The annual San Diego prep hoop summit that is the CIF-San Diego Section championships took place over the weekend and there were some amazing moments throughout the weekend at USD’s Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Open Division Champions:  St. Augustine Saints

By far the best matchup of the entire CIF championship weekend including that OT game at San Marcos was the Open Division championship; although the D5 OT game was amazing.

But which matchup in the game was most intriguing?  St. Augustine vs. Torrey Pines, Mike Haupt vs. John Olive or The Pit vs. The Chaos.

Junior Saintsman Martin Tombe ‘16 led all scorers with 19 points but his 3-ball bucket with about 20 seconds remaining in the game was the field goal that will live on for a long time to come.  And then Tombe buries his next three free throws to secure the Open Division championship for St. Augustine.

Tombe was 8 for 11 from the line, collected a game-high 8 rebounds, four on the offensive boards.

Division I Champions:  Escondido Cougars

Morse led by one at the half but in the second half Escondido took over outscoring the Tigers by 16 points.

Cougar Khy Kabellis ’15 led all scorers with 25 points and Escondido won their first CIF title since 2004 when they defeated Hoover 76-54 at Viejas Arena.  Escondido last reached the finals in 2007. 

Division II Champions:  Foothills Christian Knights

Arizona commit T.J. Leaf ’16 had some monster dunks but he basically had a monster game.  Leaf scored 33 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals, all game highs.

When Leaf left the game in the fourth quarter the clocked continued to run due to the 40+ point margin.

T.J. Leaf talked after the game about the dunks and proving to some people that they might be the best team in San Diego.

Knights head coach Brad Leaf told the team between the third and fourth quarters that this performance was the best he has seen from a Foothills Christian team ever.

The scary thing about Foothills Christian is that they did not have a senior night this year, except for the cheerleaders.  There are no seniors on Foothills Christian.

Division III Champions:  El Cajon Valley Braves

Both El Cajon Valley and Valhalla were in their first CIF championship game, ECV opened in 1955 and Valhalla opened in 1974.

ECV defeated Valhalla twice in league this season and won their second league title in school history.  El Cajon was able to defeat Valhalla a third time led by Syon Hick's 21 points. 

Division IV Champions:  Pacific Ridge Firebirds

Another game where both teams were in their first CIF championship game, El Capitan having opened in 1959 and Pacific Ridge opened in 2007.

El Cap was ahead all game but in the fourth quarter the Firebirds made a charge and with about 18 seconds remaining Pacific Ridge senior Ethan Kuo ’15 drained his fourth trifecta of the game to secure the first championship in school history for the Firebirds.

All 12 points for Ethan Kuo came from beyond the arc.

Players with 20+ points at the slim gym

33 points, # 22 T.J. Leaf, Foothills Christian

25 points, # 1 Khy Kabellis, Escondido

21 points, # 4 Syon Hicks, El Cajon Valley

20 points, # 12 Bryant Irvin, El Capitan