Gardena Serra defeats La Verne Lutheran thanks to Daddy Ugbede

“Who’s your Daddy?”

That was the chant from the Gardena Serra student section on Thursday night at the Anaheim Convention Center, and Daddy Ugbede was enjoying every second of it.

“That’s my name,” the 6-foot-7 senior from Nigeria said. “I hear it every game. I like it.”

Ugbede came through with 32 points, making 14 of 20 shots, to help Serra (29-2) defeat La Verne Lutheran, 69-59, in the Southern Section Division 4AA championship basketball game.

When it comes to size and athletes, Serra is near the top in Southern California. The Cavaliers outrebounded Lutheran, 36-20.

“I’m a firm believer whomever controls the boards controls the game,” Coach Dwan Hurt said. “I told them if we take charges and we rebound, we’ll win the game.”

It helped that 6-foot-10 Lutheran center Grant Jerrett, the McDonald’s All-American headed to Arizona, was called for his fourth foul with 1 minute 32 seconds left in the third quarter. Lutheran was down by a point, and Jerrett was sent to the bench. He returned with 5:48 left in the fourth and Ugbede took advantage, going inside again and again.

“Once we got Jerrett in foul trouble, Daddy had his way,” Hurt said. “We wanted to feed him.”

Dakarai Tucker had 21 points and 6-10 Emmanuel Ndumanya had 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who won their sixth section title in Hurt’s 23 years as coach. Jerrett had 19 points for Lutheran (23-7).

Last season, the Cavaliers were left out of the playoffs because it was decided by Southern Section officials that Ugbede and Ndumanya had not made a valid change of residence.

“It pretty much makes everything better for all the tears we went through,” senior guard Kajon Mack said.

What’s clear is that Serra, a Catholic school, has become an athletic powerhouse. The girls’ team won the 4AA title in triple overtime Wednesday night. The football team won a state bowl and went 15-0 in 2009 with players Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and George Farmer, all now at USC.

The school is attracting big-time athletes from the South Bay and the City Section. And even from Nigeria.

Hard work pays off

In the era of club basketball, it has become rare to earn a scholarship pretty much based on your high school season, but that’s what Brandon Taylor has pulled off for Pacific Hills. He showed his ability Thursday, scoring 23 points as Pacific Hills defeated Montebello Cantwell-Sacred Heart, 65-42, in the 4A championship game.

Taylor, a senior point guard who recently picked up a scholarship offer from Utah, made 10 of 14 shots.

“This has been a remarkable year for me,” Taylor said. “But we’re not done yet.”

Pacific Hills will enter next week’s state playoffs in Division IV.

The key to the Bruins’ victory was shutting down high-scoring Jose Estrada in the second half. Averaging 31.3 points, Estrada scored 15 points in the first half but finished with 19.

Winning for Joe

Calabasas (27-3) rolled to a 69-39 victory over South Torrance in the 3AA championship game, the first in school history.

Jeremy Lieberman scored 15 points, Holden Israel 14 and Spencer Levy 13. The Coyotes dedicated the game and season to assistant coach Joe Frazier, who has been in a coma after being involved in a hit-and-run accident while riding his motorcycle.

“It really gave us a fire, an inspiration to make it,” senior Joshua Cohan said. “I’m so proud of my teammates being able to do this for Joe.”

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com