GILROY—Just hours before his tournament championship game, Nate Schilling was practicing his shooting with his dad. The pointers his dad gave him—keep your elbow straight and get a lot of arch on your shot—resonated through Schilling’s head all game and helped him out his recent shooting funk—not to mention being Oakwood’s leading scorer, too.
Schilling posted 19 points—nine of which game from 3-point buckets—en route to the Hawks’ 59-41 win over Gilroy in the 35th annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament championship game. The senior also had five rebounds and two assists for Oakwood.
“It’s definitely a confidence builder,” Schilling said of the importance of claiming the tournament crown. “It just proves to us what we know we can do. Going into these next games, if we can come out with that same fire we know we can win.”
Schilling was named to the All-Tournament team alongside teammates Youssef Eshra and Justin Mortenson. Eshra—who scored 30 points in Friday’s semifinal game against Aptos—was also crowned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Though the standout sophomore only scored six against Gilroy, he was instrumental to the Hawks success. Eshra had seven steals, seven rebounds, six assists and a block.
“We were really excited to play in the championship and bring the trophy to the school,” Eshra said. “We were really fired up because our coach talked to us and he didn’t want us to just come and chill on the court and play lazy basketball. We just came and played really hard.”
The Hawks charged out of the gate to take a 6-2 lead, but the Mustangs kept on their heels. Connor Doyle found Michael Kropff under the basket to cut Oakwood’s lead to 10-7 midway through the first and the two teams exchanged baskets until Kropff got his team within four, picking up a basket with under 30 seconds left in the quarter. That was too close for comfort for Schilling though and he scored as the buzzer sounded to put the Hawks up 18-12.
Oakwood scored nine unanswered points to open the second and didn’t allow a Mustang point for almost six minutes until Zach Mata hit a 3-pointer. The Hawks then turned up the heat on defense, forcing turnover after turnover to hold Gilroy to just six points in the quarter.
“It was a slow start for us and that really cost us. We can’t have a slow start against a really good team like Oakwood,” said Kropff, who led Gilroy with 14 points and eight rebounds. “I thought we still played well. I think they came in and from the start they were fighting. We were just a little slow out of the gate and that really hurt us.”
It took awhile for Gilroy’s help-side defense to get going but once it did, it made all the difference. Eric Heiser and Mata both came up with three rebounds and a steal for Gilroy, helping limit the Hawks’ scoring. But in true Oakwood fashion, the Hawks finished the quarter with a 3-pointer from Schilling off a beautiful behind the back pass from Eshra.
“Tonight he was just trying to set everybody up,” Oakwood coach Kort Jensen said of Eshra. “He’s a very unselfish player. He could probably get 30 every night if that’s what he wanted, but he’s not selfish.”
Even in the final minute, Gilroy never quit. Doyle hit his second 3-point basket of the game with just 58 ticks left on the clock to give Mustang fans one last thrill. Doyle had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists in the game.
Kropff, who was named to the All-Tournament team with Eric Heiser, led the Mustangs with 14 points in the game. Heiser added seven.
Kropff said he was proud of the way his teammates played, but said there’s still more work to do moving forward.
“I think we need to work on our communication as a team—that’s what really lacks right now,” he said. “We’re not really letting each other know what’s going on by calling it out and just execution—finishing the play. Knowing when to push it and knowing when to slow it to keep a balanced tempo (is key).”
Oakwood was just as good on defense in the second half and saw especially stellar play from Miles Batey. Batey came up with back-to-back fourth quarter steals and finished with five in the game. He also had six steals and an assist in addition to 11 points.
“Miles Batey—what can you say about that kid? He’s everywhere and other teams start to push him and they get physical with him,” Jensen said. “He is the type of player who gets under your skin and he’s great.”
Oakwood was able to get two players in off the bench—Devon Johnson and Harjot Saran—for some varsity minutes. Saran found himself at the freethrow line in the third quarter and knocked down both of his shots, causing the Hawks players and fans to erupt with cheers.
“Everyone stepped up,” Schilling said. “The best part of it was Harjot (Saran) stepping up to the line and knocking down those two freethrows. He was just ecstatic.”
While they would’ve loved to win, Kropff said he and his teammates were still happy to have made it to the tournament’s big dance. And despite the outcome, Gilroy coach Abrem Estorga said this game serves as a sign of good things to come.
“It says something about South County basketball—it’s on the rise. Oakwood’s program has been growing, we’re rebuilding and it’s all positive,” Estorga said. “We knew there was going to be mismatches—some in our favor, some in their favor—and we just hoped that we made the right decisions. It took us a while to get in there.
“Our guys play hard, they leave it on the court, so we’ll be prepared. This helps us get ready for league. Our No. 1 goal is to win a league championship and advance to CCS, but ultimately we need to develop. This helps us develop character; it exploits our weaknesses and our strengths. We were pleased with it and we’re just happy for the community to have a good day—from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.—12 hours of basketball. It’s a basketball junkie’s dream.”
Oakwood (6-1) will be back in action at 7 p.m. at Pinewood. Gilroy (1-5) will play at 7 p.m. Friday at San Lorenzo Valley.
Here are the final standings for this year’s tournament:
1. Oakwood
2. Gilroy
3. Aptos
4. Live Oak
5. Christopher
6. Santa Teresa
7. Seaside
8. Anzar
