LONG BEACH, Ca. – The second Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic followed pretty much the same script as did the first version of the event:
And as the case in 2014, that meant that the Chino Hills High squad was posing on the floor after the final game with pictures being snapped in the aftermath of its championship effort.
And it was the same fellow pulling each and everyone same figurative string on the court that he did a year ago.
And six-foot-five senior Lonzo Ball used his team’s three games to offer the usual abundance of evidence that he is without peer as a player in Southern California and well beyond, no doubt.
It was also an opportunity for the Huskies to give a lot of credence to those who believe they could end the 2015-16 season as an Open Division champion, both on the Southern Section and state levels.
In Sunday semifinal and championship wins against Chatsworth Sierra Canyon and Long Beach Poly, respectively, Lonzo Ball averaged 17.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 11.5 assists and 5.5 steals.
A year ago the Huskies collected wins over L.A. Cathedral, Compton and Pasadena Maranatha.
Ball and siblings LiAngelo (a junior) and LaMelo (a freshman who just turned 14 years old on Aug. 22) combined for 112 of their team’s points in the 79-76 semifinal and 85-55 championship victories.
The decisions over Redondo (90-75 in a first-round game on Saturday evening) and Poly came without an excess of fuss’ or muss’ but that wasn’t the case in the semifinal against Sierra Canyon.
The Huskies built a nine-point advantage late in the first half but the Trailblazers – with at least four major college prospects on their roster in senior Devearl Ramsey and juniors Ira Lee, Cody Riley and Remy Martin – got to within a deuce at intermission.
And, with Martin (who finished with 23 points) seemingly getting anywhere he wanted on the dribble and Lee (18 points and 12 rebounds) cramming dunks and yanking down misses, the Trailblazers seemingly had the Huskies out of sorts while pulling in front by 13 points with a bit more than six minutes remaining.
“Seemingly . . .”
That wasn’t to be the case, though.
His consecutive 3s, followed by a spectacular scoring drive (he scored 16 of his team’s first 17 second-half points), yanked the momentum onto the Huskies’ side of the ledger.
With Sierra Canyon in front by six points, he fed his brothers for 3s (first LaMelo, and then after Lonzo’s steal, LiAngelo) to tie the score at 74 with 1:48 to go.
After the Trailblazers went back in front via a Lee bucket 34 seconds later Lonzo dropped in a 10-footer to tie the score again.
Riley seemingly had an angle from the left side of the lane but couldn’t muscle the ball over Lonzo with the rebound going Chino Hills’ way.
A holding foul by Ramsey meant that Chino Hills had to inbound with 15 seconds to go (Sierra Canyon hadn’t hit the 10-personal foul threshold for free throws).
With everyone in the building – including, no doubt, the Trailblazers, penetrated on the dribble with about six seconds to go but deposited the ball ever-so-on-target into LiAngelo’s hands from the deep left wing and he drained a 3.
The clock expired but Sierra Canyon had been awarded a timeout after the 3 and was given two seconds to go for its inbounds pass.
But the Trailblazers couldn’t get a potentially tying shot off and Chino Hills moved into the championship game some four hours later.
My 12-player “all-Massey Memorial” selections:
Most Outstanding Player: Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills)
All-Massey Team: LiAngelo Ball (6-5/Chino Hills/Junior); Ira Lee (6-8/Sierra Canyon/Junior); Charles O’Bannon (6-5/L.V. Bishop Gorman/Junior); Ethan Thompson (6-4/Torrance Bishop Montgomery/Junior); Zafir Williams (6-5/L.B. Poly/Junior).
Honorable Mention: Morgan Means (6-3/Redondo Union/Senior); Ike Anigbogu (6-9/Corona Centennial/Senior); Remy Martin (6-0/Sierra Canyon/Junior); Jordan Schakel (6-6/Bishop Montgomery/Junior); Eli Scott (6-4/Chino Hills/Junior); Spencer Freedman (6-0/Mater Dei/Sophomore).
Sunday scores: (consolation semifinals) Bishop Montgomery 65, Redondo 61 (OT); Corona Centennial 57, Mater Dei 56 (championship semifinals) Chino Hills 79, Sierra Canyon 76; Long Beach Poly 67, Bishop Gorman 61; (7th) Mater Dei 59, Redondo 52; (5th) Bishop Montgomery 80, Centennial 70; (3rd) Bishop Gorman 65, Sierra Canyon 62; (championship) Chino Hills 85, L.B. Poly 55.
Get your tongue out of Spencer Freedman’s Daddy’s ass. That boy has no business on your all star list. Stop the bullshit, Burlison. You know better.