The Oakland High girls and Oakland Tech boys basketball teams both won state championship trophies this weekend, a year after the Tech girls and O-High boys brought home the hardware from Sacramento.
Just like last year, both of the Oakland Athletic League’s 2024 representatives in the California Interscholastic Federation state tournament dominated their opponents at Golden 1 Center en route to their titles.
Also like last year, a team that finished second in the OAL ended up being #1 in the state. On Friday morning, the Wildcats beat Montgomery of San Diego 56-50 to win the Division V crown.
Then on Saturday evening, the Bulldogs beat Centennial of Bakersfield 79-55 for the boys’ Division II title. “I’m so happy for our kids,” Tech coach Karega Hart told Oaklandside after the game. “The goal from day one was for them to win their last game no matter what division, and that’s what we focused on the entire time.”
The Bulldogs’ 2023 season ended at Laney College in the CIF Division III Northern California championship game, which was won by rival Oakland High. 369 days later, after avenging that loss in the NorCal finals, the Oakland Tech boys went on to win their first ever state title.
“I told them this year I’m not picking up their tears,” said Hart. “I’m not picking them up. I refuse. So for them, I feel great cuz I’m not holding them and consoling them at the end of the season. We get to celebrate for once in our lives.”
Oakland High loses star center, but holds on for win
In the first game of the state finals on Friday morning, Oakland High junior center Ojiugo Egeonu dominated the paint on both offense and defense, and the Wildcats had a five-point lead at halftime.
When Egeonu went to the bench in foul trouble with 5:46 left to play in the game, O-High had built an eleven point lead, 49-38. Rather than losing the lead without their leading scorer and defensive stopper though, the Wildcats came up with four straight stops. In the two minutes immediately following Egeonu’s exit, O-High only gave up two free throws, and the lead remained at nine, 51-40.
Egeonu checked back in with less than three minutes remaining, but fouled out ten seconds later with the lead cut to eight. She finished with 15 points, 17 rebounds, and 7 blocks.
The Wildcats survived a late comeback attempt by Montgomery, and then hoisted their second state championship trophy. They also won a state title in 2019.
Senior guard Daijha Teague finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocks.
As the #13 seed, it was the fifth straight road victory of the postseason for the Wildcats. “I don’t take that stuff personal,” O-High coach Nita Simpson told Oaklandside. “Our parents supported us.”
In the state title game, the Wildcats put on their best performance of the season. “They peaked, that’s what you hope for,” said Simpson. “They weren’t scared. I could tell they were locked in. They were ready.”
Tech boys win first state title
The narrative heading into the boys’ Division II matchup was about Centennial’s size: could the small, scrappy squad from Oakland hang with the big boys from Bakersfield. That question was answered quickly.
The Bulldogs won the opening tip. On their first possession, senior forward Ahmed Gulaid grabbed an offensive rebound off a Saddiq Alarbesh miss to score the first two points of the game.
Then, on the Golden Hawk’s first possession, Tech juniors Xan Myer-Plettner and Ardarius Grayson both blocked point-blank shots at the rim by Centennial’s 6’4” senior Godwill Fomusoh. The possession was finished off when Myer-Plettner inhaled a rebound off a missed layup attempt.
Though Centennial built an early 7-2 lead, Tech played stingy interior defense, mercilessly attacked the rim on offense, and led 33-27 at the half.
The second half was even more of the same.
Not only did Centennial’s size not matter, Tech’s 5’9” Caleb Rollins turned in one of the more dominating performances of the game. The junior guard dropped 20 off the bench on a relentless barrage of fast break layups, free throws, and three pointers.
OAL MVP Ardarius Grayson also scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out 7 assists, and pilfered 5 steals.
Both of Tech’s big men ruled the paint throughout the game. Myer-Plettner finished with 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Gulaid added 16 points and 6 rebounds.
It was an all around dominant performance by Oakland Tech in a game that was basically over in the third quarter.
OAL schools returning to prominence
In an era where elite basketball players can choose whatever school they want to attend, and the elite of the elite can even go straight to a professional team, it is truly remarkable that two schools from a district with dwindling resources for extracurricular activities can reach the pinnacle of prep sports in California. But that’s what’s happening in Oakland.
Simpson, the Oakland High girls team coach, in her first year, successfully took a team full of players recruited by someone else to Sacramento. She has aspirations beyond the high school level, and has now proven that she can lead a team to a title. She runs a non-profit, Battle Tested Kids, that provides athletic training to youth, with a focus on self-discipline, leadership, teamwork, and responsibility. “I enjoy coaching,” Simpson told Oaklandside. “I do it around the clock.”
In his post game press conference, Tech coach Hart first gave a shout out to his wife, Naiesha, and then praised his players’ sacrifices throughout their time in the program. He also honored the various coaches with whom he has worked with over the years. “We take pride in being Bulldogs and being from Oakland Tech, but most of all we take pride in being from the city of Oakland, which is a blue collar city that’s focused on love and building our young men.”
Hart, in his fourteenth season as the head coach at Tech, also talked about how two OAL schools winning championships was good for the city at a time when media narratives about Oakland have veered into negative territory. “It’s not all that hate, it’s not all that violence.”
In Oakland, it’s also not all about basketball according to Hart. “You could tell me that we had a successful season and we won a championship, but I’m looking at what they look like five years from now, ten years from now. That’s going to be the measure of their success.”
Tech finishes the 2024 campaign with a 30-5 record. After losing to Berkeley by three points on January 20, the Bulldogs boys team won their next 14 games. They went undefeated in OAL play for the second straight season, and undefeated in the Oakland Section tournament for the third straight season. This was their first return trip to the state finals since 2003.
Though losing senior starters Gulaid and Asher Kramer, Tech returns Grayson, Myer-Plettner, Alarbesh and Rollins next year.
Oakland High won 17 of their final 21 games, losing to state powerhouse Oakland Tech three times in that span. Their first game in the section playoffs was their last game at home for the season. With two juniors (Egeonu and Remember Chit) and two freshmen (Kyla Smith and Tyliana Velasquez) in this year’s starting lineup, the Wildcats girls team definitely head into the offseason with optimism about next year as well.
O’Dowd girls come up short
The Bishop O’Dowd girls won the Division I NorCal championship, but fell to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance in the state tournament in Sacramento on Friday. Coach Malik McCord’s team went to its sixth state title game in the past 13 years (the Lady Dragons also made it to the state final in 2020, but that game was canceled due to COVID), falling short of winning a fourth state championship. While they lose senior point guard Savannah Jones, the team will return a deep sophomore class and a talented freshmen class as well.
