SoCalHoops Showcase News

USA Today No. 2 Dominguez Beats USA Today
No. 1 Oak Hill Academy--(Feb. 6, 2000)

Sorry it's taken such a long time to get this story posted, but we took a lot of pictures last night, and wanted to get them all done before we started putting up the text.  In any event, most everyone has heard by now that Compton Dominguez, ranked as the No. 2 team in the US coming into this game beat Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, which came into the game ranked No.1 by USA Today and just about anyone else with an opinion on the subject.  But the Dons left leaving no doubt about which is the best high school team in America.   Dominguez won 60-47, and for the last quarter of the game, there really was no doubt that the Dons would pull off the win, the first time Dominguez has beaten Oak Hill in three meetings.  And that motto which is tatooed on Tyson's arm reads "Only the Strong Survive" and Dominguez demonstrated that last night before a crowd of at least 5,500, which is about 500 more than the capacity of the building. 

Some pre-game hijinks. . . Tyson has not left the building. . .	Tyson mixes it up with Diame
Tyson getting ready to dunks over Diop	Spreading the court
Cliff Hawkins brings the ball up for Oak Hill	McKinney and Diop

Dominguez didn't just beat Oak Hill, they did it with style, and very convincingly, and there should be no doubt which is the better, deeper and stronger team this year, and that's notwithstanding the loss which Dominguez suffered to Oak Hill in the Championship game of the Iolani Classic Tournament back in December.   We didn't see the Iolani game, and neither did many of the others who attended the Nike Extravaganza matchup last night at the Pyramid, but for them that was just a distant page on someone's stat sheet because Dominguez, behind the outstanding play of Tyson Chandler (7'-0" Jr. C) proved the point:  Dominguez is the better team.  Tyson was truly the standout player of the game, and even though he wasn't the high scorer (he had 17 points, whereas Rashaad Carruth had 19), and certainly wasn't the leading rebounder (he had only 8, while Diop Desagana had 16),  but he clearly had the most complete game.  

Many people came to this game to see Oak Hill, and at least a dozen NBA scouts and several college coaches were in the stands, looking, watching and probably all saying to themselves that there's little doubt that Tyson and possibly a few others will one day be making their living running up and down the floor for the Lakers, Pistons, or (gasp) maybe even the Clippers. . . oops, no one makes a "living" for the Clippers. . . it's like serving time. . .but we digress.  Tyson scored in a variety of ways: Authoritative slam dunks, nice finesse putbacks, a couple of quick and down and dirty backdoor alley-oop plays, and there's really no one his size who can also run the floor with his agility and speed.  Oh, and did we mention the three huge blocked shots, including one rim-shaking block on Rashaad Carruth which sent the ball flying across the court?  Definitely player of the game.  Possibly CIF D-II Player of the Year.

And there were other standouts for the Dons:  Keith Brooks didn't score a lot, in fact only 6 points, and he seemed to be somewhat dazed and confused by the speed with which Oak Hill came at the Dons in the first half and continuing through the third quarter, but he settled down and picked up 8 boards himself and dished out two assists.  Garry Looney split the point duties with Michah McKinney, and between them they picked up 15 points, Looney with 4 and McKinney with 11 on 5 for 7 shooting from the field.  McKinney was also pretty effective on the boards, picking up 5 defensive rebounds.  Larry Johnson played about half the game, but his shot just wasn't working, and in fact he only took three the whole game, but he was perfect from the line.  Darius Sanders was sorta, kinda, maybe effective, but he scored just five points and no rebounds, which was definitely not a good stat for him.

And speaking of fouls, it was as though the refs had swallowed their whistles. . .  it had to be a regular mugging to get a call, and several times it got to be downright dangerous, but the guys in the stripes were bound and determined, just like a good WWF referee, to let the fans get their money's worth, and they only called 29 fouls (13 on Dominguez) in the entire game, both halves. . .

The game started with both teams tight, but Dominguez made it's mark early but Oak Hill came right back and at the end of the first quarter, this game had a sort of familiar ring to it, with Oak Hill leading 13-11.  But in the second quarter, behind some excellent shooting from Steve Moore, who had 11 first half points, and Michah McKinney with 6, the Dons led 30-27.  Of course, Oak Hill wasn't just standing around with their thumbs in their ears either, and Rashaad Carruth, who is one of the quickest guys we've seen, but who played somewhat out of control, had 12 first half points for Oak Hill.  Luke Whitehead, the former St. Ignatius star who has signed with Louisville, was surprisingly quiet also during the first half with just 2 points.

While Tyson had given flashes of brilliance in the first half, it was the third quarter that he really decided to get it done, scoring 13 of his total 17 points, finishing 3/4 from the field and picking up 4 more rebounds.   Carruth was held to just 7 more points in the second half, Whitehead scored just one more time, and Abdou Diame, Oak Hill's tall but thin center, scored just 7 in the game.  Chris Williams picked up only three more points int eh second half, and finished with 5.    Another key difference in this game was the production of the bench players for Dominguez, which got 20 points from the bench, whereas Oak Hill got just 12.

This was a great game, very satisfying for the Dominguez fans, coaches and most of all the players, who finally dispelled the notion that they couldn't knock off Oak Hill.  Well, they've done it, and they did it in style and convincingly.

Hey, Dave Krieder. . . . Remember these stats when you compile your Tuesday USA Today "Super 25" Rankings, because there's a new No. 1 in town. . . :

Compton Dominguez Dons

Total FG             1st Half      10/30    333    2nd Half      11/25    440    Game     21/55    382
3PT FG              1st Half     2/4        500     2nd Half      0/2         0          Game    2/6         333
Free Throws    1st Half    8/10        800    2nd Half       8/9        889     Game    16/19    842

Oak Hill Academy

Total FG             1st Half     11/27    407    2nd Half     6/36    167    Game      17/63    270
3PT FG              1st Half     2/4        500     2nd Half    1/13    077     Game     3/17     176
Free Throws    1st Half    3/6         500    2nd Half      7/12    583    Game      10/18    556

 
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