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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…
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