Fairmont Prep boys basketball tops rival Pacifica Christian in OT to win CIF-SS 2AA crown

ONTARIO – Best two out of three wins a CIF Southern Section championship.

In their two San Joaquin League boys basketball games, Fairmont Prep beat Pacifica Christian and Pacifica Christian beat Fairmont Prep.

The rubber match was the CIF-SS Division 2AA championship game Saturday at Toyota Arena. And it went into overtime. Fairmont Prep won 64-60.

It is Fairmont Prep’s second CIF-SS basketball championship. The Huskies won a CIF-SS title in 2019 against Pacifica Christian in Division 4AA.

Fairmont Prep (22-9) and Pacifica Christian (23-8), who tied for the San Joaquin League championship, continue the season next week in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs.

Fairmont Prep 6-10 senior David Abisogun scored a team-high 20 points with a game-high 15 rebounds before fouling out with 2:43 left in the fourth quarter.

Huskies senior guard Oliver Jones was 8 for 8 at the free throw line, including 6 for 6 in the overtime period, to finish with 13 points. Senior guard Marcus Fernandez scored 12 points.

“I’m just so happy for our seniors,” Fairmont Prep coach Joedy Gardner said. “For David to go down and for our guys to step up, I’m really proud of them.”

Pacifica Christian was led, as usual, by senior guard EJ Spillman, who scored a game-high 29 points. Junior guard Michael Noel scored 10 points and the Tritons got eight points from Hudson Reynolds.

The game was rugged and sometimes ragged, as Fairmont Prep-Pacifica Christian games tend to be.

Jones made two free throws for Fairmont Prep with six seconds remaining to tie the game 53-53.

In overtime, Jones scored on a drive to put Fairmont Prep on top 55-53. Spillman scored on one of his frequent spinning attacks at the basket to tie it, and Fairmont’s 6-10 junior Bith Jack made two free throws to put the Huskies ahead 57-55.

Fairmont Prep did not relinquish the lead after that.

In the final 31 seconds of overtime Jones – “The best free-throw shooter on our team,” Gardner said – was 4 for 4 at the line. Fernandez made two free throws with eight seconds to go to secure the Huskies’ victory.

Fairmont Prep broke out to an 8-0 lead. Pacifica Christian did not score until three minutes had elapsed, and when the Tritons got going they really got going. They outscored the Huskies 12-2 for the remainder of the quarter to bring a 12-10 lead into the second quarter.

Pacifica Christian’s largest lead was 11 points in the second quarter. The Tritons took a 33-24 advantage into halftime.

Fairmont Prep outscored Pacifica Christian 14-7 in the third quarter to trail the Tritons 40-38 going into the fourth quarter.

A fourth Fairmont Prep-Pacifica Christian game is possible. They could be placed in the same division for the Southern California Regional playoffs.

Spillman would like that, and he appreciates the opportunity to keep playing basketball this season, starting with practice Monday and a game Tuesday.

“We know how to bounce back,” he said. “A lot of teams don’t get to practice on Monday.”

The regional brackets will be released Sunday.

If Fairmont Prep and Pacifica Christian do meet in the Regional it would not be the first time. They played each other in the regional in 2019; Fairmont Prep won that one, too.