half, and clearly made an effort to make him work for every shot.

“He’s a really good player, we tried to make his catches as difficult as possible,” Rebibo said. “I think we kind of wore him down a little. You’re not going to stop a guy like that, you’re trying to slow him down as much as you can.”

The Matadores (24-8) had a remarkable run in the Open Division. They were the 12th seed in the 12-team pool  and all of their Open Division games were on the road. They gave themselves a chance to reach the final before appearing to run out of gas.

La Mirada will now wait for the state playoffs to begin March 3.

“I want the guys to watch film of this game,” Oronoz said. “At times we played together and at other times we didn’t. If we’re going to have a chance in the state playoffs, we have to be better.”

For the Wolverines, it is kind of an unexpected trip to the finals. They finished fifth in the Mission League and were the No. 7 seed in the Open Division. But they have gone undefeated in the playoffs and now have a chance to win their second Open title in three years.

When they take on Sierra Canyon, it will be the first time two teams from the same league meet for the Open Division title.

Rebibo realizes they will be underdogs, but maybe the familiarity will help.

“It’s a testament to these guys, we’ve got a great group of young men who stayed the course,” Rebibo said of reaching the championship. “They handled adversity and they battled through it. We’re excited, we’re not surprised, we’re just happy for the opportunity (to play for the title).

There were seven lead changes in the first half.

The Matadores fell behind 14-9 after Holden buried a 3-pointer. But they didn’t let the Wolverines go anywhere. Roebuck got fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three shots.  That was followed by Tristan Partida’s 3-pointer to give the Matadores a 15-14 lead.

It went back-and-forth until Munoz’s lay-up tied the score 19-19 to end the quarter.

The Matadores scored the first seven points of the second quarter. Roebuck followed a driving lay-up with a 3-point play to give them a 26-19 lead. But just like the Matadores answered when they fell behind, the Wolverines did the same.

Holden scored five straight points to make it a two-point game. Even when Castro’s dunk gave the Matadores a six-point lead in the final minute, the Wolverines scored the final four points of the half to trim the Matadores’ lead to 36-34 at the break.