Chino Hills High School sophomore LaMelo Ball created a national buzz earlier this season when he pointed at half court and launched a 3-pointer that got nothing but net. The video went viral and started a national debate as to whether the half-court shot was disrespectful to the game and the opponent.
He just out-did himself.
Ball scored 92 points on Tuesday night in a 146-123 Baseline League win over Los Osos. He hit 37 of 61 shots from the field, including an efficient 30 of 39 from 2-point range and went 11 for 14 from the free-throw line.
It was the lead story on ESPN’s SportsCenter and was noted on all the local television stations with accompanying video.
The prized UCLA commit was trending on Twitter and now has 45,000 followers.
That effort is No. 2 all-time in California according to Cal-Hi Sports and the most since Tigran Gregorian scored 100 points for Mesrobian in a 114-47 win over L.A. Pacific Christian in February 2003.
Ball did break two individual state scoring records. His 62 second-half points is a record for a half and so is his 41-point fourth quarter. In 1965, Vince Manino of San Pedro’s Fermin Lausen scored 35 points in a quarter in a 120-31 win over Crespi.
The national single-game record is held by Danny Heater of Burnsville, West Virginia, who scored 135 points in January of 1960. At least 14 other players have scored 100 points or more in a game, according to the National Federation of High Schools record book.
Ball said in a radio interview on Wednesday he didn’t know how many points he was scoring.
“Around the third quarter my dad told me to keep scoring, so I did,” he said.
Chino Hills coach Stephan Gilling said his player had free reign to shoot and did take more shots than usual because the team’s leading scorer, LaMelo’s senior brother, LiAngelo, is out with a sprained ankle and not expected back until the playoffs.
“You go with the hot hand and he had it,” said Gilling, who was an assistant coach for the Huskies before getting the head job this season. “We’re a team that puts up a lot of points. That’s been our M.O. the last two years. We just did what we always do.”
The youngest Ball has now upstaged middle brother Angelo, who has had games of 72, 60, 59 and 56 points this season.
Some have bristled at the notion of one player scoring that many points, but Gilling points out the Los Osos was scoring too, so he couldn’t exactly take the air out of the ball. And that’s not the way his team plays anyway.
Chino Hills has had several games this year in which there was a running clock in the fourth quarter and Gilling had the chance to remove the starters early, but the Grizzlies were proving to be a pesky foe, scoring more points against Chino Hills than any other team has the last two seasons.
Gilling said there were also several other motivational factors as well. The Huskies were coming off a 96-91 loss to Oak Hill Academy of Virginia on Saturday at the Nike extravaganza at Mater Dei, which ended the school’s 60-game win streak.
Ball, who committed to UCLA before his high school career began, had also dedicated the game to classmate Lexi Anderson, who is in the hospital and in the middle of a major health crisis.
“The kid just hates to lose,” Gilling said of his spunky point guard. “He wanted to prove a point. Losing on Saturday didn’t sit well with him and we had just gotten news that Lexi wasn’t doing well.”
Los Osos coach Dave Smith spent most of Wednesday returning phone calls to local and national media, even fielding a call from ABC World New Tonight.
He said comments attributed to him by other media outlets after the game were misconstrued. He harbors no ill feelings toward the Ball brothers.
“I would never take anything away from what the kid did. He is a great player and we didn’t stop him. The kid was doing what he was told to do,” Smith said.
“There are parts of the equation when it comes to sportsmanship and integrity where I have the problem. Things like their entire team rushing the court after a dunk. Things like stopping the clock with fouls in the last 30 seconds just so the kid can get more shots. Things like having other kids in the game and they’re told not to shoot and for them to just throw him the ball. That’s where I have the problem.”
Smith said he was also sticking up for his players who he felt were bullied on social media for giving up that many points.
The combined total of 269 points blew past the state record of 243, set in January of 2006 when North of Torrance topped Lawndale 129-114.
“All they’re hearing is that they suck and they can’t guard anybody,” Smith said. “Not that they scored more points against this team than anyone else has in two years. It seems with high school sports now we’re not sending the right messages.”
The Huskies close out the regular season on Thursday at Rancho Cucamonga. Rancho athletic director Bill Mulvehill said that tickets for that game will go on sale at 2:45 p.m. at the ticket window at the gymnasium. The facility holds about 3,000.
Chino HIlls is expected to be the No. 2 seed for the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs behind Sierra Canyon. The playoff draw and pairings will be announced on Sunday.
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