Without LaMelo Ball, Chino Hills Wins D-I Basketball State Championship
Chino Hills—the high school attended by Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball before the elder brothers graduated and LaMelo left after his sophomore season to play overseas in Lithuania—won the California Interscholastic Federation Division I state title Friday, beating Las Lomas 73-68, per Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times.
The team's star player, Onyeka Okongwu, scored 27 points and added 14 rebounds and five blocks in the win, though he fouled out with just under four minutes remaining.
"I think the team showed they are more than one individual player," head coach Dennis Latimore said, per Eric-Paul Johnson of the Press-Enterprise. "Our big guy went out, but the team stayed united. That's what teamwork is all about, and they went and got it done."
It was the program's second state title in the past three years.
