UNION,
NEW JERSEY – The Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) Warriors, ranked No.
12 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, pulled off a thrilling 79-78 victory over the
No. 11 St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) Celtics on Friday night at the PrimeTime Shootout at Kean University’s
Harwood Arena.
St.
Patrick had a chance to win the game or force overtime when Oak Hill Academy guard Doron Lamb was called for
a blocking foul on Derrick Gordon with 0.4 seconds remaining in the game.
Gordon, who had only made 1 of 5 free throws in the quarter, missed both foul
shots to end the game.
“It
was a great game,” Oak Hill Academy Head Coach Steve Smith said after
collecting his 785th win at the school. “Both teams played hard, and we’re just
lucky to finish one point better than they did.”
The
Warriors had a 74-69 lead late in the fourth. In the next two minutes, St.
Patrick went on a 9-4 run with a dunk by star junior Michael Gilchrist and two
three-pointers by guard Kyrie Irving.
Doron Lamb's game winner.
Photo by Steve Goldberg
A
Gordon free throw tied the game at 78 with 54 seconds left. The Warriors ran
down the clock until Lamb was fouled by Chase Plummer on a layup attempt with
9.4 seconds to go. Lamb missed the first free throw but made the second to put Oak Hill
Academy ahead for good.
“I’m a
clutch player, so I had to come out there and make the foul shot,” Lamb said
about his game-winning shot. “I missed the first one, but luckily [Gordon]
couldn’t make one, so we won.”
Lamb, a
Queens resident who transferred to Oak
Hill Academy
last season from Bishop Loughlin (Brooklyn, N.Y.), scored 18 points in his return to the New York City metropolitan
area.
“It
felt good playing in front of my mom because I don’t see her that often. I came
out there and just played hard.”
The
matchup showcased two players named to the McDonalds All-American team this
past week, Duke-bound Irving and Division-I recruit Lamb. Lamb has received
offers from Kansas, Kentucky,
UConn, West Viriginia, and Arizona;
he says he plans to make his commitment in April.
Both
teams got off to a quick start as Pe’Shon Howard knocked down two
three-pointers for the Warriors and Irving
scored seven points for the Celtics early in the first quarter.
The
game continued to move at a fast pace throughout the half. In a span of less
than 30 seconds in the second quarter, the teams exchanged leads four times. Oak Hill
Academy went into
halftime ahead 39-34.
The
Warriors opened the third quarter with a basket by Roscoe Smith to extend their
lead to 41-34, the largest for either team in the game.
St.
Patrick refused to let the game get out of hand as they responded with a 9-0
run to take a 43-41 lead. Gilchrist scored the last seven points of the rally
and finished with 13 in the quarter, despite a leg injury he obtained earlier
in the game. Gilchrist and Irving were the leading scorers with 28 points each
and were named St. Patrick’s co-MVPs of the PrimeTime Shootout.
“I
think [Gilchrist’s] legs affected him,” St. Patrick Head Coach Kevin Boyle, Sr.
said. “You could see at the end he had trouble getting up a few times. I think
it affected any bend in his legs. It was tough for him, but he wanted to hang
in there and give it a shot, and he really competed.”
The
Warriors were trailing 60-55 late in the third, but Roscoe Smith hit a
three-pointer followed by a dunk, and Lamb made a layup to put Oak Hill
Academy ahead 62-60 after
three quarters.
Roscoe Smith's 12 points in the quarter provided the offensive spark needed for the
Warriors to keep the game close without a basket from Howard, who scored 13 in
the first half. Howard led Oak
Hill Academy
in scoring with 19 points, and the two players were the team’s co-MVPs of the
game.
For St.
Patrick, the loss is their third of the season; all were last-second, 1-point
defeats to Xcellent 25 teams. The Celtics lost 71-70 to Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) in the
Spalding Hoophall Classic on a missed free throw by Irving. Their second loss came at the hands of
St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark,
N.J.) on a game-winning layup by
Myck Kabongo.
The
heartbreaking loss to the Warriors was a bitter end to a long day for the
Celtics. Prior to the game, the NJSIAA found the school guilty of holding an
illegal practice before the season began. Consequently, St. Patrick will not be
allowed to defend its state Tournament of Champions title, Boyle, Sr. will be
suspended for three games, and the school will be placed on probation for the
next two years.
“When
I found out [about the decision], the game meant that much more because we’re
going through it right now as a family,” Plummer said. “I love every guy on
this team, so to hear the bad news and then come out here and come so close to
winning made it a rough day, to say the least.”
“I
won’t speak of the situation much, but it was just alarming that after the
incredible presentation that [attorney] Kevin Marino put on, there were no
questions from 50 people,” Boyle, Sr. said before exiting the arena.
Marino
spent 53 minutes defending St. Patrick in front of the NJSIAA executive
committee before the committee unanimously voted to uphold the punishments
against the school.
“Obviously
[the appeal] wasn’t seriously considered,” Marino said in an interview with the
Newark Star-Ledger after the
decision. “As is often the case when things are not seriously considered, the
ramifications are not pleasant. I’m certain there will be civil litigation.”
St. Patrick will now focus on the
upcoming Union County Tournament. The Celtics will play the winner of Hillside
(N.J.) and Clark (Roselle, N.J.)
on Tuesday night at Johnson
High School.
“We’re
hoping that somehow we will be able to enter the National High School
Invitational and go for it all, but we’re going to review our options next practice,”
Plummer said. “We’re going to sit down, have a team meeting, and discuss what
we can do from here and what would be the best step for us to take. Even if we
can only win a county championship together, we can go out saying we were on
top of something, and I’ll be happy sharing it with them.”
