Acen Jimenez brings the ball up the floor for La Habra Saturday at California Live as Coach Aaron Riekenberg leads his squad at Ladera Sports Center. (PHOTOS: Jacob Ramos, For OC Sports Zone).
La Habra High School’s boys basketball team continued its summer season at Boys California Live in Orange County on Saturday. Led by head coach Aaron Riekenberg, the Highlanders will look to build on the recent success of their program in the 2025-26 season.
La Habra reached the mountaintop in 2023-24, securing the program’s first ever CIF championship in the Division 3AA bracket. It was a title that was a long time coming for the Highlanders, three-time champs of Southern California’s Freeway League.
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Now, the focus turns towards 2025-26 for Riekenberg and the Highlanders. Losing 10 seniors from the previous season, La Habra coaches and players understand the road ahead to contention will be without a lot of familiar faces.
“[The 2023-24 team] made history,” Riekenberg told OC Sports Zone after Saturday’s game at Ladera Sports Center. “A couple of them are going to be playing collegiately at the next level, and so definitely they were missed today. But we were blessed to be able to have Acen Jimenez return as part of that CIF championship [team].”
Jimenez profiles as the team’s leading scorer for the upcoming season, already lettering twice going into his senior year. The senior will look to guide La Habra to another deep playoff run, after the Highlanders fell to Windward in last season’s CIF first round.
La Habra’s success in 2023-24 didn’t just get the Highlanders noticed statewide. It vaulted the program into CIF’s Division 1, the second highest-ranked cluster of teams in the region.
The Highlanders made the transition up three divisions and to a new league simultaneously leaving the Freeway League for the Crestview League in 2024-25. Some may have seen the improvement in competition as a punishment for performing well in CIF’s lower divisions, but Riekenberg welcomes the challenge with open arms.
“We have so much respect for the Freeway League and all the great coaching and the battles we’ve had there. But man, there’s nothing like the Crestview,” Riekenberg said. “You had all five teams in the top, I believe, top 12 Orange County rankings.”
La Habra held its own in its new league this past season, going 4-4 in league play and 20-9 overall in 2024-25. Riekenberg credited some of the non-league competition his program has earned the right to face when talking about preparation for the Crestview.
“We knew we had to raise our level of play and raise our level of competition throughout the year, which is why we’re at events like Cali Live [and] Section 7, playing these teams, so we’re prepared for those moments,” he said, referring to this weekend’s tournament and Section 7, based in Arizona.
Riekenberg noted a few players to watch out for as the Highlanders prepare for the upcoming season: forward Javier Nash, guard Joshua Desatoff and guard Aaron Wilson.
Nash is a junior headed into 2025-26, and shined during the weekend as a playfinisher, skying for easy baskets at the rim. Riekenberg noted he played more as a role player last season, but is expected to step up as a starter and scorer this year.
Desatoff has had tough injury luck during his high school career. The guard has had a pair of ACL tears that limited his playing time to just his freshman season in 2023-24, the coach said.
However, Desatoff is getting back to full health now and is expected to contribute greatly to the Highlanders this upcoming season. Riekenberg told OC Sports Zone that had it not been for his original ACL injury his freshman year, Desatoff may have been a starter on La Habra’s CIF championship squad.
Wilson is perhaps the most intriguing out of the three highly-touted Highlanders. He is an incoming freshman who has spent the weekend starting for La Habra at point guard. A rare young player who can dictate the game and play at his own speed, Riekenberg said Wilson is going to be “really, really special.”
Riekenberg spoke with great pride about his program, even after suffering a 58-49 loss to a talented St. John Bosco squad on Saturday in the California Live Event. Jimenez had 18 points and five assists to lead La Habra.
The Highlanders ended the day with a 58-49 victory over Bishop Montgomery. Jimenez had 36 points, five assists and two steals and Javier Nash 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
“These boys that we’ve had have committed themselves [and] have really changed the culture here. And it’s a great honor and a great way to finish our summer,” Riekenberg said with a smile.
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