Oakwood teams come up short in postseason
For the second straight season, the Oakwood Christian Eagles advanced to the finals of the Southern Christian Athletic Association tournament, but for the second straight season, the Navy-and-Gold had to settle for the runner-up trophy.
After posting back-to-back wins to make the championship game this past Thursday, Oakwood fell behind early in the finals and was never able to recover.
Oakwood boys 62, Shenandoah Baptist 35
Last Monday night at the Rossville Athletic Center, the Eagles jumped out to a 17-5 lead after the first quarter and led 40-14 at intermission before coasting to the win.
Andrew Phillips paced OCA with 14 points, followed by David Potthast with 12 and Chase Lanham with 10. Price Ray added eight and Tomo Gilchrist finished with six. Four points by Garrett Dempsey and two each by Gavin Broadrick, Eli Dickson, Naoki Gilchrist and Caleb Epperson rounded out the scoring.
Oakwood boys 52, Mountain View Christian 42
After a narrow win and a close loss against the
Lions in their two previous meetings in the regular season, the third and decisive game of the series took place last Tuesday with Oakwood claiming the rubber match in the SCAA semifinals.
The Eagles employed a triangle-and-2 defense to hold the high-scoring Lions to 22 points less than their average of the first two games between the two rivals.
OCA led 15-3 after the first quarter and 24-15 at halftime. They increased their advantage to 13 points (3926) going into the fourth quarter.
Epperson scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Phillips went for nine points. Both players were also praised by head coach Wayne McDonough for their defensive efforts against MVCA’s top two scorers.
Ray had eight points in the win, followed by Broadrick with six, Tomo Gilchrist and Potthast with four each and Lanham with two.
Cleveland Christian 68, Oakwood boys 56
Facing longtime nemesis Cleveland Christian in the tournament finals at the R.A.C. two nights later, the Crusaders led wire-to-wire and left town with the conference crown.
Cleveland Christian jumped
out to a 25-14 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. They led 40-27 at halftime and increased its lead to 53-36 going into the fourth quarter to beat Oakwood for the third time this season.
Broadrick had 19 points to lead the way for the Eagles (12-16), followed by Epperson with 14 points. Seniors Lanham and Phillips both had eight points in their final game for OCA. Tomo Gilchrist added three points, while Ray and Naoki Gichrist, another senior, both added two.
“The effort was very good,” McDonough said. “I’m just proud of team for getting back to finals after losing eight (players) from last year.”
Citizens’ Christian 49, Oakwood girls 44
In the quarterfinals of the GAPPS Division I-A state tournament at South Georgia College in Douglas on Friday, Feb. 14, the Lady Eagles saw an outstanding season come to an end with a five-point loss.
Lily Green had 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Avery Green went for 10 points, six assists and five boards. Lexie Asher had eight points and McKenley Baggett added six.
Grayson Broadrick (seven rebounds), Raleigh Suits (five rebounds) and Anslee Tucker all finished the game with two points as the Lady Eagles concluded the year with an 18-4 overall record.