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Column: Ball brothers, Josh Shipp, Jeremy Lin and JuJu Watkins highlight Sacramento basketball moments

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Column: Ball brothers, Josh Shipp, Jeremy Lin and JuJu Watkins highlight Sacramento basketball moments

A trip to Sacramento to play for a state championship in an NBA arena is one of the coolest things that can happen to a high school basketball player living in California.

Yeah, sportswriters coming to the event every year might occasionally get bored or even annoyed (8 p.m. starts for TV test our patience), but the reality is that it’s for the players and fans, and having the Golden 1 Center as the site with just a $16 general admission fee can’t be beat.

There will be 12 championship games on Friday and Saturday, and unless you find me at the Yard House restaurant, it’s watching nonstop basketball from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day. Spectrum has the TV rights, so look for games on the Lakers channel or Spectrum 1 News.

For those who like history, let me offer my favorite moments from championships of the past in Sacramento:

Chino Hills goes 35-0

The Chino Hills circus bus arrived in Sacramento in 2016 unbeaten and left unbeaten. The Ball brothers provided the greatest entertainment next to Taylor Swift. It was a team for the ages.

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Seared in my memory is the opening jump ball at Sleep Train Arena. Chino Hills is facing De La Salle, and 14-year-old freshman LaMelo Ball is yawning on the court. Chino Hills fell behind by 10 points, then won 70-50 with all kinds of vintage plays, dunks and fast breaks.

“For us it was unique,” former Chino Hills coach Steve Baik said this week. “The year before, we lost. We were in a different frame of mind. Every single game throughout that year, there was so much pressure to win. We knew one loss would have been considered a failing year. Our guys really weren’t celebrating after regional wins. We finally got to celebrate after beating De La Salle.”

Most of the players stayed in their hotel rooms the night before, but Baik remembers freshman Onyeka Okongwu hanging out in the pool, which might have explained him struggling in the first half when Chino Hills trailed for the first time at halftime 30-28. In the second half, he started blocking shots and helped ignite fast breaks. Then came the celebrating, and you all know how much the father of the Ball brothers, LaVar, likes to talk.

Jeremy Lin bank shot

Palo Alto played Santa Ana Mater Dei in the 2006 Division II champinship game at Arco Arena. Mater Dei had a front line at that stood 7 feet 1, 6-8 and 6-8. Taylor King was the star player. But Palo Alto had a Harvard-bound guard named Jeremy Lin.

Palo Alto won 51-47.

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Those were the days when Mater Dei never lost in state finals. Lin banked in a 25-foot shot with 2:07 left to send Palo Alto fans into a frenzy.

“The bank shot broke our back,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said in 2006.

Palo Alto finished 33-1. Lin went on to Harvard and the NBA.

Josh Shipp sets record

One issue for high school athletes playing in an NBA arena is that sometimes it’s a lot harder to shoot from long range. That wasn’t a problem for Josh Shipp of Fairfax in 2004. He scored 33 points in the Division I regional overtime final at the Sports Arena against Etiwanda.

Then, playing in the state final at Arco Arena, where shooting threes often turns out badly, he tied a Division I state record with five threes in a 51-35 victory over De La Salle. He finished with 22 points.

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All I remember is giving Harvey Kitani, the always superstitious Fairfax coach, a lemonade before the game because he demanded it after I gave him one before the regional final.

Shipp would go on to have a terrific career at UCLA. “Josh could always score. It didn’t matter where he was playing,” Kitani said.

JuJu Watkins power

JuJu Watkins of Sierra Canyon poses for a portrait.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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As a freshman in 2020, Juju Watkins was already the best player in Southern California. By 2022, she was leading Sierra Canyon to the Open Division state championship with an 85-61 dismantling of San Jose Archbishop Mitty.

Watkins had 23 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, six blocked shots and three steals in the final game of her junior season. There was no need to make predictions of her future greatness.

As a freshman at USC this season, Watkins is averaging 27.8 points.

Trevor Ariza show

There was no stopping Trevor Ariza of Westchester in the 2003 Division I state championship game against Oakland Tech. He led the Comets to their second straight title with a 30-point performance against a team that featured McDonald’s All-American Leon Powe.

Coach Ed Azzam said, “He’s one of the best players we’ve ever had because he’s so versatile.”

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Nothing could be truer. Ariza went on to UCLA and the NBA while becoming a dependable three-point shooter and defender.

“It was a fun group,” Azzam said this week.

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UFL 2026: Full Regular-Season Schedules, Results for All 8 Teams

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UFL 2026: Full Regular-Season Schedules, Results for All 8 Teams

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The 2026 UFL season kicked off on March 27 on FOX UFL Friday, and it consists of a 10-week regular season ending on May 31, followed by playoffs starting the week of June 7 and the championship game later that month.

There are new teams, new coaches, new players and new uniforms this season — and that’s just the beginning.

The league’s media partners — FOX, FS1, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 — combine to broadcast all 43 games during the UFL’s third season. Select games in Spanish will also air across FOX Deportes and ESPN Deportes. 

Here are the full 2026 schedules for all eight teams:

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Week 1 (March 27-29)

Week 2 (April 3-7)

Week 3 (April 10-12)

Week 4 (April 16-18)

Week 5 (April 24-26)

Week 6 (April 30-May 3)

  • St. Louis Battlehawks @ Louisville Kings (Thursday, April 30 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1)
  • Houston Gamblers @ Columbus Aviators (Friday, May 1 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • Dallas Renegades @ DC Defenders (Saturday, May 2 at noon ET on ABC)
  • Birmingham Stallions @ Orlando Storm (Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX)

Week 7 (May 8-10)

  • Columbus Aviators @ St. Louis Battlehawks (Friday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • Louisville Kings @ DC Defenders (Saturday, May 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • Dallas Renegades @ Birmingham Stallions (Saturday, May 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN)
  • Orlando Storm @ Houston Gamblers (Sunday, May 10 at 6 p.m. ET on FS1)

Week 8 (May 15-17)

  • Orlando Storm @ Dallas Renegades (Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • DC Defenders @ Louisville Kings (Saturday, May 16 at noon ET on ABC)
  • Houston Gamblers @ St. Louis Battlehawks (Saturday, May 16 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC)
  • Columbus Aviators @ Birmingham Stallions (Sunday, May 17 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX)

Week 9 (May 22-24)

  • DC Defenders @ Orlando Storm (Friday, May 22 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • Birmingham Stallions @ Columbus Aviators (Saturday, May 23 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC)
  • Dallas Renegades @ Louisville Kings (Sunday, May 24 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • St. Louis Battlehawks @ Houston Gamblers (Sunday, May 24 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2)

Week 10 (May 29-31)

  • Dallas Renegades @ St. Louis Battlehawks (Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)
  • Houston Gamblers @ Birmingham Stallions (Saturday, May 30 at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2)
  • Orlando Storm @ DC Defenders (Sunday, May 31 at noon ET on ABC)
  • Louisville Kings @ Columbus Aviators (Sunday, May 31 at 6 p.m. ET on FOX)

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Mater Dei’s Matteo Huarte wins CIF boys’ singles title at Ojai tournament

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Mater Dei’s Matteo Huarte wins CIF boys’ singles title at Ojai tournament

At a school with the rich athletic tradition of Santa Ana Mater Dei, it is rare to be the first to achieve anything, but Matteo Huarte made history Saturday by becoming the Monarchs’ only CIF singles champion at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

After losing in straight sets to Rishvanth Krishna from Irvine University in last year’s final, Huarte was not about to squander his second chance. He raced to an early lead in the first-set tiebreaker, then broke to open the second set on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson in front of a packed grandstand at Libbey Park.

Huarte had four service breaks — the last being a cross-court passing shot on match point. The final resembled Huarte’s semifinal win versus Irvine University’s JiHyuk Im in which he took the first-set tiebreaker 7-4 then cruised 6-2 in the second set.

“I’m happy I was able to do it for my school,” said Huarte, a junior who has committed to USC. “We’ve played each other a couple times and the key was to manage his serve and get into the rally. Once I got ahead of him in the tiebreak and then won the first game of the second set I was able to run away with it.”

Mater Dei’s only other title in the Ojai tournament’s long and storied history came in doubles in 2008 when Charlie Alvarado and Chris Freeman upset top-seeded Tyler Bowman and Jon Kazarian of Peninsula in three sets.

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“It’s kind of hard to believe I’m the first to do it,” said Huarte about his singles title.

Last year, Huarte fell in the Southern Section semifinals to Palos Verdes ninth-grader Andrew Johnson, who went on to beat Tallakson 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Tallakson was trying to make history of his own Saturday at a venue near and dear to his heart.

Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson celebrates after his quarterfinal victory over Beckman’s Rohan Grewal at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

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“I started playing tennis down in lower Libbey, my dad Steve grew up here and won the men’s tournament, so this place is like home for my family,” said Tallakson, who quickly downed Palisades freshman Kensho Ford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals. “Matteo came out real aggressive, I made a couple errors on big points and he was just the better player today.”

Tallakson won the boys’ 14s division at Ojai in 2022 and had he prevailed Saturday, he would have been the first player to capture CIF singles and doubles titles at Ojai since Santa Barbara’s Nathan Jackmon won the doubles in 1993 and the singles in 1994. Tallakson won the doubles crown in 2023 with older brother Avery, with whom he will reunite next year at Boise State.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas and Edward Feuer completed one of the most dominant runs through the doubles draw ever seen at Ojai by beating Harvard-Westlake’s Aaron Chung and Chase Klugo 6-4, 6-2 in the finals. The Panthers’ duo did not drop a set in six matches and did not give up more than three games in a set until the first set Saturday when they broke in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and then served it out.

Bringas and Feuer are the first Peninsula pair to reach the CIF final at Ojai since 2011 and the third tandem in history to win it, joining Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian in 2001, and Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan the following year.

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Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas, left, and Edward Feuer celebrate after winning.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas, left, and Edward Feuer celebrate after winning the CIF boys’ doubles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“We’ve been playing together since second or third grade and we’ve been best friends since middle school at Ridgecrest Intermediate [in Palos Verdes],” Bringas said. “I always play the ad side, he’s always played the deuce court. I think the key was big serves … they make it easy for the net person to put balls away.”

Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year. They made a measly three unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal wipeout of Marina’s David Tran and Alejandro Hill. Tran was playing in his second straight final, having taken the runner-up prize with Trevor Nguyen in 2025.

“We were confident we’d win, but we felt the pressure and knew there are a lot of good teams here,” said Feuer, who plays No. 1 singles for dual matches while Bringas plays the No. 1 doubles spot with another teammate. “It’ll be really strange playing against each other next year.”

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Bringas is bound for Westmont College and Feuer is headed to Point Loma Nazarene — rival NCAA Division II programs in the Pacific West Conference.

Harvard-Westlake, Woodbridge and University shared the Griggs Cup trophy, presented to the school with the most combined wins in singles and doubles. All three notched seven victories to force a three-way tie for only the fifth time since the award debuted in 1955 and the first since Santa Barbara, Palisades and Fresno Bullard were tri-champions in 1997. University has won it 13 times.

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Wave of WWE superstars depart company after WrestleMania 42

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Wave of WWE superstars depart company after WrestleMania 42

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If the Super Bowl marks the end of the NFL season, WrestleMania is when WWE’s year is over.

There is no offseason in WWE, and when waves of departures hit the company, it hits harder than a Gunther knife-edge chop.

Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross appear during SmackDown at First Horizon Center in Savannah, Ga., on May 23, 2025. (Rich Freeda/WWE)

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Fightful and BodySlam both reported several superstars who left WWE on Friday ahead of “Friday Night SmackDown.” Some wrestlers confirmed their departures on social media.

Those who left included: Alba Fyre, Aleister Black, Alex Shelley, Andre Chase, Apollo Crews, Bo Dallas, Chris Island, Chris Sabin, Dante Chen, Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, Kairi Sane, Luca Crusifino, Malik Blade, Nikki Cross, Santos Escobar, Sirena Linton, Trill London, Tyra Mae Steele, Tyriek Igwe, Tyson Dupont, Zelina Vegas and Zoey Stark.

The WWE roster is loaded as it is with several NXT stars getting called up this week.

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Sol Ruca made her presence felt on Raw on Monday when she challenged women’s champion Liv Morgan. The Fatal Influence faction of Jacy Jayne, Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley took aim at the women’s tag team division on SmackDown on Friday. Ricky Saints and Blake Monroe also had vignettes for their upcoming appearances.

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Meanwhile, former NXT champion Oba Femi has been on main WWE programming for the last few weeks and beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42.

Kairi Sane enters the ring during Monday Night RAW at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on April 13, 2026. (Rich Freeda/WWE)

Aleister Black and Zelina Vega make their way to the ring during SmackDown at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 3, 2026. (Craig Melvin/WWE)

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It’s not the end of the road for any of the recent departures. Several former WWE stars have made waves elsewhere. Some have even returned over the course of time.

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