Blair High School Varsity Basketball Team Wins CIF-SS Division 5A Championship

Blair High School’s varsity basketball team made history Saturday night by winning its first CIF-SS championship title. The team defeated Santa Paula, the third seed in Division 5A, scoring 84-59 in the title game at Colony High School played in Ontario, Calif. 

The victory was a remarkable turnaround for Blair, which had suffered losses in the CIF-SS finals in 1983 and 2017 and had a disappointing record over the past four years.

Blair and Santa Paula will both advance to the CIF State regional playoffs, which begin on Tuesday. The playoff pairings will be released on Sunday afternoon.

Before the game, Head Coach Devon Richardson said he was proud of his team’s progress and credited Assistant Coach Tommy Anderson, father of freshman Vikings standout Timmy Anderson,  for helping develop the players.

Anderson was a top Viking performer Saturday with sophomore Keshrey Smith Jr. and senior Shakour Sidney.

After the victory, Richardson told Southern California Newspaper Group Local Sports Editor Fred Robledo he was ‘speechless.’

“You talk about it all year long, you set out for it, plan for it, and it’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears. That was the goal, to win a championship and we refused to settle for anything less,” Davidson told Robledo.

Blair is the only Pasadena Unified School District boys’ basketball team to reach the CIF-SS championships this season.