CCS Division V: Oakwood Wins Thriller
The section's smallest schools put on a big show.
Don’t sleep on Division V.
Just because it’s got the smallest schools in the CCS doesn’t mean there’s a dearth of good basketball.
No game better illustrated that than Saturday’s Championship Game, where Oakwood prevailed 60-59 over Summit Shasta at Mission College.
Marko Milentijevic hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:01 left and Vidal Nzoyem Jr. blocked a potential game-winning drive in the final seconds as the Hawks claimed their first section title in program history after losing in the championship game to Priory a year earlier.
Outside of scoring his team’s first four points, Nzoyem, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, largely struggled on offense. But his defensive acumen kept him on the floor, and with his teammates double-teaming AJ Solanoy to ensure Summit Shasta’s top scorer wouldn’t take the potential game-winning shot, he took the responsibility to deny Sam Valdemoro at the rim.
Solanoy scored a game-high 27 points for the top-seeded Black Bears, who had previously won a section title in 2021. Summit Shasta (22-4) led 33-29 at halftime and went up by six on a pair of occasions in the third, but Oakwood (13-14) used a 15-4 run to turn the game in the third, with Isaac Castaneda draining back-to-back threes and Milentijevic scoring four of his 18 points.
The Black Bears led 53-50 after Valdemoro found Jared Chin underneath with 5:12 left and took a 55-54 lead on Solanoy’s drive with 3:18 to go, but the second-seeded Hawks pulled even on Anthony Felix’s free throw with 2:19 on the clock and took the lead for good on when Milentijevic delivered the last of 18 points from the wing 18 seconds later.
Valdemoro promptly scored at the other end, then cut the lead to 60-59 after Felix had answered for Oakwood. Valdemoro and Chin finished with 10 points apiece; Chin scored eight of his in the first half. The Black Bears also got 11 points from Rhod Robles, but got just one point from anyone outside of their main quartet.
Felix scored 12 of his 15 in the second half, while Milentijevic grabbed 10 rebounds, including seven in the second quarter. Castaneda scored 11, while Nzoyem finished with six points and nine rebounds, the last of which came after his heroic block. He was fouled with 1.1 on the clock, but it was just Summit Shasta’s third foul of the quarter. After a timeout in which Oakwood nearly threw the game away by having six players on the floor, Felix wisely threw a long inbound pass to Milentijevic, who flung the ball towards the hoop as time expired to start the celebration.