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Aaron Glass leads Rancho Cucamonga boys basketball team past Etiwanda in Baseline League championship game – San Bernardino Sun

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RANCHO CUCAMONGA — Etiwanda boys basketball coach Danny Ryan pleaded with his team early Wednesday night not to let Rancho Cucamonga senior Aaron Glass shoot.

That’s easier said than done.

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Rancho Cucamonga’s Aaron Glass drives to the basket as Etiwanda’s Devin Mitchell defends during the first half at Rancho Cucamonga High School on Wednesday evening Feb. 5, 2025. Rancho Cucamonga came from behind to defeat Etiwanda 62-58 in the Baseline League boys basketball tournament championship game. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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Glass scored a game-high 35 points, including the tie-breaking basket with 40 seconds remaining, to lift the Cougars to a 62-58 victory in the inaugural Baseline League championship game in front of a boisterous crowd at Rancho Cucamonga High School. It was the Cougars’ first league title since 2013, when they shared the title with Etiwanda.

“This is one of the biggest goals I had all year,” the Texas A&M-bound Glass said of winning league.  “Before every season I write down my goals and this was at the top of the list for sure. Getting this is a great accomplishment.”

Etiwanda (17-12 overall, 5-2 league) had taken the lead late in the first quarter and the Eagles led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter (32-22). A layup by Samuel Funn gave Etiwanda a 58-54 lead with 3:40 left, but that would be the last points the Eagles would score.

Glass actually scored the first six points of the game-ending 8-0 run, including the tying basket with 1:33 to play for the Cougars (24-7, 7-0).

“We did a better job of rebounding (in the second half),” said Cougars coach Bill Burke, who picked up his 500th career victory last week in the tournament’s semifinal win over Los Osos. “We went to our little half-court trap and it kind of sped them up a little bit. We got the pace and tempo going in our favor.”

For the first time this year, the Baseline League changed the traditional two rounds of league games into one round of league play that determined the seeding for the league tournament. Rancho Cucamonga earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and the home game Wednesday by going undefeated in league play. Etiwanda was the No. 2 seed.

Wednesday was actually the third matchup between the teams this season. Etiwanda won the first meeting on Dec. 7, 60-58 in the championship game of the IE Classic. Rancho Cucamonga won the other league matchup 67-41 on Jan. 15.

Glass was outstanding, going 11 of 20 from the field, including 4-of 9 on 3-pointers and 9 for 10 from the free-throw line.

But the rest of the team was just as important. Glass, who missed the other league meeting against Etiwanda due to illness, scored 19 points in the first half. But the rest of the Cougars scored only eight and the team trailed 36-27.

McKel Shedrick scored seven of his 10 points in the second half, and Diego Murguia scored all seven of his points off the bench in the second half. And Aiden Jensen had only three points, but he had five rebounds (including one in the final minute). He recovered a loose ball off a deflection in the final seconds and scored the game’s final two points on free throws.

“He (Glass) had 19 in the first half, but I thought we did a good job of shutting everyone else down,” Ryan said. “The biggest difference is we let guys we held to zero to two points in the first half, score six, seven, eight points.”



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