LONG BEACH – The St. John Bosco High basketball team dominated, more or less, the first three quarters of its Southern Regional Division I championship game with Chino Hills Saturday afternoon in the Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus.
But the fourth quarter, well, not so much.
Sparked by the both-ends-of-the-floor dominance of 6-foot-9 junior Onyeka Okongwu, the Chino Hills Huskies outscored the Braves over the final eight minutes 27-2 to prevail, 67-51, and earn a spot in the State championship game, against Las Lomas of Walnut Creek, next Friday night in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Arena.
Trailing 49-40 to a squad that had hit 11 3s and all but surrounded and contained Okongwu with its matchup zone, the Huskies turned things around in a hurry in what proved to be the Braves’ final quarter of a terrific season.
Senior guard Ofure Ujadughele – who spent his first two years at Millikan High, less than two miles north of the LBSU campus – started things with a layup and, after Onyeka blocked a shot and cleared the rebound, Andre Ball (PICTURED) drilled his fifth 3 of the game to get the Huskies to within four points.
Another miss was turned into a Ujadughele 3 and, after a turnover, Okongwu scored after a transition pass from a Ujadughele pass and the Huskies were up – for good, as it would turn out – at 50-49 with 4:26 to go.
But the run was far over.
Ujadughele – set up by a perfect pass from the post by Okongwu – hammered in another 3 from the left wing and the Huskies turned another Okongwu block into a couple of Ujadughele free throws and a six-point edge.
Another missed SJB Bosco jumper – the Braves missed 13 shots in a row to start the quarter – was cleared by Okongwu was cashed in by way of a Jaren Williams 3 (the only points scored other than provided by Ball, Okongwu and Ujadughele) after a Ball pass.
The lead was nine points with 2:30 to before the Braves – via a Jonathan Salazar drive finally scored and Braves’ Coach Matt Dunn called a timeout with 1:48 remaining.
But that was to be the final points for Dunn’s team (which finished 25-8 as the No. 1 seed in the regional), as the Braves were to miss 23 of 24 shots in the quarter.
“When you’re up by 10 points (actually, nine) going into the fourth quarter, you have to feel pretty good about bringing it (a win) home,” Dunn said.
“But we’re about to do it and that’s on me.”
Okongwu, despite being reasonably contained over the first three quarters, finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks (four in the fourth quarter, along with eight rebounds) and three assists.
The 6-7 Ball scored 32 points (keeping his team reasonably close with those four deep, deep 3s over three quarters) while Ujadughele had 20 points – 10 in the fourth quarter – to go with five rebounds and three assists.
“Even when I couldn’t get the ball and score (against the zone), I wanted to try to dominate the game blocking shots and rebounding,” said Okongwu, the only returning key player from the team that was 35-0 and State Open champion two years ago.
That he did.
“This team showed so much resilience (in the game),” Latimore said of his team, which will take a 25-11 record to Sacramento after winning just four of its game before the new year.
“I’m just glad I could be witness to it.”
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