Nike Extravaganza: Oak Hill Academy braces for Chino Hills

Video: Billy Preston highlights Friday
The 6-10 McDonald's All-American had 19 points and 12 rebounds off the bench in victory.

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Three Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) players were late for the team bus Friday night, so legendary coach Steve Smith sat them the first quarter.

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The nine-time national champions had plenty in the tank to knock off Foothills Christian (El Cajon, Calif.) and McDonald's All-American Jaylen Hands 86-59 at the 22nd Nike Extravaganza on the campus of Mater Dei.

Iowa State-bound Lindell Wigginton drilled six three-pointers en route to a career high 29 points and Kansas-signee Billy Preston, another McDonald's All-American, chipped in 19 points and 12 rebounds despite missing the first quarter.

Add in a combined 23 point from Ty-Shon Alexander (Creighton-signee) and Matt Coleman and Oak Hill had more than enough firepower to offset a superlative effort from Hands (34 points, seven rebounds).

See live scoring from the game

But Smith, who has coached 29 McDonald's All Americans, won 1,051 career games and had 17 former players drafted into the NBA, had a stern warning for his Warriors afterward.

"We better not come late tomorrow night or we'll get buried," Smith said.

The most anticipated game of the star-studded event — and late regular season — pits Oak Hill (25-3), arguably the nation's most storied program, against the new power on the block Chino Hills (Calif.), a wildly entertaining and effective circus show that has just about all high school basketball fans talking. And marveling.

The Huskies improved to 25-0 with a 91-60 win Friday over Upland to extend its win streak to 60 games. The defending national champions are currently ranked third nationally by MaxPreps. Oak Hill is No. 5 in the MaxPreps Independent Top 10.

"We've lost three games to ranked teams and they're ranked higher than us — yes, we definitely feel like the underdog," said Wigginton, who missed the previous five games with an elbow injury. He 10 of 16 shots, including 6-of-11 on three-pointers. "We're gonna come in with a chip on our shoulder and run through them.

"We don't just want to win the game, we want to kill them (on the scoreboard)."

Wigginton has no personal vendetta against Chino Hills. His team just feels it has lots to prove after losing national showdown games this season to Sierra Canyon (83-79), Findlay Prep (78-62) and Nathan Hale (80-77). A victory against Chino Hills would take a lot of sting out of those defeats.

"They are a crazy good fast team," Wigginton said. "We have to find a way to slow them down in transition."

They did so effectively in the only other meeting between Chino Hills and Oak Hill Academy. That was an 86-77 Oak Hill victory at the 2015 Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions. Smith remembers it well.

"We were down 15 in the second half and then caught fire," Smith said.

He calls Chino Hills' high-tempo, free-wheeling, no-shot-is-a-bad-shot style the most unique he's experienced in more than 30 years of coaching. And he's seen about everything.

"You just can't simulate what they do at practice," he said. "It looks like it's chaos but it's actually very well organized. ... Physically we match up but we have to adjust on the fly. It's a big challenge. ...We won't try to run with them the whole way. We'll pick our spots."

The biggest challenge might just being well rested. The game is scheduled at 8:45 p.m. local time, which is 11:45 Eastern Time. Oak Hill, a regular at the prestigious event, is a long way from home and that makes for a very long day.

"We used to take the guys to Disneyland," Smith said. "One year we took them to Hollywood too, UCLA, Venice Beach. It was the same year we got beat by Mater Dei. We were No. 1 in the country at the time. They were just a young team. Never again. No extended sight-seeing. We'll make sure the guys are very well rested."

It might not matter, said Hands, who was spectacular at times, especially after starting 1-of-7 from the field. The 6-4 point guard and UCLA commit made 15 of 28 shots. Nobody else for Foothills Christian (18-5) scored in double digits.

He's played both teams and competes regularly during the summer against the Oak Hill Academy players. Chino Hills beat Foothills Christian 90-73 on Dec. 2.

"I'm giving the edge to Chino Hills," Hands said. "I think Oak Hill has more overall talent, but what Chino Hills does is just too weird. Takes too long to adjust to. It should be a great game."

Other Friday action: Fith-ranked Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) (25-1) rested most of its starters early and cruised to a 74-42 win over Village Crusaders. Recent transfer Bol Bol had 19 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes and Justice Sueing and Harrison Butler added 13 apiece for the Monarchs, who outscored Village 49-20 in the second half. Bol, a 7-foot top-ranked junior, tried just two shots during a lethargic first half but finished 7 of 11 from the field and 5-for-5 at the line. Most of his makes were dunks after athletic drives. ... Charles Neal continued his scoring onslaught on Southern California opponents with 30 points, leading Rancho Mirage (Calif.) (25-3) to a 58-52 win over Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro, Calif.) (16-2). Neal, a 6-3 senior guard, hoisted up 30 shots, making 13, including four three-pointers. Neal came in averaging almost 25 points per game. Chris Koon, a 6-5 sophomore, had 18 points and JT Tan, a 6-6 freshman, added 11 points and 13 rebounds for Rolling Hills Prep. ... .In girls action, Emma Torbert had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Kaleigh Pugh and Cydni Lewis added 15 points apiece as Mater Dei (Santa Ana) defeated Palisades (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) 81-69. Chelsey Gipson had 37 points and Kayla Williams 26 points for Palisades.