It’s uncommon for a college to subject a group of future, a lot much less two.
The Cal State Dominguez Hills males’s and girls’s basketball groups, nonetheless, managed to concurrently ship historic 30-plus win seasons.
The one smudge on an in any other case record-setting 12 months got here when the confetti fell at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh and Ford Middle in Evansville, Ind., because the Toros watched their opponents celebrated profitable NCAA Division II nationwide titles.
Each groups have been understandably deflated within the aftermath, however they remained grateful for his or her journeys to nationwide championship video games.
“Making school history, never been to this point, we’re incredibly proud,” males’s basketball coach Steve Becker stated. “As much as the competitor in you is frustrated with the final outcome, I just have such a rare, incredible, special group of people in our locker room that I just love so much.”
Cal State Dominguez Hills gamers have fun advancing to the Elite Eight throughout the NCAA match. The Toros reached the nationwide title sport for the primary time in class historical past and misplaced.
(Matt Brown / Cal State Dominguez Hills)
Becker’s group was 24 seconds away from glory when David Cheatom’s jumper gave them a 73-72 lead in opposition to powerhouse Nova Southeastern. Nonetheless, two Sharks free throws and a last-second miss from Cheatom because the clock expired sealed the Toros’ 74-73 loss on March 29
“We did the best job against the team that does it the best in the country,” Becker stated. “To be quite honest, if I could do it over, I would do the exact same thing in terms of the last play call and how it all went down.”
Girls’s basketball coach John Bonner, coming off a .500 season marred by accidents, dominated the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and entered the nationwide championship sport with a 36-1 document. The Toros fell 70-58 to Grand Valley State College on March 28.
“There’s a small wound there, when you go that far and you want to get it done, and you feel like you didn’t play your best basketball in that game,” Bonner stated. “But I think as that wound heals, there’s a lot to still reflect on.”
The Cal State Dominguez Hills ladies’s basketball group gathers for a photograph after incomes a spot within the Division II ladies’s NCAA match Elite Eight. The Toros misplaced within the nationwide title sport.
(Matt Brown / Cal State Dominguez Hills)
It was the primary time each packages reached the NCAA championship sport — a uncommon accomplishment that introduced the Toros nationwide recognition.
Becker remembers one announcer approaching him and saying, “Hey, no one knew about you guys. You put your university on the map,” a praise that left him feeling proud.
The boys’s group received a convention championship final season and was constructed on a core of upperclassmen led by seventh-year senior Alex Garcia, who helped construct this system.
“Every year, when people could have gone their separate ways — I mean, a lot of people had options to do that — it was just, ‘No, I want to play again with all my friends,’” Garcia stated. “We just kept choosing to come back and play for coach Beck because it was family.”
Becker appreciated that in an period dominated by the lure of NIL cash and the switch portal, his core stayed collectively for a singular mission.
“We were the ones like, ‘No, we’re going to go and try to win a national championship,’” Garcia stated. “If we fall sooner than that, we fall sooner than that. But that needs to be the level that we get to. … That set the tone for the whole year.”
In the meantime, the ladies’s group set its championship expectations throughout an annual seaside journey simply earlier than the beginning of the season. It was a change in mindset for senior Asia Jordan, who stated she wasn’t enthusiastic about profitable titles when she first joined this system. Rising up minutes away from Dominguez Hills in Lakewood, the first-generation faculty scholar’s major objective was to make use of basketball to earn an schooling.
However after final season’s success, the Toros seemed to construct a “super team.”
“We set in our minds that we wanted to win a national championship,” she stated. “As soon as we stepped on the court in the preseason, everybody was locked into the goal.”
The boys’s group confirmed its resolve when Garcia hit a tying three-pointer within the closing seconds in opposition to Dallas Baptist, capping an unimaginable comeback. The Toros trailed by as many as 19 factors, however Garcia’s shot despatched the sport to extra time. Cal State Dominguez Hills received in extra time, incomes a spot within the nationwide championship sport.
Each rosters attain championship video games beneath the course of veteran coaches.
Can State Dominguez Hills’ Nala Williams goes up for a shot beneath strain from Coker College gamers. The Toros received the Elite Eight sport on March 24, 2025.
(Matt Brown / Cal State Dominguez Hills)
Bonner and Becker started their careers on the college a few years aside and remodeled dormant packages. Throughout their respective postseason runs, the 2 would discuss typically, sharing phrases of encouragement as they rooted for one another to perform one thing extraordinary.
“He and I … have been through so many different athletic directors, leadership changes and he’s a friend,” Becker stated of Bonner. “To see us accomplish this rare, special feat together in the same year has been a really rewarding experience.”
The 2 groups solid an in depth bond — joking round within the athletic coaching rooms, whereas crossing paths on campus and earlier than and after practices.
The boys’s group gathered in a ballroom, watching the ladies play within the Remaining 4 and the nationwide championship sport a state away.
On the flight again to Los Angeles, the ladies’s gamers have been glued to their screens, watching the lads battle for a nationwide title.
“I wouldn’t have been back playing basketball or walking around right now if it weren’t for the people around me — my teammates, my coaches and my family,” Garcia stated. “Throughout the whole season, it’s always just been, ‘Lean on your brother.’ That’s been the most important thing I’ve learned here.”
Although her group didn’t win a championship, Jordan stated she’s grateful for every little thing she’s skilled inside the basketball program.
“Coming to Dominguez was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” Jordan stated. “It definitely changed the trajectory of my life.”
