St. Francis defeats Oxnard to earn spot in CIF state regional championship game
LA CAÑADA — It was rarified air for the St. Francis basketball team, as it ventured deep into state competition after a finals appearance in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
Another finals appearance sat right in front of the Golden Knights on Saturday, if they could vanquish visiting Oxnard in a regional semifinal.
That’s just what St. Francis did.
Thanks to some last-second heroics by Andre Henry, the host Golden Knights came away with a 67-66 victory over Oxnard in a CIF State Division II Southern California Regional semifinal.
“That is what high school basketball is all about,” St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson said. “I’ve been doing this 13 years and that is one of the best games, both teams, that I have ever been a part of.”
The No. 1-seeded Golden Knights advance to the Division II regional championship game for the first time in school history. The Golden Knights will host No. 6 seed Eastvale Roosevelt at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
In its semifinal Saturday, Roosevelt defeated King/Drew in overtime, 66-65.
St. Francis will take on Roosevelt for the second time this season after earning a 60-33 victory on Feb. 21 in a Southern Section Division II-AA semifinal.
“It’s pretty awesome, it’s pretty fun,” Wolfson said of moving on. “I came here five years ago to try to help this program. It’s nice when you put hard work into stuff and it ends up paying off in the end, but I’ve got to give credit to our guys.”
St. Francis (29-8) did not trail since the waning moments of the third quarter. But with under 20 seconds left Oxnard (32-3) took the lead when Kai Johnson rose up and drained a three-pointer for a one-point advantage, 66-65.
The Golden Knights had the ball out of bounds under their own basket with 17 seconds left. Henry took the inbounds pass and dribbled his way calmly up the court under tight defense.
“I wasn’t passing it,” Henry said. “I want the ball in my hands at the end.”
As the seconds ticked toward zero, the senior, who had been driving to his right the majority of the night, took the ball left and got to the rim for a layup and the lead with 3.3 seconds to go.
“I knew they were going to force me left,” Henry said. “I trust my left hand. [Also,] the belief that the coaches put in me, they told me I’m the best player in the gym. They told me to just make one more play and I did that.”
The ensuing desperation heave by the Yellowjackets, the No. 12 seed, came nowhere near the rim, and the gym, filled to capacity, exploded in a chorus of cheers.
St. Francis started the final stanza with a 52-50 advantage and struck first when Henry assisted Buckley Dejardin on a basket. However, Oxnard scored the next four points to knot the score at 54.
Golden Knights senior Frederick Harper broke the deadlock when Henry whipped a pass from the inside to the senior, who made a three-pointer. St. Francis then held the lead until the Johnson triple, which set the scene for Henry’s game-winner.
Henry, who is committed to UC Irvine, led all scorers with 28 points, 19 of which came in the second half. He also had eight rebounds. Senior Jason Gallant was the only other St. Francis player to join Henry in double figures in scoring with 17, to go along with seven assists, as he was the game’s leading scorer at halftime with 12.
“We trusted our defense,” Gallant said. “We trusted all the plays we made throughout the game. We had many players step up and make winning plays. That’s going to win games at the end.”
Making the victory all the sweeter for St. Francis was that Oxnard ended its season last year, defeating the Golden Knights in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs.
“[Oxnard] ended our season last year, so it feels amazing to just keep on moving on,” Henry said.
The Yellowjackets held a 36-32 advantage going into the third quarter, helped by a successful heave from beyond half-court by Andrew Ramirez as the halftime horn sounded.
Ramirez opened the second half with another three-pointer. The Oxnard cushion was still at seven with 4:24 left in the third when St. Francis came to life, reeling off 11 straight points, the final six coming from Henry, to make the score 47-44.
In the final minute of the third, Oxnard went on a five-point run to take the lead back with 29.2 seconds to go. After Oxnard was called for a charging foul with 4.4 seconds left, St. Francis inbounded the ball to Henry, who passed to Harper. Harper then hit a three-pointer several feet behind the centerline for to give his squad a 52-50 lead going into the final quarter.
Oxnard was led in scoring by Ramirez with 19. Kai Johnson and Stacy Johnson each tallied 17 points.
Although St. Francis has a big game on Tuesday, Henry, for one, is not looking too far ahead.
“We’ve got practice Monday, that’s all that matters,” Henry said.