The boys basketball matchup that has been talked about for weeks is finally happening.

Maranatha (17-17) is taking on San Gabriel Academy (19-13) in the CIF State Division III Regional championship at Pasadena High School today at 7:30 p.m. A berth in Saturday’s state championship game in Sacramento is on the line.

When the playoff brackets for CIF Southern Section Division 3AA came out last month, many area fans hoped to see a meeting between the teams in the championship game, but both lost in the semifinals.

Those setbacks were tough to deal with, but both teams got a second chance in the state playoffs. Now they’re playing for a CIF Southern California Regional title and a chance to possibly win a state title.

“My kids, they could have folded up,” Maranatha coach Tim Tucker said. “That was an emotional loss (in the semifinals). There was one practice where I thought they didn’t want to go through this again. But we pulled it back together, we’re playing good and here we are.”

The storylines for today’s game are intriguing. The game will be played at Pasadena High, which is a familiar place for Tucker. Not only did Tucker play at PHS, but he coached there for 18 seasons, winning two CIF-SS titles and 15 league championships before leaving to coach at Maranatha in 2019.

San Gabriel Academy’s head coach is Daniel Piepoli, who played for Tucker at Pasadena, setting up a teacher vs. student title game at their old stomping grounds.

“I’ll be elated if we win, but happy for him (Piepoli) if we lose,” Tucker said. “I respect what they do and we’re two teams playing very well. I’m expecting a war out there with those guys. We’re going to leave everything on the court. But yeah, it’s going to be fun going back to Pasadena, especially with Danny, and playing this game in a great environment like an old Muir-PHS type game.”

With Maranatha, don’t be fooled by its .500 record. The Minutemen started the season with several players out because of injuries, resulting in a 1-6 record after seven games.

But Maranatha has gone 6-1 since the playoffs started and has rebounded from its loss to Knight in the 3AA semifinals with three straight wins in the state playoffs, including a 77-57 victory over Mira Mesa in the regional semifinals.

Maranatha is led by 6-foot-8 senior forward Chris Smith, who averages 14 points, and 6-foot-7 junior Harrison Harper, averaging 12 points.

“Chris Smith is playing his best basketball of the year, and we all know how good he is,” Tucker said. “He’s one of the most talented kids in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley. He can guard every position, and he’s got it going right now.”

Sophomore guard George Pamilton, who returned in the final week of league play after being out with a broken hand, had 16 points in a recent game. The Minutemen have others, like Jagger Topp, Giacomo Manzella and Bryan Lopez-Wood, who can fill out a stat sheet.

San Gabriel Academy is long and athletic. After SGA lost to Sage Hill 45-43 in the CIF-SS Division 3AA semifinals, it regrouped and has gone on a strong run in the regional playoffs.

SGA knocked off top-seeded Palisades 63-45 in the regional semifinals and has won every state playoff game by double digits.

Maranatha will have to figure out how to contain Eagles 6-foot-11 forward/cener Mahamadou Diop, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds in their win over Palisades. Diop had 24 points in their regional quarterfinal win over Mission College Prep 74-60.

The Eagles also boast 6-foot-8 Mohamed Touré, who is a double-double machine along with Xavier Wang, Coco Britt and Oumar Dabo.

“They had some early-season struggles like us, but they figured it out,” Tucker said of San Gabriel Academy. “I really love how they play. They get after it and Danny has them playing well. Like I said, it’s going to be a war out there.”

Tucker looks at this as a rewarding opportunity after the early-season injuries and what the team went through with the Eaton fire that impacted his team and community.

“It’s just great to have this chance this late in the season,” Tucker said. “We’ve gone through so much with injuries and everything else. It was one of those whatever could go wrong, would go wrong type of things early. But I kept telling our guys something good is going to come out of all this and they stuck to it. I give them a lot of credit.”