Karl Harris leads red hot De La Salle over Brother Rice

On the heels of conquering the loaded Catholic League tournament, few teams entered the postseason as hot as De La Salle.

The Meteors kept their their fire burning Tuesday night, though Brother Rice threatened to extinguish De La Salle’s playoff run with some hot outside shooting of its own.

Karl Harris scored a game-high 26 points, Martez Cameron added 19 and De La Salle eliminated Brother Rice 65-59 in a Class 4A Young semifinal.

“Karl’s a phenomenal player,” Cameron said. “He’s a real big time player. He’s always there for me and the team in the clutch when we need him.”

Harris went 7-for-7 in the second half and scored 10 points in the final quarter. He added a step-back three off the glass for good measure, giving De La Salle a 56-53 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“We came out a litlte sluggish, but we practice so hard, we stepped it up and started playing good defense,” said Harris, who noted he didn’t call for the bank on his three.

Ray Rubio paced Brother Rice with 20 points. Quinn Niego added 12 points and Conor Finn had 11.

Rice trailed 33-30 at the break but took a 50-46 lead after three quarters thanks to four combined triples from Rubio and Finn.

“They can shoot,” Harris said. “Rubio and Niego can shoot. But we get after it on defense and fought until the end. Win and survive.”

The Meteors (14-10), the No. 7 seed in the Marist Sectional, advance to play No. 2 Whitney Young Friday at 7 p.m. for the Whitney Young Regional title.

Brother Rice concluded its season at 14-14.

“It’s a little bit the story of the season,” Brother Rice coach Rick Harrigan said. “We came up a little short, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way we fought and played. Just a couple plays away again.”

De La Salle’s Tyler Lewis added 11 points on a variety of drives to the hoop while Brandon Hutton dished five assists.