LAGUNA HILLS — Jackson Burnham grabbed the loose ball and made a beeline toward the basket. About the time the buzzer sounded ending the game, the Laguna Hills senior launched into the air and slammed the ball through the rim.
The basket didn’t count. It didn’t have to. But it was the proper punctuation mark on nearly two decades of frustration.
Behind the play of Burnham and sophomore Fletcher Freeman, the Hawks soared to their first league title since the 2007 season. So when Burnham, who was a sophomore on the 2024 team that was winless in league and went 1-25 for the season, smashed down the dunk, the fans rushed onto the floor like … well, like a school that had never won a boys basketball league title in their lifetime. Which it hadn’t.
The final score was 65-55, and it gave Laguna Hills the Golden West League title outright with a come-from-behind victory that was worth the ticket price.
Laguna Hills improved to 13-11 overall and 7-1 in league. Godinez, which finishes second in the Golden West League, is 20-7 overall, 5-3 in league.
Laguna Hills was down eight points going into the fourth quarter, 53-45, before turning the tide emotionally – and offensively.
In the first 31 seconds, Anthony Kechejian scored on a layup. After a steal, Burnham dunked on the Grizzlies, and a possession later, his lay-in had cut the deficit to 53-51 in 103 seconds of game time.
The Hawks were rolling, the crowd was rallying, and the Grizzlies were getting rolled.
“One of my teammates got that steal and looked for me on that first dunk and that gave us a lot of energy, that got the crowd going,” Burnham said of the game’s turning point. “We had all the momentum from there. It felt like we were winning when we were down by four.”
They wouldn’t be down by four points for long. Freeman scored on a runner that tied the score at 53, and his layup with 3:26 left made it 55-53 in favor of the Hawks.
Rafael Huizar quickly scored for Godinez to tie the score at 55 at the 3:15 mark, but it was the only basket in the quarter for the second-place Grizzlies, who were hoping to grab a share of the league title with an upset.
But there was no upset, only a coronation.
Freeman responded with a three-point play at 3:08 to take the final lead, and the Hawks made seven consecutive free throws – out of eight attempts – over the final 1:09 to close it out.
“I’m so excited for us,” Laguna Hills coach Sean Sargent said. “It’s been 19 years since the last league title. They’ve been through a lot and grown a lot over the year. It’s nice to see the ball bounce in the right direction this time.”
“(Burnham’s) a senior, he’s our senior, he’s our anchor. I’m so glad he’s going out like this with a league title. The kid deserves it.”
Freeman, a sophomore, led the Hawks with 25 points, including 14 in the second half. Burnham had 18, and junior Myles Mittelsteadt scored 13 – five under his average because he was plagued by early foul trouble.
Junior Marcus Poserio led Godinez with 20, while seniors Jaiden Torres scored 18 and Dagyr Young 13. Torres scored big despite having the flu, Coach Robert Morgan said.
The Grizzlies played without guard Bryan Lopez, who was out with the flu.
Ball-handling was a key issue in the fourth quarter. Godinez committed eight turnovers after committing nine in the first three quarters. They converted only 1 of 11 field goal attempts in the final eight minutes.
“We missed some layups, too, when it was a little rag-tag,” Morgan said. “If we hit a couple of those, we’re right back in it. Our free throws hurt us, too.”
Godinez was 13 of 24 from the free-throw line, and didn’t shoot any in the fourth. Laguna Hills made 15 of 18 free throws.
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