La Habra holds on for home victory over Cypress, remains tied for first place in league

La Habra Coach Aaron Riekenberg talks to his team during a timeout Friday. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Both La Habra Coach Aaron Riekenberg and Cypress Coach Derek Mitchell told their teams before Friday night’s Crestview League boys basketball game game that the intensity of the contest would be like a CIF playoff game.

Riekenberg and Mitchell’s predictions were spot on as the game had post season passion from the opening tip-off and came down to the final seconds before La Habra pulled out a 60-57 home victory. La Habra avenged an earlier overtime loss to Cypress.   

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Acen Jimenez scored 18 points to lead the Highlanders. Teammates Josh Desatoff (13 points) and Richard Gonzales (12 points) also helped La Habra (20-6, 5-1) win its fourth consecutive game to remain tied for first place in the league with Crean Lutheran, which defeated Canyon Friday 60-47.

The Highlanders, the only team to defeat Crean Lutheran in league, travel to Crean Lutheran on Tuesday with the league title on the line.

“We told the team before the game, ‘this is a playoff game for us, we want to win a league title and Cypress is playing for their playoff lives,’” said Riekenberg.

“There’s nothing like this environment; the crowd was unbelievable and gave us a charge,” added Jimenez. “It was a tough game and an amazing win, maybe it was harder than it had to be. They gave us a wakeup call the way they came out in the third quarter.”

Cypress (16-10, 2-4) led 43-42 after three quarters, however the Highlanders, behind baskets by Jimenez, Desatoff and a 3-pointer by Gonzales, went on a 7-2 run to open the fourth quarter and retook the lead 49-45 with 5:54 to play and did not relinquish the lead.

Cypress cut the lead to 51-50 on a 3-pointer by Brennen De La Cruz at the 4:29 mark, but Gonzales countered with another 3-pointer moments later giving the Highlanders a 54-50 lead with 4:03 left.

“I haven’t done anything in the last two games, but the coach told me tonight before the game ‘to let it fly,’” said Gonzales, who hit three 3-pointers in the second half.

Emmanuel Igbekoyi’s free throw trimmed the Highlanders lead to 54-51 with 2:24 to go but the hometown crowd erupted when Noah Poppin drilled a 3-pointer from the corner, in front of the La Habra bench, propelling the Highlanders to a 57-51 with 1:19 to play.

“You can’t be nervous in that situation,” said Poppin, referring to his clutch shot. “I know my teammates have trust in me and I wasn’t nervous about taking the shot.”

Poppin battled his taller opponents on the board throughout the game but fouled out with 24 seconds to play.

After the Highlanders failed to inbound the ball within five seconds with 24 seconds remaining, the Centurions took possession under their basket.

Gavin Kroll of Cypress nailed a 3-pointer to draw within 59-57 with 20 seconds to play.

La Habra again struggled to inbounds the ball but after a couple of Cypress fouls, Jayden Martinez made one of two free throws to make it 60-57 with 14 seconds left. The Centurions attempted two 3-pointers in the final seconds, but they narrowly missed both, and La Habra came away with a thrilling victory.

After the game was tied 14-14 after the first quarter, Desatoff’s 3-pointer down the stretch in the second quarter gave the Highlanders a 29-20 lead at halftime.

“The crowd really gave us energy and now we have to go beat Crean Lutheran for the league title,” said Destatoff, who had three 3-pointers in the game.

Tyrus Allen and Ryan Gov sparked a 10-2 Cypress run to start the third quarter. Gov’s 3-pointer gave the Centurions a 34-31 lead with 5:23 left in the quarter. Jimenez’s two free throws with just over a minute left in the quarter cut the Cypress lead to 43-42 after three periods.

“I’m proud of our boys, but we’re probably going to have to win out and then get some help if we are going to make the playoffs,” said Mitchell, the Cypress coach. “Turnovers hurt us and Poppin’s 3-pointer put us in a tough spot but give La Habra credit.”

“We were down by six points with 50 seconds to play and we almost pulled it out, but we came up a little short” said Kroll, who led the Centurions with 15 points and double-digit rebounds.

Igbekoyi and De La Cruz each scored 10 points for Cypress.

NOTES:

—La Habra has two league games remaining, at Crean Lutheran next Friday and on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at home against Canyon.

—-Cypress also has two games left, at home against Canyon next Friday and at Foothill on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

—-Kroll is seriously considering two offers to play college basketball in the Philippines next season. “I really want to play at the next level,” said Kroll.     

—Cypress guard Terrence Hoang sustained a concussion this week in practice and was not available to play Friday and is out for at least 10 days on concussion protocol, according to Mitchell.

—-The 2025 La Habra football team, which won the CIF Division 4 championship, its eighth title under Coach Frank Mazzotta, was honored at halftime. The crowd cheered wildly as a championship banner was unveiled in the gymnasium.

“What made this team great was that they had a great mind for football and they worked so hard together,” said Mazzotta.

 —La Habra senior Ashlyn Petropulos sang a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem before tipoff.

—Riekenberg on senior forward Noah Poppin who is 6-0 and built like a defensive lineman: “He doesn’t have a basketball body, but he is one of the smartest players I’ve ever coach,” said Riekenberg. “He knows how to position himself and he never stops battling on the boards. We wouldn’t have won the Crean Lutheran game without him.”