Success Strengthens This Sibling Rivalry

Brothers Buchi and Chuma Awaji would have enjoyed being high school teammates, but instead they’ve been relegated to puffing up their chests and trading one-liners in an ongoing duel over who plays for the better basketball team, L.A. Loyola or L.A. Dorsey.

“It goes back and forth,” said Chuma, a 6-foot-3 senior guard at Dorsey (23-2). “We talk who’s better and who can beat whom.”

Buchi, a 6-2 junior guard at Loyola (19-7), refuses to let his brother win any arguments.

“All I say is we’re two-time defending CIF champs,” he said. “I think we’d win. Dorsey has no center and would have no answer for Jordan Wilkes.”

But who would win the duel between the Awaji brothers?

Chuma started for three years at L.A. Murphy before transferring to Dorsey this season. He’s averaging 16 points and has provided a big boost for the Dons, seeded No. 2 in the City Section playoffs.

“He’s very disciplined and has the fundamentals down,” Dorsey Coach Kevin Gibson said. “In pressure situations, he does a good job and keeps everyone calm.”

Chuma stays calm because he gets tested in one-on-one games against Buchi at the local park.

“It’s very intense,” Chuma said. “We take it very serious, because we don’t like to lose.”

Buchi is averaging eight points for the Mission League champion Cubs and has earned respect for his aggressive defense.

“I like his game,” Chuma said of Buchi. “When he gets on the floor, he’s very patient. He looks for his teammates.”

Education is important in the Awaji household. Their parents, both of whom were born in Nigeria, are college graduates. A brother attends UC Irvine.

Chuma tried to enroll at Loyola but wasn’t accepted. He has a 3.7 grade-point average at Dorsey.

Buchi wants to become a lawyer, and practices his closing argument skills almost every day.

“I have a tendency to argue a lot and try to prove myself,” he said.

Added Chuma: “He always has to have the last word on everything. That’s just how he is.”

Except when the brothers square off in basketball. Chuma knows how to quiet Buchi: He goes inside.

“He tries to outmuscle me, and I use my quickness to go right by him,” Buchi said.

Because Dorsey and Loyola are in different playoff divisions, the two schools won’t play each other if their teams qualify for the state tournament, denying the brothers a chance to settle their season-long argument.

But the brothers hope to attend each other’s championship games. Chuma wants to be at the Arrowhead Pond watching Buchi in the Southern Section II-AA final. Buchi wants to be at the Sports Arena to cheer Chuma in the City final.

If both teams win championships, the Awaji brothers will gladly shake hands and smile all the way to the jewelry store to claim their championship rings.

*

Marie Ishida, the executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, had good news and bad news for 6-9 junior center Amir Johnson last week when she made a final ruling on recruiting allegations involving Westchester’s basketball program.

She exonerated Johnson from a Rule 510 violation, determining the City rules committee was in error to declare him ineligible for transferring from Los Angeles Verbum Dei to Westchester because of an alleged recruiting violation by an assistant coach.

But Ishida concluded that Johnson altered a midterm grade report from Verbum Dei, upholding a year’s suspension from athletics for providing false information to the City Section.

*

There could be a sellout crowd at West Hills Chaminade tonight when top-seeded Compton Centennial (26-2) takes on Chaminade (15-15) in a Southern Section Division III-A boys’ basketball quarterfinal game.

That’s because UCLA fans, looking forward to the future, figure to pack the gym to get a sneak peek at future Bruin guard Arron Afflalo of Centennial. Afflalo, a McDonald’s All-American, will be going against another future Bruin, Marcus Everett, who signed with UCLA for football.

This will be the fifth time in the last seven seasons that these teams have met in the playoffs. Three times the game wasn’t decided until the final buzzer.

“We put the schedule together for this game,” Chaminade Coach Bryan Cantwell said of the Eagles’ competitive nonleague schedule.

*

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.