SoCalHoops Playoff News

CIF-SS I-A Championship:   Loyola Cubs Bear
Down On T.O. Lancers--(Mar. 3, 2002)

CIF-SS Division I-A Boy's Championship Game

Loyola 61, Thousand Oaks 58

This was the last day of the afternoon session, before the evening break and the start of the Mater Dei v. Pasadena game, and it was a great way to cap off the daytime portion of the session.  Great crowds, really vocal, bands, cheerleaders, a packed house,  and an unbelievable finish to a game which was never more than one or two points away from being won or lost by either team....

With under 20 seconds, Omar Wilkes hits what can only be described as a circus shot to give the Cubs the lead at 59-50, and then Loyola calls timeout with 10 seconds on the clock... TO got the ball back, and Dave Anderson drove into the lane, with the intent of taking the last shot in the game, which would have put TO ahead and given the Lancers the title.  But Anderson was whistled for traveling, and so, with 5.8 seconds remaining, Loyola got the ball inbounded to Wilkes, who was fouled with 5.2 seconds showing on the clock.  He hit two free throws to make it a three point lead for the Cubs, and with Loyola up 61-58, T.O. called two timeouts before getting their last planned offensive play of the game off.  It turned out to be a Thousand Oak desperation shot, as the ball was thrown to Kasey Myers who quickly dribbled into the frontcourt, and with time expiring, shot it from about 30 feet out but the shot missed, thereby giving Loyola its first Section title since...well, we actually can't remember the last time the Cubs actually won it all... They were there in what was then the 5-A title game in 1990, but lost to Mater Dei.  

Wilkes, one of the most talented juniors in the country,   finished with 26 points, on 10-16 shooting, hit three 3 pointers (3-6) and shot 3-4 from the line and only had 2 turnovers, and he just seemed to make all the big important shots when the Cubs needed them.  Chris Rucker was also big inside, finishing with 15 oints and 15 rebounds, and he and T.O's Ben Olson really mixed it up inside.    Wilkes and Rucker were the only players in double-digits for the Cubs, while the Lancers had 3 players in double figures:  Dave Anderson finished with 14 oints, Olson had 10 and Kasey Myers had 19.

Like the Long Beach Poly v. Eisenhower game, we also thought it would be interesting to focus on what some of the local sports writers had to say about the game, but then we realized that there aren't a lot of papers that actually cover Loyola games, game in and game out.   The LA Times and the Daily News feature coverage on the Cubs, given the fact that most of their league games are against teams from the San Fernando Valley, and of course both papers also cover the Thousand Oaks Lancers (or at least they both used to), so it's kind of a two-for-one.  Eric Sondheimer wrote the LA Times' piece and since Omar Wilkes was talking to SoCalHoops when Eric picked up Omar's quote about him being the "King of weird shots"...well, we figured it was also ok to pass along his take on the game....Heather Gripp covered the game for the Daily News, and hers is a wonderfully clear and lucid piece about the game and what happened.  Additionally, there was the usual excellent coverage from a slightly Thousand Oaks-point of view, from Laura Ledin in the Ventura County Star.

Here's the box score along with what the pros had to say about the game.

Visitors:  Thousand Oaks

Home: Loyola

Thousand Oaks    16    17     13    12--58
Loyola                   12     18    17    14--61 

First up is the view from Thousand Oaks. This is from the Ventura County Star, where the original can be found along with a lot of other great coverage of high school and college sports.

T.O. falls short, barely
DIV. I-A BASKETBALL: Bid for school's first Southern Section title ends with heartbreaking loss to Loyola.
By Loren Ledin, Staff writer

ANAHEIM -- Perfect so long, perfect for 17 consecutive games, perfect all season long when the roster was intact, the Thousand Oaks High boys' basketball team nearly forgot what it was like to be imperfect.

They found out Saturday, on the biggest stage of all.

"It's heartbreaking," said senior guard Dave Anderson following Thousand Oaks' taut 61-58 loss to Loyola in the championship game of the CIF-Southern Section Division I-A playoffs at The Arrowhead Pond. "We played well enough to win. In the end, they hit the big shot."

Carrying a 17-game winning streak, dreams of the program's first Southern Section championship and a one-point lead down to the wire, it all vanished for the Lancers in the game's waning moments.

Loyola's Omar Wilkes, capping off a sizzling second half, drove the baseline and tossed up an off-balance floater that settled into the basket with 10.1 seconds remaining to provide the winning play in the see-saw battle between the division's No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.

Kasey Myers scored 19 points, Anderson had 14 and Ben Olson collected 10, including eight in the heart-pounding fourth period to take Thousand Oaks to the brink of a happy ending. At the finish, Wilkes -- the junior guard who is the son of former Laker Jamal Wilkes -- proved decisive in scoring a game-high 26 points, with 17 in the second half.

"We couldn't stop him in the second half," said Thousand Oaks coach Rich Endres, whose team moves to 27-4. "He shot from outside, he drove to the basket. He was the difference."

Wilkes, a 6-foot-4 junior, simply savored the moment.

"It's the dream of every player to have the game in their hands at the end," he said. "It just feels good to come through for my teammates."

Thousand Oaks had its own share of heroes. Myers, the senior guard and emotional leader, tallied 14 of his 19 points in the opening half to help his team grab a 33-30 lead at intermission. He also grabbed five rebounds.

Olson, dogged by foul trouble that limited him to 17 minutes, came up huge in the fourth period. Staging an intense personal duel with Loyola's 6-5 Chris Rucker (15 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks), Olson hit free throws or nail baskets that gave his team the lead on four different occasions.

With 1:36 remaining, he knocked down a jumper in the lane to give Thousand Oaks a 58-57 lead.

Olson, who finished with six rebounds and five blocked shots, said he was most disappointed by the foul woes.

"I only wish I could have done more to help," said the 6-5 Olson, who doubles as one of the nation's top high school quarterbacks. "He (Rucker) was a very good player. I was looking to do everything I could in the fourth quarter."

Then there was Anderson, who tried to put the game in his hands in the final seconds.

Following Wilkes' basket, Anderson took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the court, but was called for traveling when he got in a tangle with Rucker and friends near the basket.

Starters Anderson, Olson, Kevin Rex and Corey Mazza were among the football-stars-turned-basketball-standouts who lost a tight decision to Ventura in the quarterfinals of the football playoffs last fall.

"They're both heartbreaking," he said. "Football was a little different because I knew I'd be playing football again in college. This is about the last time I'm going to play basketball."

Myers echoed that feeling.

"It hurts so much," he said. "We put a lot into this season. Our goal was to win the championship. We came up a little short."

Both Loyola (27-3) and Thousand Oaks advance to the state tournament, set to begin Wednesday. The pairings will be released today, with Thousand Oaks certain to hit the road for round one.

-- Loren Ledin's e-mail address is ledin@insidevc.com.

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BOYS' BASKETBALL-Division I-A
Loyola Turns to The King
Wilkes' basket lifts Cubs to first title in 49 years.

By ERIC SONDHEIMER, Times Staff Writer

It took a hanging, acrobatic six-foot baseline shot by Omar Wilkes with 11 seconds left to give Loyola (27-3) the Division I-A championship Saturday afternoon, its first title since 1953.

Wilkes’ basket at The Pond was the eighth lead change of the fourth quarter. He added two free throws with 5.2 seconds left and finished with 26 points in the 61-58 win over Thousand Oaks.

"I’m the king of weird shots," the 6-foot-4 junior guard said. "That was creativity. That was not planned."

Thousand Oaks (27-4) led by nine points in the second quarter and almost survived foul trouble to 6-5 center Ben Olson, who played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls. The Lancers held the lead until Wikes went airborne and somehow made for his game-winning shot. "It was probably the best [shot] I’ve seen in my whole life," said Loyola center Chris Rucker, who had 15 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Kasey Myers scored 19 points for the Lancers. He missed on a three-point attempt in the final second that would have tied the score.

High school players have been known to have trouble shooting the ball at the Pond, but Wilkes made 10 of 16 shots and was three of six from three-point range. He scored 17 points in the second half.

"Once a player gets his groove, especially a shooter like [Wilkes], then it doesn’t matter who’s on him," Thousand Oaks Coach Richard Endres said.

Loyola was supposed to be a year away from winning a title, with only one senior among its top 10 players along with a 24-0 junior varsity team to build around. Wilkes’ shot changed all that.

"I don’t know where he pulled that one out," said Wilkes’ father, Jamaal, a former NBA great. 

Finally, here's what the Daily News' Heather Gripp had to say....and by the way, we think her's is the best piece on the game we read anywhere...

Lancers all short in final

By Heather Gripp
Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Kasey Myers hoped he could be like Omar Wilkes. But there was no matching what Wilkes did Saturday.

So, shortly after Myers' 3-point attempt from well beyond the arc went for an airball, Wilkes was rushing to the stands to hug his mom while the Thousand Oaks High boys' basketball team sat in disbelief.

Wilkes, a junior guard for Loyola of Los Angeles, scored a game-high 26 points, including a clutch 3-pointer and a key layup late in the fourth quarter, leading the fourth-seeded Cubs to a 61-58 victory over No. 3 Thousand Oaks in the Southern Section Division I-A championship game at the Pond.

Wilkes wrapped around the defense, maneuvering in midair to drop in a shot that gave the Cubs a one-point lead with 10.1 seconds left in a game in which neither team led by more than one point after Wilkes brought Loyola within one with a 3-pointer with approximately five minutes remaining.

"I've never been in that situation before," Wilkes said of his last shot. "I've always dreamed of being in a situation like that, with the game on the line."

Thousand Oaks' David Anderson raced down the court on the ensuing possession but was called for traveling, giving the ball back to Loyola with 5.8 seconds remaining. Wilkes was fouled as soon as the ball was inbounded to him, and he made both of his free throws to extend the Cubs' lead to three.

Myers desperately tried to send the game to overtime. Instead, his shot fell short of the rim.

"If I put up a shot like the one Omar hit, it could have gone either way," Myers said.  As time expired, the Lancers (27-4) were overcome with disappointment. Unable to hold back tears, they hid their faces in their jerseys or under towels.

"It just hurts so bad," Myers said.

Like Loyola (27-3), Thousand Oaks has at least one more game, since it begins the state playoffs this week. Finding someone that gives the Lancers as much trouble as Wilkes will be difficult. "Wilkes came up and hit huge shots," Thousand Oaks coach Rich Endres said. "We couldn't stop him. He hit the outside shots and he hit the drive. ... He was the difference."

The Lancers managed to hold Wilkes to nine points in the first half. Even with inconsistent free-throw shooting and trouble penetrating the Cubs' defense, Thousand Oaks led 33-30 at halftime.

However, Lancers guard Ben Olson, who finished with 10 points, got in foul trouble early, and being removed from the game frequently made it difficult to find a rhythm. Myers scored a team-high 19 points but only five of those were in the second half.

Anderson, who finished with 14 points, scored only four in the second half, which is when Wilkes hit his stride.

"Once a player gets in a groove, especially someone like (Wilkes), it doesn't really matter who's on him," Endres said.

Loyola junior center Chris Rucker added 15 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Cubs expect to be even better next year, when they'll lose three seniors -- only one of whom is a starter.

"Loyola's a good team," Myers said. "They will probably be back next year. We thought this was our year. We never thought about losing. Coming in, I thought we were going to win, no doubt."

The Lancers' belief that they would earn their 18th consecutive victory and the program's first Southern Section title did not waiver until Wilkes scored his final field goal.

"When it fell in, my heart dropped," said Anderson, who like many of his teammates also experienced an unsatisfying end in the fall as a member of the football team.

"It's a little different because I know I'll play football again," Anderson said. "But I'll probably never play basketball again. It's a heartbreak either way."

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