In order to grow, young programs have to learn from tough lessons.
The Oakwood boys basketball team experienced one Thursday as it foundered through a 35-30 home loss to the York Falcons.
Although the outcome was much prettier than that of their previous meeting, a 50-28 York victory on Jan. 17, the Hawks needed a win against a quality opponent to help their chances of making the Central Coast Section playoffs for the first time.
With two Coastal Athletic League games left against Anzar (7 p.m. Monday) and visiting Anchorpoint (4 p.m. Thursday), chances are Oakwood (12-7) will be left out when the Division V tournament field is announced Sunday.
“We needed that to get into CCS,” third-year Oakwood coach Kort Jensen said glumly while looking at the scoreboard. “I don’t know what the final outcome will be yet, but we needed this. That was our best chance.”
The Hawks played their worst game of this season, Jensen added. They had more turnovers than points in the first quarter and still had several chances to tie or win it in the fourth after trailing 32-19.
“We just kept throwing it away and throwing it away all over the court,” Oakwood guard Brett Hall said. “We needed to just play better all around, needed to be stronger on defense.”
Hall collected five rebounds, five steals and scored nine of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, as Oakwood rallied to within 33-30.
The Hawks held York (7-4) to one basket in the final five minutes with great pressure defense led by freshmen Amarjot Thind and Nikhil Batra.
“(That) says we played hard, and we did play hard,” Jensen said. “But we made too many mistakes. This was just not our game.”
The Falcons pulled away with a 10-2 scoring run to end the third quarter, including back-to-back 3-pointers off steals.
“Take away even a couple turnovers, we would’ve won. It’s frustrating,” said Oakwood center Justin Mortensen, who pulled in 10 rebounds and matched teammate John Angulo with six points. Angulo also made five steals.
If there is one bright side to the loss, it’s that all of the Hawks will back next season.
“Hopefully they’re all going to remember what this feels like and learn from it,” Jensen said.
