CHATSWORTH — People were asking Chatsworth boys basketball coach Sam Harris if he was ready to play Westchester again before Thursday night’s second-round game in the CIF State Regional playoffs had even started.
The Chancellors lost by 10 points to Westchester last week in their first City Section championship game since 2021. Thursday night they beat Francis Parker 80-59 to set up a highly-anticipated rematch with the Comets.
“That (loss) was tough,” Harris said. “It’s hard because everybody is into the matchup, but for me, it was just how we lost and how we played. We just didn’t play the right way and that was on me, so I want another shot at it.”
Second-seeded Westchester beat Chatsworth’s West Valley League rival, Cleveland 71-63 on Thursday night. The Comets will be home against against the Chancellors in the CIF Southern California Regional semifinal Saturday at 7 p.m.
“Ever since we found out we can go to state, that was my motivation,” said Chatsworth’s Alijah Arenas, who scored 36 points Thursday. “This is just another stepping stone to get to my goal. I’m really trying to work hard to achieve that.”
@haleymsawyer USC commit Alijah Arenas is signing autographs after Chatsworth’s 80-59 win over Francis Parker in the CIF State Regional Division II playoffs. #highschoolbasketball #basketball #sportsreporter #sports #reporter #journalism #usc #chatsworth
Chatsworth opened the second half on a 9-0 scoring run and dialed up the urgency on defense. The Chancellors leveraged their size advantage in an aggressive zone coverage that frustrated the Lancers.
They held four-star combo guard Tavid Johnson to six points.
“We talked to them at halftime and just made minor adjustments,” Harris said. “Moving into spots just a little bit quicker and contesting more shots. Nothing major but a lot of minor things that helped us out a lot.”
Francis Parker kept the game close early despite being the undersized team. The Lancers chose their shots wisely and attacked from beyond the arc to tie the game at 34-all with 1:12 left in the second quarter.
Chatsworth big Taj Unuakhalu subbed into the game with a minute remaining and made a layup at the buzzer to give the Chancellors the lead going into halftime.
Unuakhalu scored eight points in the game and V’Elijah Miller added 11 points.
The Lancers played well as a team, finding each other in transition to unfurl scoring plays. Most times, though, they had to settle for a perimeter shot and ultimately hit nine 3-pointers in the first half.
“They were confident in what they did,” Arenas said. “They knew coming into the game that this is what they’ve got and they were a good shooting team. We knew that from the film but we didn’t get it from the start.”
Arenas was responsible for most of Chatsworth’s offense in the first half. The USC commit and McDonald’s All-American scored 17 points in the half. He started the second quarter on a strong note when he threw down a breakaway dunk.
Unuakhalu, a 6-foot-8 dual-sport athlete who also plays volleyball, got necessary offensive rebounds to keep the Chancellors’ outside-in approach flowing.
“This is really only his second year playing basketball,” Harris said. “A lot of people look at him and see certain things, but if you would have saw him when he first came to right now, his growth is tremendous. He’s still learning and he’s learning on the fly.”
Unuakhalu and the rest of the Chancellors will need to be at their best to put together a full four quarters in Saturday’s rematch against Westchester.
“I hope they’re as excited as I am to get some revenge,” Harris said.
Other regional scores Thursday:
Division I: Sierra Canyon 78, Santa Barbara 45
Division II: Westchester 71, Cleveland 63
Division III: Mira Mesa 65, Birmingham 56
Division IV: Granada Hills Charter 55, Fairfax 44
Division IV: Sun Valley Poly 75, Bernstein 51
Division IV: Grant 66, Garden Grove Pacifica 46