Westchester Fails Its Test in Battle Against Oak Hill

The NBA scouts were in place and so were the college coaches, enough visitors in town to put a strain on area car-rental chains.

It wasn’t an unexpected mixing and mingling of basketball minds. After all, Westchester High was playing Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy for the right to claim the top spot in the boys’ basketball national rankings.

Perhaps the only unexpected part of Saturday night was the final score: Oak Hill dominated and dethroned Westchester, 77-61, in the Houston Academy tournament National Division championship before an estimated crowd of 4,800 at the Campbell Center.

Westchester was ranked No. 1 and Oak Hill was No. 2 in one national poll. There was little doubt about the top team Saturday.

Westchester trailed at halftime, 39-28, and was buried by a 12-2 Oak Hill run to start the third quarter. Oak Hill led after three quarters, 64-41.

Westchester (11-1) was unable to produce easy scores with its full-court pressure and flubbed several lay-ups. The Comets shot 36.9% (24 of 65), were three of 16 from three-point range and committed 15 turnovers to Oak Hill’s eight.

Oak Hill outrebounded Westchester, 29-10, with 6-10 center Sani Ibrahim pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.

“We were a little bit bigger than I think they were used to,” Oak Hill Coach Steve Smith said.

Oak Hill (15-0) entered with plenty of credentials: Sixteen McDonald’s All-Americans in the last 16 seasons and only 31 losses in that span.

This year’s top Oak Hill prospect, Carmelo Anthony, scored 24 points on eight-of-13 shooting.

Anthony, a 6-foot-7 swingman who has committed to Syracuse but might test the NBA waters, identified why Oak Hill wanted to secure the No. 1 ranking.

“Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers,” he said.

The Comets have little time for recovery with a Western League opener Jan. 8 at Fairfax. The Comets defeated Fairfax by two points in the Westchester tournament championship Dec. 1.

“When we get back to L.A., we can’t dwell on this,” said guard Hassan Adams, who had a game-high 30 points and made 12 of 16 shots. “It’s a loss, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s not the end of the season.”