Gorman's Christian Popoola caps great night with MPHC slam dunk title

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Christian Popoola had a dream night on Monday. Now he just wants two more.

The 6-foot-4 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) junior guard locked down De La Salle standout guard Jordan Ratinho the second half, keying a 71-59 Open Division quarterfinal victory at Rancho Mirage.

Ratinho, a USF-signee, had 18 points in the first half when Gorman coach Grant Rice offered a challenge to slow him down. He gave that challenge to Popoola, who responded by holding Ratinho to three points the rest of the way.

Popoola also had a team-high 19 points as Gorman outscored De La Salle 40-28 the second half.

"Christian was no doubt the key player for us tonight," Rice said. "Holding (Ratinho) down keyed everything. He's a great defender."

Said Popoola: "(Ratinho) got really hot in the first half and I needed to focus in on him. I just gave it my all."

He's quite a dunker too as more than 3,000 fans found out later Monday night.

After the final Open Division game Monday — a Chino Hills (Calif.) 125-99 win over King (Milwaukee, Wis.) — Popoola beat out 16 other high-fliers to win the MaxPreps dunking championship.

His last dunk was a doozy, grabbing the ball held by teammate Ryan Kiley, whom he had jumped over, and then sending the ball down. Popoola said he wasn't necessarily planning to enter the dunk contest.

"I had to make my last dunk," he said. "I didn't want to short change all those fans. I had to do something magnificent."

Popoola said he's been watching dunks done by NBA standout John Wall. "I've never won a dunk contest before," he said. "Maybe in the back yard, messing around. I don't really have a lot of bounce. The crowd just gave me a lot of energy."

Popoola, swarmed by his Gorman teammates, said he'd be saving his energy until Tuesday's 8:30 semifinal against Redondo Union.

"I need to get some rest for Redondo," he said. "I'm glad I could come out here and work up a sweat and win this for my teammate. But I want the (team) championship. We just have two wins to go."