BOYS' BASKETBALL: WIN LIFTS H.-W. INTO TIE FOR FIRST.

Byline: SEAN CEGLINSKY Special to the Daily News

Jabari Trotter was relatively quiet during the first half of Monday night's game against Crespi of Encino.

But the second half was an entirely different story, as the Harvard-Westlake of Studio City senior scored 12 of his 17 points after the break in a 63-59 Mission League victory that moved the host Wolverines (17-5, 8-2) into a first-place tie with the Celts (13-10, 8-2).

``This was a must-win for us, so I was going to do whatever I had to help get the job done,'' Trotter said.

With four games left in the regular season, the Wolverines, ranked No. 3 by the Daily News, are a game ahead of third-place Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (16-7, 7-3), which lost 69-67 to Verbum Dei of Los Angeles (9-13, 6-4) on Monday.

``We control our own destiny now,'' Trotter said. ``We like the position we're in.''

Harvard-Westlake opened up a 46-37 lead with 6:46 remaining after Erik Swoope made two free throws.

Crespi was resilient and battled back behind 3-pointers by Gibran Kahn, Toby Spino, Matt Gray and Jerramy King to pull to within 56-51 with 1:12 left.

Ultimately the Celts came up short, due in large part to a 4-of-18 effort from the free-throw line.

``That's it, right there, poor shooting from the line,'' Crespi coach Russell White said. ``What more can you say?''

Crespi played without 6-foot-7 junior Joseph Fauria, who is likely out for the season with a chipped bone in his left ankle.

Harvard-Westlake took advantage.

The Celts had no answer for Swoope, a freshman who scored eight first- half points, including a short jumper just before the first-half buzzer sounded to tie the score 23-23.

The Wolverines fed off the momentum in the second half and used a 10-2 run to take a 40-32 lead with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter.

Each time the Celts attempted a rally in the fourth quarter, Trotter answered. He had seven points in the final eight minutes.

Foul trouble plagued the Wolverines' Renaldo Woolridge for the majority of the game. The junior did, however, manage to make an impact down the stretch and finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Gray scored 13 points, King had 11, Kahn and Spino added nine each and Blake Stanton contributed eight points before fouling out with 2:01 remaining in the fouth quarter.

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