Bishop’s Checkmates Oakwood

The ball was in the right man’s hands.

The time, at 10 seconds, was ample.

The shot, a 5-foot bank shot, was a high percentage attempt.

So how in the world did Oakwood come up short, 46-44, to Bishop’s High, ending its season in a Southern California Division V regional semifinal of the state tournament at Hoover High on Thursday night?

Simply because, when all seemed right, junior forward Mitchell Butler, the man who had saved Oakwood time and again, saw his 5-foot jump shot clank off the rim with 3 seconds left, allowing the scrappy Knights (24-1) to overcome the Southern Section champions in a blurry and dramatic ending.

Nothing more, nothing less.

The frantic finish began with Bishop’s Josh Peterson on the free-throw line shooting one-and-one with a 45-44 lead and 10 seconds to play. After making one, he missed the second.

Butler grabbed the rebound, one of his game-high 17, and took off downcourt.

“The play was set so that I would get the ball, Eric Leddel would set a pick and I would get a shot in the paint,” Butler said.

That part all worked fine. It’s just that the shot didn’t go in. But it wasn’t over there.

Butler skied in traffic for his own offensive rebound and mustered a fallaway shot.

“I came down with the ball, but a defender got a piece of the shot and a piece of me,” Butler said.

There was no foul called. The ball flew into the air and was grabbed by Gorilla Jim Cossman, who didn’t get a shot off in time.

To Oakwood fans, coaches and players who watched a wild Knights’ celebration in stunned silence, something about the script seemed terribly wrong.

But to Bishop’s Coach Len Marquette, this was no surprise ending. In fact, his team’s collapsing defense, headed by 6-6 Chris McKenna, kept Butler off balance all night.

“We have held teams all year to an average of 42 points. Coming up here, everybody told me the guy was near-NBA in talent,” Marquette said of Butler. “And he is a fine, fine player.

“But I don’t know if he’s used to playing against such good defensive team skills.”

Time and again, the Knights’ collapsing defense trapped Butler into taking awkward shots. That is when Butler, who scored 32 points, got the ball at all.

Bishop’s put on a full-court press to start the second half. It gave the Gorillas fits and allowed Bishop’s to break open a 19-18 halftime deficit into a 38-28 near-rout with 5:51 left in the game.

“With the press for us it’s been either feast or famine,” Oakwood Coach Roz Goldenberg said. “We either get easy layups or turn the ball over. Tonight, we obviously turned the ball over.”

But it was at that point, when it looked like Oakwood was being run out of the gym, that the Gorilla pride began beating its chest.

Butler was awarded 4 free throws on one possession after an official’s oversight--the referees had failed to award him shots on a foul moments earlier--and he sank all 4, bringing momentum back to Oakwood.

Suddenly, it was only 38-32 and Oakwood was in the midst of an 11-1 run that tied the score, 39-39, with 3:35 to play.

In the final minute, Butler had two opportunities to give his team the lead from the free-throw line, but he missed both times.

“I told my team it had a lot of character,” Goldenberg said. “To come back from 10 points down showed me a lot.”

But, still she speculated on what might have been. “I swear I didn’t even think the word ‘state’ all year,” she said. “Our whole goal was Southern Section.”

Maurile Tremblay led Bishop’s with 13 points.