Oakwood is good and it is only going to get better.
On the court is a freshman playing point and still learning the ins-and-outs of the high school game.
“When I first came here, I didn’t know anyone. Now we’re starting to play good as a team and like a family,” said Youssef Eshra. “I have really good teammates, so it’s why we’re really good.”
Joining him is a junior center, Justin Mortensen, who picked up the game in middle school and is learning how to incorporate a more aggressive style.
And on the bench is another 6-foot-7 player waiting to clear a transfer sit out period.
Zac Jenkins is more filled out than Mortensen and will help create a strong No. 4, No. 5 player dynamic that could help win the rebound battle under the net.
They are the only two seniors on the team that is dominated by underclassmen.
All Oakwood (7-2) has done with this group of young players is win.
The Hawks rattled off seven straight wins before getting stopped by Aptos in the championship game of the Bob Hagen Tournament.
Aptos held Oakwood to just 40 points, its lowest mark of the season. Still the Hawks are averaging just shy of 70 points per game, having scored 80 or more three times, including a 112-point effort against Latino College Prep.
The Hawks have just two losses through nine games and will now take a break before playing two more games ahead of its league opener.
Oakwood’s coach Kort Jensen is trying to get his boys accustomed to playing bigger schools so they won’t be surprise by anything their league opponents will throw at them.
“We’ve tried this year to not play a lot of Division V schools,” Jensen said. “I know, I’ve been on the bottom of Division V. It doesn’t help my kids. … We’re playing all these big, big schools because my kids need this experience.”
Last year, Oakwood had three losses in league, all coming against Trinity Christian – who swept the Coastal Athletic League.
The team has responded in not just the wins, but the chemistry it has developed.
During its Bob Hagen Tournament opening game against Live Oak, Eshra hit a key 3-pointer that was set up by a screen from Mortensen at the top of the arc.
Mortensen picked off Luke Laguna allowing Eshra a look at the basket.
Mortensen said the play wasn’t practiced; it just came out of everyone on the team knowing each other and rising up to the moment.
“That was spur of the moment, because we all trust him to take that shot,” Mortensen said.
“We’re really well bonded together even though it’s been a really short amount of time that we’ve been together. We really know what out teammates are going to do and how to help win.”
He said because of how small the school, it allows the players to know each other even before the freshmen move up to high school.
Jonathan Angulo’s senior leadership on the court now combined with the shooting of Nate Schilling will help to round out Oakwood’s attack, Jensen said.
And the team’s point guard knows how important it is to have an outlet.
“(Nate’s) a really good shooter,” Eshra said. “He’s one of the best players on the team and he’s one of the best players on the floor. It helps me because when I try to go around my defender, all the defense comes around me so it leaves Nate alone so I can pass to him to shoot 3s.”
