Basketball was able to do something that no other basketball team has ever done in school history – they won the State Championship. The Aztecs were able to defeat Moreau Catholic of Hayward 72-65 in Sacramento on March 25, 2017.

Senior Kezie Okpala said about winning the championship, “It meant the world to me especially winning with the group of guys I grew up with.” Many of the players on the team had been playing with each other since third and fourth grade. Coach Mark Hill said, “ In this era of transfers, this was truly a homegrown team.” It was that team chemistry that was able to lead the team to win the championship.

Both Okpala and Junior Brendan Harrick stepped up to score for the Aztecs.  Harrick scored 25 points and Okpala scored 22 points with 11 rebounds. Senior Garrett Geiger was also able to get in the mix with 10 points and 3 blocked shots.

Going into the championship, Hill said the game plan was to stop Moreau Catholic’s two star players Milstead and Walker. He said the plan was to also, “ take care of the ball, not turn it over versus their trapping and full court defense.” The Aztecs were able to start strong with a lead of 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.

As the game continued the Moreau Catholic started to come back outscoring the Aztecs 19-12 in the second period. The Aztecs maintained their lead at half with a score of 34-26 but by the third period, Moreau Catholic was able to come back and take a slight lead. Harrick said, “When they started to come back, we kept our composure and kept fighting our way through, especially defensively.” The Aztecs were able to quickly take the lead back in the third quarter and went into the fourth quarter with a 47-42 lead.

In the fourth quarter both Okpala and Harrick were able to step up and maintain the lead. Okpala made seven of his free throws and Harrick was able to drop two three pointers.

Geiger said that ,“moving the ball and playing unselfishly,” lead the team to success. He said, “ I will miss competing with these guys and pushing each other to get better everyday.” About the win he said, “ We couldn’t of written a better ending.”