SACRAMENTO – The CIF Division II boys state final made history as soon as the opening tip was tossed in the air.
It was the first time in California history that two boys teams from the same section met for a state championship.
Fresno is typically the cutoff for dividing Northern and Southern California teams for the state tournament. San Joaquin Memorial is located in Fresno County while Bakersfield Christian is in Kern County, the southernmost California county in the section before hitting the Los Angeles City Section.
The San Joaquin Memorial Panthers hoist the CIF Division II state championship trophy after surviving a 46-45 win over Central Section rival Bakersfield Christian Saturday at Golden 1 Center. (PHOTO: David Steutel)
Bakersfield Christian had previously beaten San Joaquin Memorial twice this season, 67-52 on Dec. 29 and 61-59 on Feb. 17 in a Central Section quarterfinal. In that latter game, the Eagles trailed by eight in the fourth quarter before amassing a 13-0 run and surviving a back-and-forth battle near the end. On Saturday, the Panthers redeemed themselves from their previous two losses on the biggest stage.
"We kind of had a chip on our shoulder," said Panthers head coach Brad Roznovsky. "We felt like we let one get away about three weeks ago, up big at half and then just didn't play well in the second half. So, it's really nice to not just beat them after losing twice, but just winning our second state championship in four years."
An exciting sequence late in the second quarter propelled the Eagles into a lead. Daramola was on the receiving end of a
Braylen Smith alley-oop, and
Owen Yurosek drilled a top of the key 3-pointer to give Bakersfield Christian a 25-22 lead heading into the break.
The Eagles held onto a 38-33 lead by the end of the third quarter before the Panthers made a fourth-quarter push. Six-foot-nine senior
Parker Spees threw down a big dunk in traffic at the 3:35 mark to tie the score at 42-apiece before
Ty Schalk gave the Panthers their first lead since late in the first half.
With under a minute to play, Sidhu's mid-range jumper pulled San Joaquin Memorial ahead once more, 46-44.
"Everybody on our team puts in a lot of work, so I trust anybody with the ball in that situation," Sidhu said. "I just trusted my shot. First half was a little bit rough, but my teammates didn't go away from me. They kept finding me, the coaches didn't go away from me. I think it just came down to playing within the flow of the game and just when times get tough, I want that ball in my hands because I feel like I work on that all the time."
After a Daramola free throw brought it to a one-point game, the Eagles had an opportunity to take the lead in the closing seconds but suffered an ill-timed turnover under their own hoop. One final scrum for the basketball saw Spees gather the ball and fling it toward the Golden1 Center ceiling to run the final seconds off the clock.
"My biggest worry was just not to hit the top of the screen," Spees said. "I'm just happy to be in that situation, to be up. It was great, but I'm just super happy overall for my teammates and the resilience we've shown throughout this whole game and this whole postseason."
San Joaquin Memorial's 6-foot-9 senior Parker Spees led the Panthers with 19 points and six rebounds in winning the program's second CIF state championship in four years. (PHOTO: David Steutel)
After falling to Bakersfield Christian in the
section playoffs, the Panthers drew a one-seed in the NorCal round and
took down No. 16
Saint Mary's (Albany); No. 9
Woodcreek (Roseville); No. 13
Clovis West (Fresno) and No. 6
Oakland Tech (Oakland) en route to winning its second state championship since 2023.
Spees finished with a game high 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go with six rebounds while Sidhu added 10 points for the Panthers (28-7).
“One play away,” said Bakersfield head coach Garrett Brown. “I felt like our preparation was great. Our plan was great. We were just one play away.”
