Second-half run sparks Chino Hills to 35-0 finish

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SACRAMENTO – The Chino Hills High basketball team found itself down by 10 points six minutes into the game and trailing at intermission – by two points – for only the second time in 35 games this season Saturday night in the Sleep Train Arena.

I write that for those who might have forgotten those things after watching the final 16 minutes turn into the same kind of fast-paced, high-flying and – oh-so-often – breath-taking style play that the Huskies established as uniquely their own this season.

It turned a tight contest into a 70-50 rout of a resolute and well-prepared Concord De La Salle team in the California Interscholastic Open Division championship game.

Perhaps fittingly, the on-court ring-leader of the Huskies, McDonald’s All-American and (so far) unanimous National Player of the Year, Lonzo Ball, scored his final three buckets on wicked dunks via passes from Onyeka Okongwu and then siblings LaMelo and LiAngelo.

That 35-0 record and first-ever state title will inevitably be adorned with unanimous declaration as “mythical” national champion since there are no true, “national high school championship tournament”, per se.

The Huskies’ championship runs in “national-in-scope” December tournaments in Ft. Myers, FL (City of Palms) and in Rancho Mirage, CA (MaxPreps Holiday Classic), in tandem with their stunning playoff dominance of the best competition California could throw their way, locks them in at No. 1 in the U.S. of A.

The Spartans (31-3 in their first season under Coach A.J. Kuhle, a 2000 graduate of De La Salle) came out with, schematically, the ideal approach to negate a lot of the Huskies’ strengths and exploit some perceived weaknesses.

They spread their half-court offense wide and ran it with crisp passing, sharp cutting, solid decision making (often abandoning “good attempts” for “better shots” two or three passes later) and exceptional jump shooting accuracy while going deep into the shot clock against the trapping – and some would suggest, gambling – half-court defense of Chino Hills.

Guard Jordan Ratinho scored 10 of the 19 points that helped put his team up, 19-10, via two deep 3s and a couple of layups.

And, as the Huskies scrambled to stay in front of the jump shooters, 235-pound junior Emeka Udenyi (nine points in the first half that ended with De La Salle up, 30-28) took passes inside the lane and muscled his way for layups, often into the chest of 6-9 freshman Okongwu.

But the first three minutes of the third quarter saw a 15-2 Chino Hills run.

It went thusly: A left-handed layup by Lonzo; a deep 3 by Melo after a pass from Lonzo; a layup and free throw by Okongwu by way of a Lonzo pass; a 3 by Gelo following a Lonzo pass; a steal and jam by Lonzo; and another bucket by Lonzo with Gelo providing the assist.

Chino Hills 43, De La Salle 32 – timeout Kuhle.

The Spartans got to within nine (at 43-34) following a Ratinho layup but got no closer.

Almost stoic, post each of the 34 victories, Lonzo – if something short of gregarious – was in his low-key celebratory mode after a pretty much status-quo (15 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and six steals) “Lonzo performance”.

“Well, I’m always pretty even-keeled,” he said, smiling, “but, yeah, this is the tops for me.”

It took a while for some to catch on but the Chino Hills team was always about more than just “the Ball Brothers”, even with as impressive as Lonzo, 6-5 junior Gelo (18 points Saturday) and 5-10, 14-year-old Melo (14 points and one dazzling set-up pass for a Elizjah Scott bang with five minutes to go) were Saturday and throughout the season.

Scott had 16 points and eight rebounds while Okongwu – with “upside” that stretches from Sacramento to Chino Hills – had seven points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots (five of those in the second half).

So, don’t assume the “slippage” next season, without Lonzo, is going to be outlandish for this program.

“Zo got on the guys at halftime, especially “O” (Okongwu) because he wasn’t playing with the focus that he’s had lately,” said Chino Hills Coach Steve Baik.

The message was obviously taken to heart, as Okongwu’s defensive presence was every bit as important to the second-half dominance as was Lonzo’s overall play.