Open Division finalist Chino Hills has put on a show this season
Since 1992, the state championships have been held at the home of the Sacramento Kings 18 times, including annually from 1998 to 2009.
The most talked-about game by far was the first Division I boys matchup, when St. Joseph-Alameda beat Mater Dei-Santa Ana 59-37 in Jason Kidd’s final prep game.
The future Hall of Famer had 28 points, nine rebounds and three assists that night before 15,788 fans at ARCO.
“The wunderkind guard seemed NBA-ready even then as an 18-year-old man — not a boy, a man,” said longtime Sacramento Bee writer Joe Davidson, who covered the game.
To this day, it’s the most energized CIF state final I’ve seen, because uber star power does that.
Not only is it the last of 12 title games this week, but also of more than 200 state championship games played at Sleep Train.
The building will be demolished this year and replaced with the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento, where we expect the championships will continue.
An official announcement from the CIF figures to come Thursday.
Lonzo, a 6-foot-6 point guard, is often compared to Kidd and recently broke his state career assist record.
Lonzo averages 22.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 4.1 steals per game this season.
With LiAngelo (28.0 ppg), a bullish 6-6 shooting guard, and LaMello (17.1), a slight 5-10 freshman, given a green light to shoot from just about anywhere, Chino Hills has surpassed the century mark 16 times, with a high of 125.
The Huskies also boast 6-4 junior Elizjah Scott (16.1 points, 8.1 rebounds) and 6-9 freshman Onyeka Okongwu (7.7 points, 6.9 rebounds), a defensive specialist and shot blocker.
[...] mostly it’s been blowout city, including the most eye-opening, 102-54 over 11-time state champion Mater Dei-Santa Ana.
“I haven’t seen a running clock ever before,” Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight, the state’s winningest coach, told the Los Angeles Times.
Fans have packed local and even regional venues, including the Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State on Saturday, when the Huskies beat nationally ranked Bishop Montgomery-Torrance for a third time, 84-62.
MaxPreps.com national basketball editor Jason Hickman said that considering Chino Hills, a public school, has dominated nationally ranked Southern California teams so thoroughly in recent weeks, he’d consider the Huskies one of the best teams he has ranked over the past decade.
CIF State Finals schedule
*All games at Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento
Eastside College Prep-East Palo Alto (19-11), 10 a.m. CSNCA