Esperanza Ends Pasadena’s Magical Run, 68-58, in CIF State Division 2 Final

Esperanza’s Kezie Okpala entered his home gym Saturday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd with a 31-point per game average and a full ride scholarship to Stanford this fall.

And while Okpala and the Aztecs earned the victory, 68-58, in the CIF State Division 2 Southern Regional title game, it was a junior from Pasadena that stole the show late.

Bryce Hamilton scored 18 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter.

That included five 3-point baskets, and on one of the 3-pointers, he got fouled, and made the free-throw for a 4-point play.

Hamilton made 11 of his 22 shots from the field, and 7 of his 9 free-throw attempts.

He also gathered 5 rebounds in the final game of his junior year.

Okpala had his moments of greatness too.

The 6-foot-8 senior blocked a Darius Mason shot, grabbed the loose ball, drove to the other end of the court and dunked the ball to finish off a play that left the Esperanza faithful in a frenzy.

Esperanza (29-3) led by as many as 20 points until a Hamilton bucket with 52 seconds to play got Pasadena (27-7) to with 62-57, but that was as close as the Bulldogs got.

The Aztecs will move on to Sacramento and face the Northern Division 2 champs next Saturday.

At one point in the game, Esperanza had a 9-to-1 advantage from behind the 3-point line.

But Hamilton’s 5, and Darius Brown II’s two 3-point baskets almost made up the difference.

In the end, Esperanza finished with a 10-7 edge from behind the 3-point arc.

DBII finished with 10 points on 3 of 14 shooting, and the star junior dished out 4 assists.

Darius Mason had 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Joey Larson was huge for the Aztecs with 17 points, including four 3-point baskets.

Brendan Harrick had 10 for Esperanza.

PHS made 19 of 50 shots from the field (38-percent) but only connected on 7 of 21 3-point attempts.

The Bulldogs were 13 of 16 from the free-throw line, and Esperanza converted on 16 of 23.

Jesse Watkins added 6 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out.

While the season has finally come to an end, Pasadena earned CIF-SS Division 1-A and CIF State Division 2 Southern Regional runner-up status,’ and while that isn’t enough for this competitive and talented group of young men, the core of the Bulldogs will be back next season with even bigger things on their mind.

Quotable:

Pasadena coach Tony Brooks: “This Pasadena High basketball team had a tremendous season and has no reason to feel that it wasn’t a successful one. All of them are tremendous kids, who play this game at a high level and always leave it on the court. More importantly, each one of them are great students, great teammates and great people. I am very proud to be associated with all of them. Hats off to Esperanza, they are a great team and we wish them luck in the state championship.

I have to add that it was incredibly unfair to ask these kids to travel close to 800 miles in four road games and beat three open-class teams, and one CIF champion during these state games. That was their reward for having a great season. Whoever made this team a 13 seed obviously does not do their homework in determining teams that deserve higher seeds. For all of Pasadena’s hard work, it was rewarded with playing at 10 pm in the divisional championship and a 13 seed. The next seed had 13 wins. Doesn’t seem right. And for tonight, the reward for beating two ‘Open teams and a CIF champion on the road is a regional championship that is not played at a neutral site. Something is askew.”

Box Score:
Pasadena:12-10-8-28-(58)
Esperanza:18-11-20-19-(68)

PHS scoring:
Bryce Hamilton 34, Darius Brown II 10, Jesse Watkins 6, Darius Mason 6, Kalongi West 2.