CHATSWORTH — The Chatsworth boys basketball team is headed back to Sacramento.
The Chancellors lost in the CIF State Division IV final last season but have a shot in the Division II championship this season after beating Bakersfield Christian, 66-51, in the CIF Southern California Regional final on Tuesday.
“It was a long road for us,” Chatsworth head coach Sam Harris said. “The guys understand more of what it takes to be successful and we’ve been showing that the last couple of games and hopefully we can continue that.”
Chatsworth will play Jesuit of Carmichael in the CIF State championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Alijah Arenas scored a team-high 21 points and Tekeio Philips added 10 points. Aaron Kruger sank three 3-pointers as he finished with 11 points.
The Chancellors’ Taj Unuakhalu matched up with Bakersfield Christian’s Taiwo Daramola in the paint and helped hold the center to 10 points. Unuakhalu decommitted from Cal State Northridge to play volleyball in order to explore his options in college basketball.
“He’s a lot more experienced this time around and is understanding discipline on defense,” Harris said of Unuakhalu. “And just staying focused and staying into the game.”
Bakersfield Christian went on a 7-2 run in the second quarter — capped by a euro step layup by Gabriel Gutierrez (12 points) — but Chatsworth was able to slow the Eagles’ momentum with a single turnaround jump shot by Arenas and the Chancellors ended the first half with a 29-20 advantage.
Chatsworth shared the ball well in the first half and got contributions from multiple players. Philips scored the first points of the game when a 3-point shot bounced off the rim and into the net.
Philips hit another 3-pointer in the second quarter to collect all of his 10 points by the break.
“We’ve been doing it all season,” Harris said of playing as a team. “It doesn’t show that much sometimes, but they understand that we need to move the ball and the guys need to make shots and it’s important for us to get guys involved.”
The shots weren’t falling for the Chancellors early in the game until Arenas forced a turnover for a one-handed dunk with 5:55 left in the first quarter, then repeated the same pattern with 5:08 left in the frame.
Daramola threw down a two-handed dunk roughly 30 seconds later and gave the Chatsworth bench a cold stare as he ran to the other end of the court.
The Eagles handled the ball well but their inability to get through the Chatsworth defense and into the paint hindered them.
Chatsworth thrived from the perimeter in the third quarter and made five shots from there in the frame. Salomon Torres made a 3-pointer two minutes into the quarter and Aaron Kruger made back-to-back 3s later on to extend the Chancellors’ lead to 43-31.
Chatsworth lost to Westchester in the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division championship game but avenged the loss in the CIF State regional semifinals in order to earn the matchup with Bakersfield Christian.
“After all the adversity we faced, we can finally go back to Sac and finish what we started last year,” Unuakhalu said. “We’re going to be more dialed in, locked in this year. We’re not going to get down on ourselves early on. We’re gonna adjust to their offense, whatever it is, play great defense and get the win.”