PASADENA — With a three-point lead and less than 30 seconds to play, Hart needed to find its man to put the game away.
A few passes along the wing didn’t yield any openings until Tre Harrill received a chest pass, dribbled off to the right just inside the free throw line and hit nothing but net with a jumper.
Harrill, who had a team-high 17 points, helped guide Hart to a 57-52 win over Crescenta Valley on Wednesday afternoon in its Warrior Classic opener.
“I’ve been working on that shot all summer,” Harrill said. “I saw my chance to take it and I’m just happy we got the win.”
Hart was initially scheduled to play Crescenta Valley on Tuesday at Alemany to open its Warrior Classic Slate. But the Creek Fire forced the closures of Alemany and Heritage Christian, the host schools. Wednesday’s game was moved to Maranatha of Pasadena.
“It’s been pretty crazy but we just wanted to play and we’re happy we got to do that today,” said Hart coach Tom Kelly.
Hart (4-2) went into the half trailing 32-27, and trailed by as many as seven points early in the third quarter, but entered the final quarter with a two-point lead. A layup from Luca Robinson finished off a 9-3 Indians run to open the fourth quarter, which staked them to their biggest lead of the night at 53-45.
“We just settled down,” Harrill said. “That first half we were rushing. We started talking more and that settled us down a little and let us play our game.”
Crescenta Valley (1-1) found itself trailing by three points with 1:34 remaining following a 3-pointer from Arman Pezeshkian, who led the Falcons with 25 points.
With the shot clock winding down, Harrill had the ball poked behind half court on the ensuing possession but maintained composure and found Carson Weiss wide open under the basket for an easy lay-in.
“(Harrill) can get to the basket and create his own shot but he’s just as good at finding his teammates,” Kelly said. “He’s a good floor general out there.”
Cory Sveiven was second the Indians with 16 points, including three 3’s. Caleb Waldeck also hit a trio of 3-pointers and had 10 points.
