By Ben Berry

After consecutive losses in the championship final the past two years, the Oak Hill Academy Warriors won their first Dick's Sporting Goods National Championship title in stunning fashion with an overtime buzzer-beater over the La Lumiere Lakers (IN). The win marks head coach Steve Smith's first Dick's Sporting Goods National Championship.

The last-second tip by Virginia Tech commit Khadim Sy ended the Lakers' Cinderella run, which began when they avenged an early-season loss to St. Benedicts in the opening round. But La Lumiere really turned heads when it defeated No. 1 seed Montverde (FL) in the semifinal. Prior to their first-round victory, the Lakers hadn't notched a single win in any of their three Dick's Sporting Goods High School National appearances.

Shortly after the game tipped off at Madison Square Garden, an elbow injury took La Lumiere's stud power forward/center, Jeremiah Timon, out of the game. After a period of rushed, nervous basketball, Oak Hill was up by six at the end of the first, 16-10.



Back-to-back buckets early in the second half helped increase the Warriors' lead to 24-13 before La Lumiere took a timeout. Matt Coleman led Oak Hill throughout the first half in both assists and points.



High-level guard play by Lakers freshman Tyger Campbell made for a good battle against Coleman. Kevin Zhang was hesitant throughout the tournament, but played efficiently for La Lumiere in the third quarter as he hit every attempted free throw and used his body on defense with well-timed steps.



Campbell continued to do it all for the Lakers throughout the third with two very impressive drives and connected on all his free-throws.  

The La Lumiere crowd was a factor in the Garden as they willed their team forward. A missed three by Campbell led to him getting his own rebound and completing a needle-threaded pass to Bowen, who finished a three-the-hard-way play. The third came to an end at 46-36 with Oak Hill ahead. Braxton Key lead both teams with 14 points and 4 boards going into the final quarter. 



At the start of the fourth, it was clear that guard play would determine the winner. The battle of the No. 2s, Campbell and Coleman, really set the tone for the teams. A Campbell bucket and steal put La Lumiere ahead of Oak Hill by two with 28 seconds left in the game.

Later, with 6.6 seconds remaining, Braxton was fouled on an inbound play, and was compensated with two decisive free throws.



Overtime!  

After trading both baskets and stops, La Lumiere found themselves in front by three with the score at 60-57 and 48.5 left on the clock.

Oak Hill's Lindell Wiggington was fouled after a made basketball and tied the game 60-60 with 29 seconds left by making a free throw.

As the final seconds flew by, Oak Hill missed a shot, but lucked out as Sy tipped the ball into the basket to edge out the La Lumiere Lakers.



In the post-game presser, Coach Heirman of La Lumiere gave an update on Timon's injury, a shoulder separation, and indicated he was receiving treatment at the hospital.