SACRAMENTO — With four technical fouls and five players fouling out, Friday night’s CIF Division I Championship between Chino Hills and Logan might as well have taken place in the middle of a tornado instead of at the Golden 1 Center.
Though zany sequences down the stretch will be remembered from one of the craziest state championship games in recent years, with both teams up in arms over decisions by the referees, it was the calm play of Chino Hills guard Will Pluma that helped the Huskies get out to a 41-28 halftime lead and extend that advantage to 19 points in the third before the wacky sequences in the waning minutes that led the Huskies to their third state title in four years, 69-63 over the Colts.
“I play my game and don’t care what (the opponents) are going to do,” Pluma said after scoring 18 points in the victory. “I play my role and follow the gameplan as best I can.”
Onyeka Okongwu, Chino Hills’ five-star USC commit, fouled out with 1:30 left in the third quarter, prematurely ending his high school career, which left Pluma and an unexpected supporting cast to handle the rest of the game. Nick Manor Hall fouled out with 2:49 left, leaving players like Udy Essien to score his lone basket of the night to restore a four-point lead with 42 seconds left and Pluma, appropriately, closing the game out with two free throws.
With Okongwu in the game, Chino Hills (25-10) used a 25-11 second quarter to take firm control of the game heading into the half, and just over two minutes into the third, the Huskies led 50-31 on a basket from Anthony Bell, who would finish with 12 points. Okongwu would pick up his fourth foul with 1:59 left and get called for a push-off in the lane for his fifth just 29 seconds later as Gabriel Hawkins earned the call to take the superstar out of the game.
“I was very upset with the reffing,” Chino Hills head coach Dennis Latimore said. “I felt it was ridiculous.”
From there, with the support of a sparse but loyal NorCal crowd, Logan (27-7) cut the deficit to eight on a basket by Hawkins, though Pluma would answer with his fourth and final 3-pointer of the night, a shot from the corner that bounced off the back of the rim, hung in mid-air and then fell gracefully through the hoop.
“These guys stepped up, competed and weren’t afraid,” Latimore said. “They were just clutch.”
Down 62-51, the Colts wouldn’t go away. A quick 7-0 run on a Brah’Jon Thompson three and a pair of Tim Oldham baskets cut the lead to four, and a three-point play by Hawkins with 1:29 left cut the lead to two. A Bell miss in the lane gave Logan the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, but Thompson was stopped at the other end to keep the Huskies ahead. That gave Essien the spotlight, with his putback giving Chino Hills a two-score lead. A missed Logan layup was kicked out to the perimeter for Hawkins, but he was called for one of the most hotly-contested fouls on a night full of officiating debates, getting tagged with an offensive foul as he kicked his leg out on a 3-point attempt. Instead of going to the line for three attempts, it was Huskies ball.
“I had never seen that called before,” Hawkins said. “It is what it is.”
Head coach Melvin Easley added, “I have to go back and figure out what we have to do to not do that ever again. That was the difference in the game.”
Aibigho Ujadughele, another of Chino Hills’ reserves thrust onto the scene, made one of two free throws to make it 66-61, and Hawkins scored at the other end to cut the lead back to three. Bell split two free throws with 21.7 left, and with Pluma’s last two free throws, the Huskies were able to finish their season with a familiar scene, a joyous celebration on the court as state champions.
It capped off a night of what-ifs for both teams. What if Okongwu, Manor Hall, Brett Thompson, Daniel Combs or Malcolm Steadman hadn’t fouled out? What if Combs had been listed with his proper jersey number in the scorebook? He wears different jersey numbers for home and away games, presumably because one of his jerseys lost or ripped, and on Friday, he was inscribed with the #30 he wears when the Colts don their red tops. As the NorCal representative ,they were in the white uniforms, and he wore #23. Following the first TV timeout, the technical was assessed and Pluma made both free throws, part of his perfect 6-for-6 performance. The Huskies were 26-of-37 at the line altogether, with Okongwu making 10 of 11.
Though Latimore was upset with the calls that went against Okongwu, there was no way the Chino Hills star was headed to the bench with fouls remaining.
“To be honest with you, if he would have had four fouls in the first quarter, he would have stayed in the game,” the second-year head coach explained. “This is his last game, and he deserves to be out there.”
Yet another point of contention was the disparity in fouls and free throws. Logan committed 26 fouls to the Huskies’ 15, and the Colts attempted just 12 free throws on the night, making six.
For all the hypotheticals, it can firmly be attested that things could have been far different if Logan’s shot selection was better early on. The Colts shot just 10-for-33 in the first half, including an abysmal 4-of-16 in the second quarter, with layup after layup attempted against double teams in the lane, as if it wasn’t hard enough to score on the 6-foot-10 Okongwu by himself. Easley promotes a free-flowing style, but the contested looks in the lane certainly hampered the Colts, especially as they shot 50% from 3-point range over the first two quarters.
The admirable comeback effort, sparked by Hawkins drawing Okongwu’s fifth foul, wasn’t quite enough, and it left the Colts despondent for their postgame interviews, during which the Thompson cousins kept towels over their heads, visibly distraught by the outcome.
“I left it all on the court,” said Brett, who scored 13 on the night before fouling out with 4:12 to go and his team down 10. “The refs made a couple of bad calls, but I can’t let that get to me.”
Brah’Jon led the Colts with 19 and Hawkins finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds despite shooting 7-of-21 from the field.
Conversely, Okongwu and the Huskies entered a rare category with their third title in four years, able to nonchalantly compare the titles to past victories.
““The feeling’s the same,” said Okongwu, who racked up 26 points and 15 rebounds over his 22 minutes. “A state championship’s a state championship. I’m happy to win it with my childhood friends.”
In an age full of private school powers and transfers, the Huskies continued their legacy with a team full of local kids. Okongwu lives within two miles of the school, while Latimore teaches 11th grade English.
“It’s a fantastic school,” Latimore said. “Great academics, great administration.”
Unlike the prior years of success for Chino Hills, there was no member of the Ball family on this year’s team. Last year, Andre Ball, nephew of patriarch LaVar and cousin of the three others who suited up for the Huskies, was part of a team that held off a similar comeback attempt to the one Logan tried to put together on Friday night.
It also leaves Okongwu’s individual legacy up for discussion among the elite high school players in the history of California.
“I think he would’ve bruised Bill Walton up back in the day,” Latimore said of his star center.
Okongwu’s successes came under three different coaches, and the last two state championships came in seasons with double-digit losses after the Huskies had gone undefeated his freshman year and 30-3 when he was a sophomore.
“Never once have I heard him demean his teammates, talk down to them or talk back to the coaching staff,” Latimore said. “He’s truly a remarkable person.”
