Evan Richard’s eight second quarter points sparked a rally for the Oakwood boys basketball team who took down Branham 61-45 Monday night in the Hawks’ home opener.
The Hawks were shutdown in the first quarter and trailed 12-9 before an 11-3 run put Oakwood over the top for good.
“That’s a different Branham team from last year,” said Oakwood coach Kort Jensen. “They had a tremendous JV squad last year. They have some great returners. Their post player is awesome and their post player was as quick as Youseff.”
Still, Jensen was hoping for a little better effort to start things off after a consolation championship won over the weekend.
“I think the last couple of games of the Kings Academy Tournament … we looked so good. I think we just had a little bit of a let down,” Jensen said. “Some of our kids have a really love suiting up in their Oakwood colors and playing in front of the fans that they forget to play hard. They’re just young that way. It took a little lighting of the fire to get them to still play.”
Jensen said they mixed up the offense in the second quarter, bringing Richards to the high post and it allowed him to get open.
“We were able to overcome the deficit we created,” Jensen said.
Richards finished with 12 points and five rebounds as the Hawks took his lead to improve to 3-1 overall.
“Not always, but we tend to have a rough start. Then we get into the groove and start running the plays. That’s when things start coming together,” Richards said.
Most of the swing in the second quarter started with pressure on the ball. Oakwood successfully forced Branham into being careless with the ball, leading to eight turnovers for the quarter.
“We always tell the kids to not give them room to breathe,” Jensen said. “That’s how close they were to them.”
Youssef Eshra led the team with 17 points, 10 of which came in the second half. Nate Schilling followed with 13 points, including a pair of 3s in a 21-point third quarter.
In that frame, it was Oakwood’s big man who did most of the damage.
Justin Mortensen had eight points off put-backs, accounting for all but one of his nine points in the game.
Fellow big man Ekenny Ekene led the team in rebounds, pulling down nine boards to go with his six points.
It was crucial as late in the game, both of the Hawks’ bigs fouled out.
“I think we get teams’ best effort every night and we get their physical effort every night,” Jensen said.
It was a physical matchup that Oakwood isn’t built for, but excelled in despite losing both post players.
Hard fouls went called and uncalled on both sides and tempers erupted late in the game with pushing and shoving between the players.
No technicals were called in the game, however, as the referees intervened quickly enough and coaches took control of their players.
“Being able to be physical is one of our weaker aspects,” Richards said. “Being physical and letting teams see that we’re going to be physical on the inside and getting to an and-one is great.”
