Oak Park boys’ basketball holds on to beat El Segundo in last-second playoff thriller

By Kyle Jorrey jorrey@theacorn.com

RISE ABOVE-Ryan Buckley of Oak Park hits the jumper over a Bishop Montgomery defender during last Friday's game at Oak Park.

It’s become American basketball tradition for fans of the home team to charge on the court in celebration of a big win over either a heavily favored opponent or in a terribly important game.

Well, Tuesday night’s 55-53 last-second win by Oak Park over El Segundo in the second round of the CIF-SS Div. IIIA was so good that the OPHS student body ended up rushing the floor not once, but twice, in utter jubilation.

The first rush of fans came after time appeared to run out on El Segundo following senior forward Blake Wildt’s baseline jumper with 3.8 seconds remaining that gave Oak Park a two-point lead.

They hit the hardwood at second time when El Segundo guard Justin Johnson came up short on his first free throw after being given a chance to tie the game on a questionable, last-second whistle that came after time expired.

"I’m so glad he missed the first one because if I had to watch him shoot the second I think I was going to have a heart attack," said Wildt, whose team-high 15 points and seven rebounds helped Oak Park (18-9) advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2001. "To win a game this big against a team this good in this atmosphere, it’s just indescribable."

Playing out more like a prize fight than a basketball game, the two teams went back-and-forth for nearly four quarters, each accepting the other’s best punch, and then countering with a blow of its own.

El Segundo struck first behind the play of their two stars: Johnson and 6-6 senior forward Jamie Jones. Despite facing double and triple teams by the Eagle defense, Jones scored four points quickly, opening things up on the outside for Johnson, who made Oak Park pay with both his shot and his feet. The score at the end of one was El Segundo 17, Oak Park 11.

But the Eagles and their energetic crowd came alive in the second quarter behind a flurry of offense from Wildt, Sean Bryan and Zach Greenwald. Staying patient and getting good looks at the basket, the Eagles hit eight-of-11 shots from the floor that quarter, and pulled the game with one, 31-30, by halftime. The spurt gave Oak Park renewed confidence and gave the fans something to scream about.

"They are a really good team and they did what really good teams do—hit shots," said an emotionally drained Ed Chevalier after the game. "They came out on fire but our guys didn’t give in. We’ve got a real battling group, a real tough group, and they showed it tonight."

Clearly making adjustments at half time, the Eagles’ defense came out in the second half and held what had been a seemingly unstoppable El Segundo offense without a point in the first three minutes.

"We really concentrated on keeping the ball out of (Jones)’s hands because he’s a real key player for their team," Wildt said. "Even if he got to kick it out to an open shooter we didn’t want to give him any looks at the rim."

As El Segundo struggled to find a rhythm, shooting guard Brian Lantos began to take advantage. Exploiting their opponents’ diamond-and-one defense, the junior hit 3-out-of-3 from the field, finishing with seven in the quarter to help give Oak Park a 41-40 lead going into the final frame. Lantos finished with 14 points.

"It’s like our coach has said all year long, every night a new guy steps up for this team," Wildt said about the effort of the younger players. "You never know who its going to be. That makes us a really tough team to defend because if you shut one guy down there’s another guy coming out that can drop 20."

As is the case in any classic contest, this game’s final minutes featured the most memorable moments. With nearly every fan in the gymnasium on his or her feet, the two squads held nothing back in the fourth, playing like gamers who just weren’t ready to hang it up.

Going basket-for-basket and stop-for-stop the game was tied four times in fourth (46-46, 48-48, 51-51 and 53-53) and was that way when Chevalier called a timeout with 14.8 seconds left on the clock.

Having no doubt about who he wanted to take the final shot, Chevalier penciled up a play for Wildt to get a look from the baseline. Moments later, it was put into action.

"At timeout, we called a play where I set a down screen and then popped out for a three," said Wildt, who averaged 17 points per game during the regular season. "Coach said if you’re open hit the shot, if not, put it on the floor. And that’s what I did. They couldn’t have defended it better. The guy pushed me to the baseline I just had to throw something up. Luckily, it bounced in."

El Segundo had a chance to go the length of the court with 3.8 remaining but apparently turned the ball over at midcourt in the face of Oak Park’s press. As fans came dashing out on the court to celebrate with their friends, one of the game’s officials signaled a loose ball foul, sending the gifted Johnson to the line for two must-have shots with 0.0 reading on the clock.

At that moment, the Oak Park student section, not about to let the game go to overtime, shifted to the few rows in front of the hoop Johnson would be shooing at. Screaming with all they had left in their vocal boxes, the group hoped the guard would miss, and he did.

Pandemonium ensued.

"Our fans were just incredible tonight, it made for an amazing atmosphere," Wildt said. "All of our energy came from feeding off their energy. It was huge."

For Chevalier, in his fourth season at Oak Park, the win was particularly special. Not only because his guys beat a great team to advance further in the playoffs, but he said, because how they did it.

"It’s a fabulous feeling," said Chevalier, whose team advances to play traditional powerhouse and defending champion Centennial Compton (22-5) in the semifinals. "This team was willing to fight hard to get the win tonight—it didn’t come easy. This is a tough group. We’ve grown a lot this year in terms of where we were in the first week in December to where we are now."

Friday’s semifinal matchup will be played at 7:30 p.m. at Lynwood High School.