Laguna Hills celebrates first CIF title with victory over Ramona in Division 6 final

Laguna Hills boys basketball team after winning the CIF title Saturday night. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

For the Laguna Hills boys basketball team Saturday night’s 78-51 victory over Ramona in the CIF Division 6 championship game at Azusa Pacific University will forever have a special meaning.

The Hawks win secured the program’s first CIF championship in the school’s 48-year history. Two years ago, Laguna Hills was 1-22. 

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“We stuck to our game plan,” said Jackson Burnham, who scored 18 points, had 17 rebounds and dished out eight assists. “I give a lot of credit to our coaches. They came in here after we were 1-22 and they came to work at 5 a.m. every morning to get us ready. It means so much to us to win the first championship in school history.”

Hawks guard Fletcher Freeman had a huge game, leading all scorers with 21 points. 

“We were locked in toward the end of the third quarter after they made a run and we said, ‘we want the championship,'” said Freeman, who drilled four 3-pointers in the game. “We came out with so much energy tonight and it’s a huge deal for us to bring home the first championship for the school.”

The Hawks (18-11) displayed outstanding passing, execution, speed, rebounding and defense throughout the game. 

“We turned it up a notch at the end of the third quarter after they gained some momentum,” said Laguna Hills forward Myles Mittelsteadt, who scored 14 points, had 16 rebounds and four assists. “It’s amazing how far this team has come and now to win a championship.”

Laguna Hills led 15-10 after the first quarter. Neither team shot particularly well to start the second quarter but the Hawks caught fire late in the period and hit three consecutive baskets by Freeman, a 3-pointer by Anthony Kechejian, and another bucket by Freeman, giving Laguna Hills a 31-17 lead at the 1:38 mark of the period.

However, the Rams (27-6) countered with three straight baskets of their own by Cary Moore, Garrett Pickens and a 3-pointer by Joseph Gutierrez down the stretch to cut the lead to 33-24 at halftime. 

The Hawks shot 38.9 percent (14-of-36) in the first half and held the Rams shooting to under 30 percent, including 3 of 12 beyond the arc. 

Freeman’s 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 36-26 lead at the 6:53 mark of the third quarter. The Rams cut the lead to eight points on a basket by Garrett Pickens with 4:26 left in the period but Burnham scored eight points during a Laguna Hills’ 14-4 run in the final four minutes of the period to give the Hawks a 54-36 after three periods.  

Laguna Hills finished strong, scoring on eight of their first 10 possessions of the fourth quarter, including four 3-pointers, to put the game out of reach for Romona. 

“In the summertime these guys told us they wanted to win a championship,” said Hawks Coach Sean Sargeant. “They put in the work and we saw them improve every game and that has been so rewarding. Our identity is our defense, being unselfish, resilient and being an alum this is really special win for me, the community, the fans and the players.“ 

Laguna Hills shot 46 percent (29-of-63) for the game, including 14 of 30 from 3-point range. The Hawks also won the battle of the boards 48-42 and had 14 offensive rebounds. Matthew Diggs also scored 12 points for Laguna Hills.       

Pickens, who was averaging over 26 points per game entering Saturday’s game, was held to nine points on 4 of 23 shooting.    

The Rams had won 14 consecutive games and 20 of their last 21 games entering Saturday’s championship game. Ramona was appearing its third CIF championship game. They fell to 0-3 as they lost to Corona Santiago last season and also in their first appearance in the 1977 finals. 

“We couldn’t put it the basket and they kept hitting 3s and extending the lead,” said Rams coach Eric Tabatabai. “Give them a lot of credit. They played well.”  

Moore led the Rams with 13 points and 15 rebounds.