La Habra’s Tradition Parallels His Family’s

Senior Andrija Kristich doesn’t need a history lesson. He knows all about the highs and lows of La Habra basketball.

He watched his older sisters, Ana and Zrinka, contribute to the La Habra girls’ basketball dominance. The Highlanders have won 12 Freeway League championships.

And every day at practice, he sees the banner hanging in the La Habra High gymnasium that reminds him and his teammates that the boys’ team has not won a league championship in a decade.

Although the boys’ team has had only one winning season in the last 10 years, the 6-foot-7, 250-pound Kristich sees nothing but better days ahead.

“I’m excited, everyone’s working hard this season,” Kristich said. “Last year, it was a lot looser and guys were goofing around more. This year, it seems like everyone is more focused; everyone wants to win.”

Winning is something Kristich grew up with.

His older sisters were both volleyball and basketball standouts at La Habra, and both earned all-county honors. Zrinka earned a basketball scholarship to UCLA and Ana received a volleyball scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

The La Habra girls’ volleyball team won two State championships and the basketball team was a fixture in the playoffs during the Kristich era.

Andrija, who has started on varsity since his sophomore year, is continuing the tradition and hopes to bring a league title to La Habra this season.

Kristich, who averaged 11 points and five rebounds, and Troy’s Greg Abbott are the only returning All-Freeway League players this season. La Habra Coach Frank McCarroll knows teams will be watching for his center.

“He’s our No. 1 option in the post,” McCarroll said. “He’s so big and strong, people think he’s a football player at first. But he’s surprisingly quick to the basket, and he’s probably our best free throw shooter.”

Kristich has the build of a potential college lineman, but he gave up the sport after his freshman year.

“You know, you work hard all year for just 10 games,” Kristich said. “In basketball at least, you get, what 30 games during the season and then there’s summer league, too. I just like playing in games.

“Some guys would even try to put down the basketball team to get me to come out for football,” Kristich said. “But things are looking pretty good this season.”

Kristich is optimistic because of the balance the Highlanders have.

“We haven’t had great outside shooters before, but now we do,” Kristich said. “If teams want to double- and triple-team me, that’s fine. I’ll just pass it out to my teammates and they’ll make the shots.”

Ken Cauley and Justin Marshall are two of the Highlanders’ sharpshooters who will have to connect to take the heat off Kristich. He’ll be happy to see more three-pointers from his teammates than opponents.

“Last year, Sonora’s Chris St. Clair was unstoppable when we played at their gym,” Kristich said. “He broke the school’s single-game scoring record, the three-pointer record . . . Everything he threw up went in, and they blew us out.”

St. Clair, a first-team all-county player, is now at Cal State Fullerton.

Kristich has drawn interest from smaller local schools, including Pomona Pitzer and UC San Diego, and said he will wait for the season to unfold before deciding about his future.

In the near future, rematches with Sonora await.

“I’m looking forward to playing them,” Kristich said. “We almost beat them at our place last year, and they’ve been talking a lot of trash. We’ll be ready for them.”