Less than 30 minutes define prep hoop glory
By Kenneth Miller|Publisher
There are a few weeks before the curtain closes on the 2025-26 high school basketball season, but determining champions in the CIF-Southern Section girls and boys Open Division will become a whole lot clear after Feb. 24 showdowns in the Valley and Inland Empire.
Top seeds Ontario Christian and Sierra Canyon are led by two men name Aundre Cummings and Andre Chevalier who both had to endure personal and physical handicap to reach the pinnacle of their respective sport.
BORN TO LEAD– Ontario Christian girls head coach Aundre Cummings already has gained national acclaim in just a short period of time, but he takes nothing for granted while respecting his colleagues, he’s charting his own course to the top. Here Cummings is shown coaching the Collision All Stars girls in 2025, an event for which he is co-director. (Nick Koza)
Cummings, who earned Naismith National Coach of the Year honors last season, overcame homelessness. One day his friend Kenny Miller, who he recognizes as his brother today, invited him to his house where Cummings was nurtured and raised by the Miller family who help him become the man he is today.
He is the new kid on the block among all of the coaches competing for championships, but also among the most accomplished. He led OC to the CIF-SS Open title last season and currently has them as the top seed and No. 1 ranked team in the nation with a dominant 30-1 record.
Led by his step daughter and candidate for National Player of the Year junior Kaleena Smith and freshman Chole Jenkins, Ontario Christian will host Sage Hill (27-4), the school which lost one of its students/players in the Kobe Bryant helicopter tragedy.
Andre Chevalier played for CSUN from 1990 to 1994 and is one of the greatest players in program history. He will be inducted into the Matador Hall of Fame on July 24. Photo by Lee Choo. Andre Chevalier appears throughout the CSUN record book. He was prolific scorer and assist man during his time at CSUN. Photo: CSUN archives.
The other Andre needs no introduction to the spotlight or to courage. Chevalier, a native of Maryland moved to the Valley with his mother when he was young and despite being born with a disability on his hand and partially blind in one eye transformed in to a star in high school at Cleveland in Reseda, earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge where he had scored the seventh-most points (1,311), played the sixth-most minutes (3,267), dished out the second-most assists (481), connected on the third-most free throws (396) in the fifth-most free-throw attempts (486) and recorded the third-most steals (184) in program history. He was inducted into the CSUN hall of Fame.
His top seed Sierra Canyon squad is 25-1, ranked No 3. in the nation and led by two McDonalds All Americans in Brandon McCoy and Maximo Adams. They will Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) which only lost 78-74 in a nationally televised game earlier this season.
Notre Dame (22-6) is coached by Princeton grad and Collision All Star alum Matt Sargeant.
Imagine if Sargeant hadn’t lost the top player in the nation in McDonalds All American Tyran Stokes who transferred Rainier Beach High School in Seattle?
Etiwanda is ready to take on Sierra Canyon at home on Tuesday night in an Open Division semifinal. (Nick Koza)
Meanwhile, 20 minutes away from Ontario Christian at Etiwanda (31-2) No. 4 in Nation the Eagles and its coach Stan Delus who already has accumulated 500 wins, a pair of CIF-SS title, three state crowns and two Nattys will host Sierra Canyon (28-2) No. 4 in Nation for a shot at another championship.
Sierra Canyon is led by USA Basketball Coach Alicia Komaki who in 14 seasons at the school has won more than 350 games, multiple CIF-SS championships, five state titles and one national crown.
Year another 20 minute drive in the Valley from Sierra Canyon is Harvard Westlake (25-5) and its brilliant coach David Rebibo who is just a couple of years removed from winning both CIF-SS Open and State, will play host to the wild card of the field La Mirada (24-7). While junior Gene Roebuck receives most the attention, it was senior Tristan Partida who shot out Redondo Union lights after Roebuck had fouled out.
