Over 17 years ago, LeBron James and his St. Vincent-St. Mary’s team that went on to win an Ohio state championship and a high school national championship, made a statement in a nationally televised game against California powerhouse Mater Dei at Pauley Pavillion on the UCLA campus. And as the basketball journey of his oldest son Bronny James continues, which already included a game in Ohio vs. St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, will include another full-circle type of moment as Bronny’s Sierra Canyon squad will face Mater Dei on Saturday for the CIF Open Division championship at CSU Long Beach.
At Tuesday’s Lakers shootaround, James was asked about his own memories of playing against Mater Dei and he once again showed his incredible memory in describing a rivalry that dated back to when LeBron was in 8th grade.
“I mean, we obviously we played against them at Pauley against Mater Dei. It was a different situation for us because we felt like it was the same team beating us year after year after year in AAU basketball. In 8th grade, we lost to a lot of those guys in the national championship in Orlando at the Wide World of Sports. It was the AAU national championship and we lost by 1. Then by the time we played them again senior year, we had a lot of pent up frustration animosity, energy towards them and we wanted to beat them. We felt like if we beat them we had a chance to win a national championship and be No. 1 in the country. That was one of those games that showed our team but that’s that. My son’s team, they have a great opportunity to play a really good team on Friday.”
Although James has made several appearances at Bronny’s game’s this season, he will be unable to make his first state championship game as the Lakers have a game in Memphis this Saturday. Sierra Canyon will be looking to win their third consecutive CIF open division title on Saturday.
