OAKLAND – Omar Staples Jr. is used to playing through contact.
During the autumn months, Staples crashed through double-teams and destroyed quarterbacks as a pass-rusher, helping Oakland Tech’s football team reach the section playoff and earning a scholarship to Stanford.
So taking the basketball to the hoop while an Oakland High player wrapped an arm around Staples’ neck? No problem for the 6-4, 230-pound dual-sport athlete on Saturday night.
Staples rammed through the baseline defender and finished the layup with 50 seconds left in the game, giving Tech a five-point lead.
45 seconds later and down three points, Oakland High had a chance to force overtime.
The game ended in the most fitting way: with the ball loose on the floor and both teams diving after it as time expired. Tech claimed the Oakland Section boys basketball championship with a gritty 53-50 victory.
“I know my team is tough, and we come together and get dubs,” Staples said. “I know our next game is win-or-die. Move on and advance.”
For Oakland High, it was yet another bitter one-possession loss to its rival. Tech won the first matchup at home 81-79 as Marshawn Lynch and other legends were in attendance. Then Ahmaree Muhammad sank the game-winner at Oakland High to seal a 61-59 Tech victory on Feb. 8.
Oakland coach Orlando Watkins saw a common theme in all three losses.
“They’re physically tougher than us, and that’s it,” Watkins said. “In all three games, we’ve been bullied.”
Ahmaree Muhammad scored a game-high 24 points and made five three-pointers, Ardarius Gates scored 13 points and Staples scored nine for Oakland Tech (19-11). Oakland High’s Money Williams scored 17 points, and Josh Clark and Anthony Lacy each scored eight points.
The standing-room only crowd at Fremont-Oakland saw people packed along the sidelines like sodas in a vending machine, and there was even less breathing room between the painted lines thanks to ruthless defense by both teams.
Under those conditions, Muhammad’s ability to self-create from the perimeter withstepbacks and fadeaways saved the day for Tech on multiple occasions.
Oakland High (22-8), which went into halftime with the game tied at 28, started to pull away after a Williams and-one putback layup gave the Wildcats a 44-38 lead late in the third.
As the game seemed to turn in Oakland High’s favor, Muhammad calmly came down and put back a miss in traffic on Tech’s next possession.
Then he beat the buzzer on a layup that bounced on the rim for an eternity before dropping in. Tech went into the fourth quarter only down 44-42.
“I worked on my shot all day today, and I worked on it all day yesterday too,” Muhammad said. “So I’m not really surprised I made those shots.”
Oakland Tech went on a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter, and it took until 3:45 left in the game for Oakland’s Ja’shaun Jackson to get Oakland on the scoreboard with a putback layup.
After almost three more scoreless minutes, where Lacy made a number of great defensive plays and every other possession seemed to involve players diving for a loose ball, Staples’ drive through a stranglehold gave Tech a two-possession lead.
The game wasn’t over though.
Oakland’s Williams made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining, and then a gaffe by Tech on the inbounds play drew another foul for Oakland’s Jimon Campbell. He sank both free throws, and Tech only led by one point with nine seconds remaining.
Gates calmly made the final two Tech free throws, and the Bulldogs held on for the victory to win its second consecutive section title. Tech will find out what NorCal bracket they’re in on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re not worried about anything, and we just want to make sure that we’re ready come Tuesday for wherever the NorCal game is,” Tech coach Karega Hart said, before adding, “But tonight, this game is special, because we have bragging rights for Oakland.”
Oakland Tech dominates against AIMS in girls championship
Oakland Tech, the defending CIF State Division III, dominated AIMS College Prep in the Oakland Section girls final, winning 92-31. Tech led 34-2 after one quarter, and 73-8 at halftime. Tech (25-5) topped pressing in the second quarter, slowed down the pace and played its reserves for most of the second half against an overmatched AIMS (16-5) team.
“We’re a good team, and I don’t think they’ve played anyone at our level this year, which showed,” Oakland Tech coach Leroy Hurt said.
Erin Sellers led all scorers with 26 points, and Jordan Taylor and Mari Somvichian each scored 10. Ojiugo Egeonu led AIMS with 16 points. Oakland Tech is expected to play in one of the top brackets in NorCal.
Source: www.mercurynews.com