Chino Hills needs one more victory for a perfect season

There are moments in Southern California prep sports history that people never forget.

There was Dec. 14, 1956, when 41,383 showed up in the fog for a CIF championship football game at the Coliseum matching 12-0 Downey and Randy Meadows against 12-0 Anaheim and Mickey Flynn. The game ended in a 13-13 tie.

There was March 6, 1981, when 14,123 roaring fans came to the Sports Arena to see Dwayne Polee of Manual Arts score 43 points while making 17 of 20 shots in the City Section championship basketball game against Crenshaw.

And then there was March 19, 2016, the day a standing-room only crowd of 4,556 packed the Pyramid in Long Beach to see unbeaten Chino Hills roll to its 34th consecutive victory, an 84-62 triumph over Torrance Bishop Montgomery in the Open Division Southern California Regional final.

Rob Wigod, the Southern Section commissioner, was outside before the game helping thousands of people waiting in line stay calm as officials cleared the arena from the earlier five championship games.

“That was incredible,” Wigod said. “The line went so far around the building and they were so nice and I kept telling them, ‘We’re not starting the game without you.’”

What a show Chino Hills put on. UCLA-bound Lonzo Ball contributed 13 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and seven steals. Brother LiAngelo Ball had 27 points and made so many bank shots that John Wooden was probably smiling from above.

The two crowd favorites were 14-year-old freshman LaMelo Ball and 15-year-old freshman Onyeka Okongwu. LaMelo was seemingly dancing on the court while dribbling the ball wearing his neon shoes. The crowd noise was almost deafening after he made a three-pointer falling out of bounds.

“I love it just pleasing the crowd and hearing them roar,” he said.

The 6-foot-9 Okongwu, perhaps the team’s most improved player from beginning to end, came out on fire, making 15-foot shots, intimidating inside and leading a smothering defense that held Bishop Montgomery to 17 first-half points.

“I was trying to make sure they didn’t get any easy points in the paint,” Okongwu said.

And Eli Scott delivered one of his thunderous dunks that have become common during the Huskies’ playoff run.

Doug Mitchell, the coach at Bishop Montgomery, did his best trying to deal with the Huskies’ onslaught, twice calling timeout in the first quarter.

“I just thought we were tentative and overwhelmed by the moment,” he said.

To understand the Chino Hills mania sweeping Southern California and filling gyms wherever they play, I went up to the top row of the Pyramid at halftime to find someone who paid $10 for one of the 200 standing-room only tickets.

Manny Rodriguez of Los Angeles said he ended up buying a ticket from a scalper for $20 and couldn’t have been happier resting on a railing.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “This is crazy for a high school game.”

Chino Hills (34-0) has one game left on its schedule — the Open Division championship game set for 8 p.m. on Saturday against Concord De La Salle at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. You have to wonder if anyone will be left in Chino Hills this weekend, because the other neighborhood high school, Ayala (33-3), is playing in the Division III championship game Thursday at 4 p.m. against Manteca.

The arena seating capacity is 17,317, and the Ball brothers are promising to finally celebrate after a victory if Chino Hills wins a state title.

“If we win, we’re definitely going to celebrate,” Lonzo Ball set. “We’ve got one more game to prove everything.”

And no one should forget that Chino Hills loves playing in an arena setting.

As Coach Steve Baik puts it, “The bigger the stage, the better we play.”

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATSondheimer¿