LAKE FOREST, Calif.—Shooters shoot. It’s what they do. And make no mistake, Dana Hills High School junior guard Collin Haugh is a shooter.
Even on a night when Orange County’s top boys’ basketball scorer endured some uncharacteristic struggles, Haugh chipped in 16 points Jan. 24 in a 74–56 victory at El Toro that gave the Dolphins a second consecutive Sea View League championship. It marked the first back-to-back league titles for the school in Dana Point that opened its doors in 1973.
“This was one milestone in our goal at the end, which is to win a CIF championship,” Dana Hills Coach Tom Desiano told The Epoch Times.
Two years ago, when Haugh was a freshman starter on a team that also featured his older brother, Griffin, the Dolphins advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 3A championship game before dropping a 54–52 decision to Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara.
With three regular-season dates remaining, including Jan. 26 against visiting Aliso Niguel, this year’s Dana Hills edition is riding a 13-game winning streak and owns a 21–4 overall record, including a 6–0 mark in the Sea View League.
“We’re pretty confident going into CIF,” Haugh told The Epoch Times. “I like our chances.”
Self-belief is a quality Haugh possesses in abundance.
“It doesn’t matter whether he’s playing against high school kids,” Mr. Desiano said. “He could walk in and play in an NBA game, and I’m telling you, he walks in, he thinks he owns the gym. That’s the kind of confidence he has.”
The 6-foot Haugh entered this week averaging 24.8 points per game and already held school records for career points and most in one game, courtesy of a 47-point effort against Highland of Palmdale in late December.
Given that he was shooting better than 50 percent from the floor, not far below that from 3-point range, and had scored 40 points in an 82–75 victory over visiting El Toro on Jan. 17, it was quite a surprise when Haugh missed his first four shots in the rematch against the Chargers.
“That’s not going to deter him,” Mr. Desiano said. “He’s going to think he’s missed four straight, he’s going to make the fifth one. If he missed the fifth one, he’s going to make the sixth one. We let him go. We let him do it because we’ve seen it. He understands that. He doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, about anything.”
Haugh never really got it going at El Toro. He made just six of 16 shots, including two of eight from long distance, but received plenty of support from the team’s seniors.
Post player Nikolis Grguric put up a team-high 19 points, and guard Ryan Torab added 13. Point guard Logan Scodeller, who also displayed some slick playmaking, and Dennis Powers had nine points each, while Jamil McKean came off the bench to contribute eight.
“I mean, it’s frustrating to not see the ball go in the basket, but I know I have teammates that are going to pick me up,” Haugh said. “That’s what makes us so deep.”
Opponents, however, are fully aware that containing Haugh is the top priority in any game plan against the Dolphins. While paying the price elsewhere on the floor, El Toro found some success using a box-and-one defense, with one player assigned to guard Haugh man-to-man while the other four defenders played a zone.
“Every team we play does something like that to him,” Mr. Desiano said. “You would be silly not to. What is amazing is he doesn’t lose his composure. He understands, ‘Hey, this is going to happen to me.’ He doesn’t lose his temper. He doesn’t lose his cool. And kids are all over him. He’s double-teamed constantly. That composure, along with the confidence, makes him the kind of player he is.”
A member of Saddleback College’s athletic hall of fame who also played basketball at San Jose State, Mr. Desiano has been coaching for 33 years, including 21 at Dana Hills.
“I’ve never had a kid like that, where he has that mental part of the game,” said the coach, who knew something special was possible when he first saw Haugh as a youngster at the school’s basketball camp.
“He’s a tireless worker,” Mr. Desiano said. “Any accolades he has, he’s earned because he’s in the gym whenever he can be. When no one’s watching, that’s when you get better. There aren’t a lot of kids who are willing to do that. He’s one of them. He’s living up to what God gave him. He’s not a very big kid. He’s not super-athletic. But he gets every ounce he can out of what he was given. You don’t see that a lot, at all.”
