Damien High Boys' Baskeball Advances to Its First State Title Game

The Damien high school boys’ basketball team made history Saturday night as it punched its ticket to the first CIF state championship in school’s history, dispatching top seeded Cathedral of Los Angeles 68-62.

The CIF State championship however is no stranger to the city of La Verne, as La Verne Lutheran claimed back-to-back titles in 2010, 2011.

The Spartans, who made history two years ago as it won its first ever CIF Division 3 title, this year fell in the first round of the Open Division to Orange Lutheran. Damien, however, bounced back, and won the consolation bracket, giving them a berth to the state tournament.

“It’s really special,” Damien coach Matt Dunn said. “It’s the one thing this group hasn’t done yet. They won a CIF championship when they were sophomores, won a (Baseline) League championship this year, so to get to the state title game is very special.”

Bryce Peters had 20 points for the Spartans who will face Campolindo of Moraga next Friday at 4 pm. Jeremy Hemsley added 17 points, seven rebounds and eight assists and Malik Fitz added 15 points.

Campolindo, who were runners-up to Bishop O’Dowd in the North Cal Division 3 finals, advanced by virtue of its 50-44 over drake in the Northern California Championship, which also avenged a loss earlier in the year.

“We shared the ball, which I think was key part of us winning the game,” Hemsley said. “Cathedral is more of a one-on-one type team, so we shared the ball, and that contributed a lot to the win.”

Damien led wire to wire, and maintained leads as great as 13 points late in the first quarter. Cathedral however showed why they were the top-seed, as it clawed back as a Milan Acquah basket after a block and a steal closed the gap to 36-31 with three minutes left to go in the third. He then had a chance to make it a three point game with two free throws, but failed to deliver. Acquah redeemed himself by hitting a big 3-pointer with 18 seconds to go, but it was too little, too late.

Kobe Paras had a game-high 23 points, while Acquah added 16 points for the Phantoms who finished 22-8.

“We let up a little bit,” said Hemsley. “But we ended up getting the rebounds and stops that we needed to win.”

Photo credit: Keith Birmingham/San Gabriel Valley news