Oakwood seeking first CIF title since 1988 team
Mitchell Butler remembers when his 1988 Oakwood boys basketball team faced adversity — a kind of challenge they hadn’t seen on the hardwood ever before.
“We were playing Ribet Academy in the playoffs. They had athletes, and it scared our team. I remember our coach, Roz Goldenberg, telling our team not to shoot unless I touched it first,” said Butler with a shy chuckle. “I had 50 points that game and we beat Ribet 55-48.”
Mitchell, who was only a junior at the time, went on to lead Oakwood to the CIF Southern Section Small Schools Championship in a 61-60 win over Hesperia Christian
in 1988. It’s still the school’s only CIF title in boys basketball.
“There’s footage of me playing somewhere, but it’s real grainy,” Butler said.
Butler finished his high school career a three-time CIF Player of the Year, scoring 2,682 points (ninth all-time in Southern Section history), averaged 28.8 points per game (seventh-best mark), and had 1,445 rebounds (fifth) before going on to be a McDonald’s All-American and play at UCLA and in the NBA.
He was back at his old stomping grounds Thursday beaming with pride as he walked through hallways that look much different than when he walked through them when he was a teenager. His Oakwood Owls are back in the CIF finals.
“This team would beat our team back in 1988,” Butler said. “I might’ve scored a lot of points, but this team has too many weapons, and Ben Eisendrath. He’s a very good player.”
Butler will be in attendance to watch Oakwood take on San Gabriel Academy in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A final Saturday at Mira Costa High at 8 p.m.
Eisendrath, the team’s senior leader and best player, was a freshman when Oakwood lost to St. Pius X/St. Matthias in the Division 4A CIF final in 2020, which was the program’s second straight finals loss after also losing in 2019 to Western Christian in the 5A final.
“I didn’t appreciate how special being in that final was,” Eisendrath
said. “You think it’s easy to get to a CIF final, but you really never know if you’ll ever play in one again. I’m lucky. I’ve been telling the other guys to appreciate it and I think they’ve been receptive to that message. They’ve been in the gym a lot this week and more focused.”
When Butler spoke about his 1988 team taking on Ribet Academy, he recalled how intimidated his team was. San Gabriel Academy (18-14) possess the same makeup Butler spoke of in regard to size, length and athleticism. San Gabriel Academy has two guards listed at 6-foot-4, a forward at 6-foot-7 and a pair of 6-foot-8 players.
But this year’s edition of Oakwood basketball is different. It’s nothing it hasn’t seen before. No fear. No intimidation.
“I put a schedule together specifically for this moment,” Oakwood coach Steve Smith said. “We’re ready.”
The Owls have sharpened their tools against some of the Southland’s more respected and talented programs, including Maranatha, Agoura, Windward, St. Anthony and Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks — all teams in higher divisions.
Oakwood (21-8) will lean on a balanced attack, led by do-it-all guard Ben Eisendrath, junior Peyton Slaughter, senior point guard Hayden Suslow, senior combo guard TJ Boyd along with shooters Harry Sey and Wes Spivak.
“We have multiple players that can hurt you,” Smith said of his team.