PHOTOS: Garden Grove wins a thrilling final over Fullerton and celebrates first CIF title

Garden Grove players and coaches celebrate after winning the CIF title. (Photos courtesy Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone).

It took 101 years but the Garden Grove boys basketball team finally won a CIF championship and in dramatic fashion.

Twin brothers, Miguel and Ivan Ortega, combined to score 29 points to lead the Argonauts to a 54-50 victory over Fullerton in the CIF Division 4AA championship game Friday night before a standing room only crowd at Garden Grove High.

The Argonauts (22-8) improved to a perfect 10-0 at home this season and have won 15 of their last 16 games and have qualified for next week’s state championship tournament. Fullerton (17-15) made its first appearance in a CIF boys basketball final since 1959.

With 59 seconds remaining, Indians guard Isaiah Edwards made one of two free throws to tie the score at 49-49. Then Garden Grove guard Vidal Jimenez made the shot of his life, drilling a 3-pointer from the wing to give the Argonauts a 52-49 lead with 36 seconds to play.

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Miguel Ortega stole the ball on the following Indians possession and was fouled on the play. On the ensuing inbounds play, Ivan Ortega tossed a perfect three-quarters of the court pass to his brother, Miguel, who had broken away from his defender, and barreled in for a layup, upping the Argonauts lead to 54-49. Fullerton added a free throw and Garden Grove ran out the clock as the home crowd went wild.

“We practice that play every day,” said Ivan Ortega, who scored 14 points. “Lots of people didn’t expect us to win, but I told you we were going to put up a banner in this gym.”

Jimenez was emotional following the exciting finish.

“I just can’t believe it,” he said. “I knew I was going to be taking that shot and I was confident I would make it. The key to our win, however was that we took care of the ball, we rebounded and we took good shots.”

Miguel Ortega’s bucket with 4:36 left in the third quarter gave Garden Grove a 40-30 lead and it appeared they had the momentum. However, the Indians, led by Christian Hubbard, Josiah Reed and Zane Mustafa (four blocked shots), rallied Fullerton and closed the gap to 44-40 by the end of the quarter. Hubbard’s two free throws with 2:27 to play completed an 18-7 run and gave the Indians a 48-47 lead.

But Fullerton could only manage two more free throws the remainder of the way.

“We had some good looks down the stretch but we didn’t make shots,” said Fullerton Coach Erik Kamrath. “We had one rim out but they made adjustments. We had a good year, we played through some adversity and we showed a lot of character to come as we did.”

Reed, Fullerton’s junior forward, led all scorers with 18 points and Hubbard added 13 points for the Indians. Miguel Ortega scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds, despite leaving the game for a few minutes after suffering leg cramps late in the fourth quarter.

“It’s humbling; I’m so happy we were successful” said Ortega.

Ortega’s teammate, Landon Mendoza, was also thrilled following the win.

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a kid,” said Mendoza, who scored 10 points. “It’s feels unbelievable to win; it’s so emotional. We played hard and we rebounded.”

The crowd was boisterous on every possession. Garden Grove held a 16-15 lead after one quarter and Hubbard and Reed hit baskets in the final minute of the half to cut the Argonauts lead to 29-26 at the break.

Argonauts coach Brian Girard was excited with the end result.

“I’m lucky, I think I’m the third coach at Garden Grove in something like 50 years,” said Girard. “There were two great coaches before me and lots of great players. I feel lucky to be here. I knew if we could keep it close, we were going to have a good chance. Fullerton made me nervous. I watched a lot of their games and they play just like us. They’re a really good team. Our guys played so fantastic and I’m so proud of them and happy for our program.”

Argonauts senior guard Allen Abarca may have summed it up best.

“I can’t wait to have kids and bring them back here and show them the banner and tell them, ‘we did it.'”

Despite the loss, Hubbard said his team will be back.

“We’re going to learn from this and come back stronger,” said Hubbard , a junior. “We are going to get better.”

Twenty of Fullerton 32 games this season were determined by single digits and Garden Grove won 13 of its games by less than 10 points.  

—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone