The team currently competes in the Ocean League and plays its home games on the Santa Monica High School campus. The program is led by longtime head coach James Hecht and has been one of Samohi’s most successful athletic programs, with five CIF Southern Section championships and numerous league titles and postseason appearances.

Samohi won its first CIF Southern Section basketball championship in 1925, followed by titles in 1928, 1987, 2013 and 2016. The 1928 Vikings also reached the California state championship game, while the 1987 team, coached by Cliff Hunter, defeated Westlake 62–60 for the 4-A title. Under Hecht, Samohi returned to the CIF final in 2010 before winning the Division 1A championship in 2013, defeating El Toro 66–56. That team continued through the state playoffs and reached the CIF Division I State Championship game, the school’s first state final of the modern era. Three years later, the Vikings captured their fifth Southern Section title with a 66–60 comeback victory over Temecula Valley, finishing the 2015–16 season with a 29–3 record.

Boys Varsity Basketball

Memories

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