RANCHO MIRAGE, Ca. – It got a significantly tougher test than was presented it during its first three games of the event.
Ultimately, though, the Chino Hills High basketball team had too much transition offense, forced too many turnovers and had too many Ball Brothers for its Redondo Union counterpart to cope with – as was the case for the first 12 opponents the Huskies had knocked off prior to Wednesday night’s championship game of the Open Division in the 13th MaxPreps Holiday Classic at Rancho Mirage High.
And it was Lonzo Ball, the oldest of those siblings, who, certainly not surprisingly, was the catalyst at both ends of the floor as his team pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 96-80 victory in front of a SRO gathering.
Ball’s younger brothers (junior LiAngelo and freshman LaMelo) were a combined 3 of 23 shooting from the field yet, despite the offensive patience and excellence jump shooting from the likes of Ryse Williams, Leland Green, Cameron Williams, Leland Green and Jailen Moore, the Seahawks still trailed at intermission, 42-36.
And that was in large part because the 6-foot-5 Lonzo Ball scored 19 points – nine of those on deep, deep 3s – to go with five blocked shots, five assists, four steals and four rebounds over the first 16 minutes.
The 10-3 Seahawks – which conceivably could face the Huskies again in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs in the spring – hit 11 of 15 shots from the field in the third quarter, with 3s by Ryse Williams, Morgan Means and Elijah Nesbit.
But the Huskies still managed to pad their lead by another point (at 70-63) going into the fourth quarter because Lonzo’s brothers finally started heating up from deep, with LiAngelo and LaMelo a combined five of six behind the arc while Lonzo was assisting on seven field goals over the first three and a half minutes of the quarter.
Melo – who missed his final 12 shots of the first half – closed out a 16-point effort with seven points in the fourth quarter while LiAngelo missed all three of his shots attempts.
And Lonzo wrapped up his team’s run to 13-zip in the “15” portion of the 2015-16 season with 13 points in the quarter to finish with 35 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, seven blocked shots and seven steals and three turnovers.
The Huskies, whose next game will come against San Diego’s best team – El Cajon Foothills Christian – during the Jan. 9 Sierra Canyon Showcase in Chatsworth (CA), also got the usual impressive efforts from junior Elizjah Scott (16 points and 10 rebounds), sophomore Cameron Shelton (eight points as the team’s only sub before the final 16 seconds) and 6-9 freshman Onyeka Okongwu (three blocked shots).
The Seahawks knocked off eventual consolation champion Folsom (from Northern California) in the first round, Malik Monk-led Bentonville (AR) in the quarterfinals and Las Vegas power Bishop Gorman in the semifinals.
They got 16 points apiece from seniors Leland Green and Cameron Williams and 13 and 11, respectively, from juniors Ryse Williams and Jailen Moore.
They don’t have nearly as long to wait before their next game as does Chino Hills – they play host to Santa Margarita Saturday night at 7 o’clock during one of the eight games of the third Take Flight Challenge.
In the third-place Open Division game played Wednesday night prior to the Chino Hills-Redondo clash, Jonesboro (GA) edged Bishop Gorman, 65-64.
The Gaels seemed to have pulled out a nifty comeback victory after trailing by six to 10 points much of the away against a team led by perhaps the most impressive player in the event – other than Lonzo Ball – in 6-5 M.J. Walker, who finished with 39 points, six 3s and two blood-curdling and rim-ripping dunks.
Center Zach Collins (29 points) took a nifty post feed from junior Christian Popoola Jr. and appeared to score the game-winning layup from the left block with two-tenths of a second on the clock – but the bucket was waved off by an official who claimed Collins had lowered his shoulder and toppled a defender before scoring.
Yeah – quite the stunning ending.
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