SAN LEANDRO, CA., 3/2/26 — Ukiah native Elias Obenyah starred in the CIF North Coast Section Open Division high school boys basketball championship over the weekend, getting a steal and go-ahead basket in the final minute of the game to win the title for Salesian College Preparatory from Richmond.
Obenyah, a senior who is going to Stanford University on a basketball scholarship after graduation, had 13 points in the game on Saturday in San Leandro against Clayton Valley Charter High School, but the most important were his final two to put Salesian ahead 50-49 with a layup after a steal at midcourt and Salesian held on for the 51-49 win.
Salesian will now play in the regional semifinals of the CIF state championship Open Division next weekend. Obenyah after high school will join a highly touted men’s basketball freshman class that included Aziz Olajuwon, the son of one of the all-time basketball greats, Hakeem Olajuwon.
Obenyah’s mother Christina Obenyah spoke to The Mendocino Voice in December about his childhood in Ukiah and his dedication to basketball that led him to spend his weekdays at a high school in the Bay Area with a host family and his weekends back in Mendocino County where the rest of his family still lives.
Growing up in Ukiah, Obenyah “wouldn’t put the ball down since he was 5,” his mother said, and he played briefly in the city-run recreational league before moving onto AAU competitive basketball in San Francisco by the time he was 9.
She mentioned Miles Hayes and Kevin Bonner among Elias’ coaches locally in the Ukiah area who were also influential in his development as a player.
Salesian head coach Bill Mellis said in a statement, “There’s been no better example of a ‘student-athlete’ than Elias in my 25+ years at Salesian,” while Stanford head coach Kyle Smith called him “one of the top prospects in the 2026 class in the state.”