After a grueling schedule of 15 games within a 30 day time frame in December, Oak Hill earned a hard fought win over a deliberate and patience Jesuit team for a 57-50 victory and the Les Schwab Invitational Championship. The victory moves Oak Hill to an impressive 25-0 record and has equally impressive wins over Hargrave Military Academy (Exhibition), Quality Education, Stoneridge Prep, LaLumiere, Grace Prep Academy, and Miller Grove. Coming into the Les Schwab Invitational, conventional wisdom pegged the championship would be a battle between nationally ranked Riverside Academy and Oak Hill Academy. That being said, the Oregon teams exemplified team basketball at its finest. The majority of the Oregon teams that made it to the semi-finals showcased an “Ivy League” tempo that will give more athletic teams problems. Jesuit came into the game with an 8-0 record and 3 consecutive 6A Oregon State Championships and they were not going to be pushed over by anyone, especially Oak Hill.

In the championship game, Oak Hill jumped out to an early 17-7 first quarter lead and appeared to be in total control and command of the game. Like a boxing opponent, Jesuit took a lot of body punches, but never went down for the count and showed resiliency and toughness and outscored the Warriors by the score of 14-11 in the second quarter. At halftime, the Oak Hill lead was 28-21. The story line for the game was Jesuit was able to control the tempo and play their style of game. Jesuit exhibited patience with constant movement that led to open looks and Jesuit converted and made the game interesting and close. Oak Hill was able to hold on to the lead and pull out a hard earned 57-50 victory. Leading the way for Oak Hill was SG D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera with a game high 23 points. Smith-Rivera went 7-13 from the floor (1-2 from the 3 point line) and 8-9 from the free throw line. In addition, Smith-Rivera tied with rebounding honors with a game high 6 rebounds along with AJ Hammons and Jordan Adams. Tyler Lewis chipped in 10 points going 3-7 from the floor and 4-4 timely free throws down the stretch for Oak Hill. Lewis dished out 4 assists but also had an unusual 4 turnovers for the game, although two of the palming violations were questionable. In addition, Lewis collected 3 rebounds. That being said, it was not the typical performance for the senior PG. Jordan Adams tallied 8 points but also had an off game by going 4-13 from the floor (0-3 from the 3 point line) and 0-1 from the free throw line. Adams did contribute in other areas as he collected 6 rebounds and had 2 steals. AJ Hammons contributed 6 points going 3-4 from the floor and also collected 6 rebounds. The “unsung” hero for Oak Hill tonight was Damien Wilson. Wilson came off the bench and had 7 points going 2-4 from the floor and 3-4 from the free throw line. He also collected 5 rebounds. Darion Clark chipped in 3 points and grabbed 2 rebounds.

Jesuit once again had balance scoring as 6’1 WG Rick Maddock tallied 14 points going 6-11 from the floor (1-5 from the 3 point line) and 1-1 from the free throw line. Junior guards Xavier Coleman and Khyan Rayner both chipped in 11 points. Coleman went 5-8 from the floor (0-2 from the 3 point line) and 1-2 from the free throw line. Rayner went 4-15 from the floor (3-11 from the 3 point line). 6’7 PF Max Rich chipped in 8 points and collected 5 rebounds.

Oak Hill shot 20-25 from the floor for 45% but only managed 1-7 from the 3 point line. On the other hand, Jesuit shot 19-49 for 39%, but did manage to hit 6-25 3 pointers (with the majority coming in the second half). Oak Hill went 16-20 from the free throw line for 80% while Jesuit went 6-9 for 67%. Oak Hill outrebounded Jesuit by the margin of 33 to 24. The Achilles heel for the Warriors was the 12 turnovers compared to 8 for Jesuit.

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera was named game MVP, but was mysteriously left off the All Tournament team. Unfortunately, like many tournaments across the country the voting and selection is done prior to the championship game. Jordan Adams was named to the All Tournament team and teammate Tyler Lewis was named Tournament MVP. Adams scored 64 points for the tournament for 16 PPG scoring average. Adams shot 28-53 from the floor for 52% (4-13 from the 3 point line for 30%) but went an uncharacteristic 4-8 from the free throw line. Adams also grabbed 27 rebounds for the 4 day tournament for 6.75 RPG. Tyler Lewis scored 60 point for the tournament for a 15 PPG scoring average. Lewis went 24-39 from the floor for 61% (2-6 from the 3 point line for 33%) but went 10-11 from the free throw line for 90%. Lewis dished out 27 assists for 6.75 APG. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera also chipped in 60 points for the 4 day event for an average of 15 PPG. Smith-Rivera went 20-49 from the floor for 40% (4-17 from the 3 point line for 23.5%) but went an impressive 13-15 from the free throw line for 86%. Smith-Rivera also grabbed 17 rebounds for a 4.25 average. Unfortunately for Smith-Rivera, the voting for all tournament team was done prior the start of the championship game which is absolutely ridiculous. While the play of Lewis in the first three games were deserving of MVP honors, the play of Smith-Rivera in the semi-final and final game was equally deserving of MVP honors, much less All Tournament. Oak Hill is now 25-0 for the season and will be on a well deserved Winter Break until January 10^th, 2012.