LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – There’s a large quantity of Southern California-based seniors still looking for a college landing spot this fall.
And few of those are having the kind of final high school season performance that Denzel Hines is turning in for Ontario’s Colony High Titans.
The 6-foot-7 Hines (pictured), who will lead his teammates into their CIF Southern Section Division I playoff game at Damien Friday night at 7 o’clock, scored 43 points in the Titans’ 77-55 first-round win over visiting Los Altos Wednesday night.
And it was anything but a “volume shooting effort” that produced those points.
Hines was 16 of 21 from the field – including six of 10 from behind the arc – and five of six on free throws to go with his 12 rebounds.
He’s been on a tear the past month or so, averaging 33.7 points per game over the past six games – a performance that includes another 40-banger (vs. Claremont).
Look for him to get a lot of “looks” from a lot of different college coaching staffs this spring as the April NCAA signing period approaches.
The Titans (22-7) will take on a Spartans’ team (26-4) that has improved considerably since starting the season with just one player – 6-4 junior Xavier Clinton – who played significant minutes last season for a team that won the State Division I title.
There is just one senior – 6-5 Elijah Brown – in Coach Mike LeDuc’s starting lineup that includes Clinton, two sophomores (6-11 Nate Garcia and 5-11 Lucas Arrieta) and a freshman (6-5 Eli Garner).
Garcia has been the lynchpin in the Spartans’ improvement and success, averaging 22 points and 15 rebounds per game as, breaking the program’s single-game scoring (with 48 points vs. Chino Hills) and rebounding (23, twice) records.
He scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the team’s 69-57 win over visiting St. Anthony Wednesday night.
“He presents a lot of problems,” Colony High Coach Jerry DeFabiis of Garcia.
DeFabiis is more than just slightly familiar with LeDuc, the Damien program and its campus:
He’s a Damien graduate (Class of 1988) who played under LeDuc for two years before LeDuc moved to Glendora High in 1986. LeDuc returned to Damien in 2015.
DeFabiis has also been a site manager for the Classic at Damien since its inception in 2016 while also bringing his Colony teams to the event.
PLAYOFF NOTES:
*The Colony-Damien game is just one of six Friday-night CIF SS clashes matching teams that participated in the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien, joining Oak Park at Etiwanda and Roosevelt at Heritage Christian (each D-1); Pacifica Christian at Dana Hills (2A); Paraclete at Bonita (3A) and St. Bernard at Harvard-Westlake (Open).
*The D-1 second-round, Crean Lutheran at Mater Dei tilt is a rematch: The teams met at the State Preview on Jan. 21, with the Monarchs breaking things open in the second half and cruising, 88-65.
The two-best freshmen in Orange County, Kaiden Bailey of Crean Lutheran and Brannon Martinsen of Mater Dei, scored 28 and 31 points, respectively, in that game.
*Joining St. Bernard and Harvard-Westlake in Open pool play games Friday night are Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Bishop Montgomery; Sierra Canyon at two-time defending Open champion Centennial; and St. John Bosco at West Ranch.
*And top seed Narbonne, led by Marcus Adams Jr., begins L.A. City Open play at home Friday night against Westchester.
Unlike the Southern Section, the L.A. City’s eight Open teams are playing in a bracket format, with the semifinals set for Pasadena City College on Feb. 18 and the title game, at the same location, a week later.
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