By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor To say Chino Hills junior Onyeka Okongwu took over the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 title game would be a gross understatement. The 6-foot-9 power forward made 18 of his 20 shots from the field for 38 points, and had a game-high 14 rebounds as well. He spent most of his […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
To say Chino Hills junior Onyeka Okongwu took over the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 title game would be a gross understatement.
The 6-foot-9 power forward made 18 of his 20 shots from the field for 38 points, and had a game-high 14 rebounds as well.
He spent most of his time above the rim and had at least 8 dunks, if not more.
Chino Hills outlasted Pasadena, 72-56, Saturday night at Azusa Pacific University, and they handed the Bulldogs their second consecutive title-game loss in as many years.
Aside from Okongwu’s brilliance, Chino Hills won the game with two other important stat lines.
The Huskies out-rebounded the Bulldogs 43-19, and they had a 20-4 edge in second-chance points.
Bryce Hamilton led Pasadena with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists (all were team highs), but the PHS stud made just 8-of-25 from the field.
Tavian Percy was the only Bulldogs player that shot over 50-percent from the field.
The 6-foot-6 senior scored 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Percy converted on 4 of his 6 shots from beyond the 3-point line.
Percy also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Chino Hills shot 59 percent (32 of 54) from the field as compared to just 35 percent (19 of 54) for PHS.
Ofure Ujadughele added 16 points for Chino Hills and Andre Ball had 8.
Darius Brown II finished with 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting, and he added 3 assists and 3 steals.
Darius Mason scored 6 points on a pair of 3-point buckets.
Pasadena’s 16-game win streak comes to an end, but the 14-time Pacific League champs will be back in action on Wednesday in the CIF State playoffs.
The state pairings (brackets) will be posted at www.cifss.org Sunday morning.
Box Score:
CH: 12-19-21-20-(72)
PHS: 14-13-16-13-(56)
Chino Hills scoring: Onyeka Okongwu 38, Ofure Ujadughele 16, Andre Ball 8, William Pluma 6, Nicholas Manor-Hall 4.
Pasadena scoring: Bryce Hamilton 22, Tavian Percy 16, Darius Brown II 10, Darius Mason 6, Omari Moore 2.
Free throws: Chino Hills: 5-8; Pasadena: 10-14.
3-Point shots: Chino Hills: 3-12; Pasadena: 8-22.
Rebounds: Chino Hills 43, Pasadena 19.
Turnovers: Chino Hills 15, Pasadena 7
Assists: Chino Hills 18, Pasadena 11.
Records: Pasadena (23-7); Chino Hills (21-11)
