Harvard-Westlake's Basketball Team Is Hurting But Will Be Back Soon Enough

Harvard-Westlake may not look like the perennial powerhouse of boys' basketball -- at least for a while, that is.

A slew of injuries unseen in Greg Hilliard's 26 years as coach has left the Wolverines unusually vulnerable. Expectations are high as always at a school that has won eight Southern Section titles and two state championships during his reign, but it will be well into the new year before Hilliard sees his team's full potential.

"We'll have a better idea at that point of how good or not so good we're going to be," Hilliard said. "Right now, it's difficult to tell. There are a lot of very talented players watching our practices."

Top point guard Nicky Firestone (knee) and forward David Burton (ankle) are recovering from injuries. Promising 6-foot-7 freshman forward Derick Newton also is out until at least January, and backup forward Shawn Ma is out for the season.

Also missing is last year's star player, Erik Swoope, who won Mission League MVP honors with 21.8 points per game as a senior to earn a scholarship to Miami.

Then there's the saga of Danilo Dragovic, brother of recent UCLA player Nikola. Dragovic moved from Serbia and attended high school in Santa Barbara for two years. After transferring to Harvard-Westlake, he was denied varsity eligibility for his senior season and is in the process of appealing. Hilliard is hoping but not counting on having Dragovic back by January. If he can play, Dragovic could be a key piece as a strong outside shooter on a team that lacks in that area.

The strength of the team is its size down low, led by 6-7 senior Damiene Cain, who topped the team in rebounds last season with a 9.4 average and was third in points at 13.3. With Swoope gone, Cain takes over as the team's captain and go-to player.

"It's nice to have a very consistent, star player like Damien to fill that void," Hilliard said. "You can count on him for a double-double every game. He's more a lead-by-example guy, but he's definitely a positive influence on our younger players."

The other two bigs are 6-8 Zena Edosomwan and 6-7 Josh Hearlihy. Though both juniors averaged fewer than three points as sophomores, they showed in the season-opening victory over Lynwood that they are ready to pick up some of the scoring load. Edosomwan put up 22 points and Hearlihy added 19 in a 69-50 win on Monday. Cain didn't get his double-double with just eight points but dominated the glass with 21 rebounds.

The Wolverines have a tough schedule, including a showdown versus City power Taft on Dec. 11, and the Mission League will challenging, as always.

Hilliard is hoping to have everyone back by the second half of league play, which means opponents could first have a rare early opportunity to get the best of the defending league champions. Harvard-Westlake was undefeated in league play last season and is 27-1 in the league over the past two years. But the postseason has long been more important to Harvard-Westlake than league play. Despite a 25-6 record, the Wolverines lost in the Southern Section Div. III-A semifinals last season and then in the first round of CIF State Basketball Championships. They won the Div. III-A title in 2008-09.

"We don't care too much about league titles," Hilliard said. "Our goal is to be playing our best by the time the CIF playoffs start and go as far as we can at that point. The biggest question mark is, when the kids come back from long layoffs, how long will it take them to get back to where they were before? We hope to do good things by the end of season."

-- Matthew Kredell

HARVARD-WESTLAKE BASKETBALL

TOP PLAYERS

PF Damiene Cain Sr. 6-7 230

Also led team with 84 blocks last season

SF Josh Hearlihy Jr. 6-7 185

Filled up stat sheet with 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals in season opener

C Zena Edosomwan Jr. 6-8 230

Made 9 of 14 shots in first game as starter

TOP NEWCOMERS

SF Derick Newton Fr. 6-7 200

Will provide even more size to an already big team once he gets healthy

SG Danilo Dragovic Sr. 6-5 195

Could help stretch the floor if he gains eligibility