Slow Start, Dream Finish for Sunny Hills

From this day on, whenever a basketball team has nine losses in December and the season looks bleak, all the coach has to say is, “Remember Sunny Hills High.”

No scriptwriter could have dreamed up what Fullerton Sunny Hills pulled off Saturday, winning the Southern Section Division II-AA boys’ basketball championship with a 41-38 victory over Villa Park at the Arrowhead Pond.

This was a team that once had a 3-9 record. This was a team that finished the regular season with 13 losses. This was a team that defeated four league champions over a two-week stretch. This was a team that scored only 11 points in the first half Saturday, trailed by 13 points at halftime and still won.

“I don’t know what to say,” said standout senior guard James Kim, who led the Lancers with 14 points. “It feels like a dream. My coach just pinched me and told me it’s real.”

No player has been more steady or valuable in the playoffs than the 6-foot Kim, who has a 4.5 grade-point average, scored 1,450 on his SAT and is the student body treasurer. He’s good with money and good under pressure.

His three-point shot late in the fourth quarter gave Sunny Hills the lead for good. Then he made five clutch free throws in the final minute.

Last week, in a 57-48 victory over third-seeded Los Angeles Loyola in a quarterfinal playoff game, he scored 20 points, including a shot from far behind the half-court line.

“When you go through the playoffs and want to be champion, sometimes you need a little luck,” Kim said.

Each team that lost to Sunny Hills in the playoffs probably thinks it could win a rematch. And they might be right, but Sunny Hills’ championship was no fluke.

As Villa Park guard Kyle Johnson pointed out, “They’re better than what they look. They get it done. They’re not flashy, but they’re tough.”

Coach Randy Wellen was able to mold a starting lineup of five seniors into a championship team because he got them to play outstanding defense, led by 6-8 center Mickey Gonzalez.

No opponent in the playoffs scored more than 49 points against Sunny Hills.

“They do not break down,” Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds said. “Gonzalez does a great job in the middle, taking away the key.”

Added Wellen: “These kids just refuse to lose. It’s all about them.”

Lives were changed over the past month as Sunny Hills made its playoff run.

“The past few weeks has been so much fun,” Kim said. “Even in class, the first 20 minutes, everyone wants to talk” about basketball.

Wellen called Kim “a program player,” someone who started out on the freshman team, played junior varsity as a sophomore and was a varsity reserve last season. He played not to impress college recruiters but simply to have fun.

“To be honest, we never expected to get here,” Kim said. “We were capable but it didn’t seem realistic. As we progressed through the playoffs, we weren’t satisfied.”

When the team trailed at halftime, 24-11, no one panicked.

“This game is probably the best ending for a movie,” he said. “We were down by 13 points and a lot of teams would have given up. The five seniors play with so much heart and so much passion, we wouldn’t let the season end like that.”

As the final buzzer sounded, Sunny Hills players began a victory celebration at half court. You could feel their elation. They had made a sports fantasy come true.

“It’s the most coachable group I’ve ever had,” Wellen said. “They make adjustments and they’ve been doing it over and over, and I’m so proud of them.”

Wellen, in his ninth season, was so overwhelmed that during the postgame meeting with the media, he had to be reminded of the question he was answering.

“I’m so dizzy,” he said.

Kim has no intention of playing basketball in college, so any day, his career will be over.

“This is it,” he said. “It’s a great way to leave high school. I’m going to miss it so much.”

Kim, who’s in charge of the student body finances, must find a way to pay for the Sunny Hills championship rings.

“I’ll try to work something out,” he said.

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