CONCORD, Calif. – Bishop O’Dowd and Taft’s matchup at the De La Salle MLK Classic at times resembled something right out of an old Western, with players firing on all cylinders, scrambling, and frantically recovering from mistakes. In the end, O’Dowd won 65-62 thanks to a closing 7-2 run in the last minute and change.
Amos Hodgson picked up the MVP with a 22-point performance off the back of six three-pointers. Sophomore Josh Green had three treys of his own, including a critical one down the stretch, and Samuel Chavarin tallied nine points and nine boards for Bishop O’Dowd (7-9). Miles Burrows also made dents in the scorebook for the Dragons, with seven points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Taft-Woodland Hills (10-9) had a star-making afternoon from Keyon Kensie Jr. The senior wing finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals. Bishop Brooks added 12 points, and like Kensie had three from long-distance, while Adam Grissom tallied a modest eight points but had eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block.
The Dragons led 18-13 after one and 35-23 at the half. In the third, however, the Wildcats bounced back with a 17-10 quarter. The teams were tied at 42, but back-to-back threes by Hodgson and Green created a little bit of cushion before the feverish final period.
The tale was certainly at least partially told at the free-throw line and on the ball-handling side. Both teams reached the double bonus early, but neither did particularly well to cash in. The Dragons were 5-for-11, the Wildcats a miserly 2-for-9 from the line in the fourth. Both teams lost key opportunities on turnovers as well.
After trailing for essentially the entire game, Taft reclaimed the lead with a Kensie turnaround jumper to make it 55-54. At the 2:11 mark, Derrick Hill’s three-point play, part of his 11 points for the game, put the Wildcats up 58-55. An inbounds pass went awry for O’Dowd, but they caught a break when Taft made a bad pass on their own inbounds play. Burrows then struck from beyond the arc to knot things up, and after a sweet shovel pass from Grissom to Hill for a layup, Green nailed a three from the top of the key with 48 seconds remaining.
Miles Dixon, who had five assists on the afternoon, assisted himself with a huge steal and breakaway layup to put O’Dowd up three. After a timeout, Taft missed a three-pointer, Dixon sank two free throws, Hodgson had a big block, and Hill had a putback. But by then there was little time remaining, and O’Dowd controlled it under the Taft basket as time expired.
Hodgson was feeling under the weather, but had one of his better games despite it.
“I watched the Michael Jordan flu game highlights, and it kind of motivated me to play,” Hodgson said. “We knew it was going to be close. We never felt it slipping away. We just kept playing hard. Little plays, the little fundamental plays - they all add up.”
O’Reilly leads Campo past Oakland Tech
Shane O’Reilly scored 20 points and collected 10 rebounds for Campolindo in a 56-47 victory over Oakland Tech in the opening game of De La Salle’s MLK Classic. While he was a steady presence throughout the contest, the Cougars needed to rely on their depth to pull this one out, as the Bulldogs, despite trailing nearly 20 at several junctures, rallied in the fourth.
Dylan Mansour added 12 points for Campolindo (12-5), while Logan Robeson and Clay Naffziger chipped in eight apiece. For Oakland Tech (8-10), Omar Staples, Jr. had 13 and Ahmaree Muhammad tacked on 12.
Campolindo led 14-8 after one and ended the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 29-16 advantage into the locker room. The Cougars outshot Oakland Tech 4-0 from three-point territory in the first half and 6-2 for the game.
After a roughly even third period, the Bulldogs picked up steam in the final quarter. But that 16-point deficit to start the frame proved too high a mountain to overcome against one of the Bay Area’s best teams.
Dylan Lucks’ fader off the backboard with 2:12 remaining brought Tech to within five, 51-46. On the next trip down, Muhammad lost the ball off his foot, and on the ensuing possession Roberson muscled through the lane and converted a three-point play. With a minute to go, Naffziger intercepted a pass, and from there it was just trips to the free throw line that settled the score. O’Reilly was named the game’s MVP for his efforts.
“These early games, it’s the team that’s ready to come out and play that’s going to win the game,” O’Reilly said. “Our first-half defense was incredible. We were moving the ball. They can be very aggressive in how they play.”
