Isaiah Carroll and Nikolas Khamenia power Harvard-Westlake past Sherman Oaks Notre Dame

With the noise volume rising in a sold out Sherman Oaks Notre Dame gym as the home fans sensed a possible comeback, Isaiah Carroll took a pass from Nikolas Khamenia on the baseline and calmly made a three-pointer with 2:51 left Friday night, quieting the crowd and letting everyone know Harvard-Westlake wasn’t going to surrender its lead.

“Isaiah was huge,” Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said.

Carroll, Khamenia and Joe Sterling each finished with 18 points as the Wolverines won 73-63 to improve to 22-1 overall and 4-0 in the Mission League.

Carroll made four threes and delivered repeatedly when Notre Dame (18-4, 3-1) had to devote defensive attention to Khamenia, leaving the 6-foot-7 Carroll open.

“I have some incredible dudes around me,” Carroll said. “My job is to take advantage of the opportunities.”

Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame gets a dunk against Harvard-Westlake. He had 26 points.

(Craig Weston)

Tyran Stokes led Notre Dame with 26 points and helped lead a Knights comeback from a 23-point second-half deficit. The lead was down to nine points when Carroll made his baseline three.

Harvard-Westlake could not have played better defense in the first quarter to help open a 29-7 lead. The Wolverines challenged every shot and moved the ball around to get every player involved. Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant called two timeouts, but the momentum never changed. Hurting the Knights was another injury to Lino Mark, who scored 24 points earlier this week. He started Friday but was pulled.

“That was Harvard-Westlake basketball defending, locked in and moving the ball,” Rebibo said.

Said Carroll: “We’ve been talking about this game for a couple weeks. We were getting stops.”

Without Mark’s explosiveness and quickness, Notre Dame lacked the ability to unleash a fast break, and the Wolverines’ half-court defense was exceptional.

Harvard-Westlake is the two-time defending state champion but was supposed to face more challenges after losing several key players to graduation. Instead, backup players from last season, such as Carroll, have stepped forward.

“It’s testament to our guys,” Rebibo said. “They get better.”

The win puts Harvard-Westlake in the driver’s seat for a No. 1 seed for the Mission League tournament scheduled to begin Feb. 2. Harvard-Westlake still faces a test from an improving Sierra Canyon on Tuesday.