BOYS BASKETBALL: Oxford ousts Waterford Kettering to advance to rare district finals
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION — It’s no secret that Oxford has had very limited postseason success over the decades.
In fact, one can count on just one hand the years where the Wildcats have even competed in a district finals in boys basketball over the past 40-plus years.
Despite the lack of history, Oxford continued its best start in school history by advancing to the district finals for the second straight year and fourth time in that long time span.
The Wildcats dispatched Waterford Kettering, 57-44, Wednesday night, in a Division 1 district semifinals at Lake Orion High School. Oxford, behind a school record 21 wins, will face rival Lake Orion at 7 p.m. for a district title.
In recent decades, Oxford played in the district finals in 2018, 2000 and 1993 — and have quite a title drought in the postseason.
“We haven’t won a district since ’93 and we haven’t won two games in Class A (now Division 1) district tournament ever, and we’ve been up here for 20 years,” noted Oxford coach Steve Laidlaw. “Before that, I think you have to go back to like 1947 (for a district championship)?”
It’s been nearly three decades since Oxford even won a district title, the last one coming in Class B in the aforementioned 1993 — some 26 years ago. The Wildcats are trying to make up for lost time.
There was no hiccup Wednesday.
Oxford and Kettering were tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats surged in the second quarter with a 10-4 run, only to see the Captains sail back and climb to within 24-23 at the half.
Oxford blew the game open with a 33-21 second half.
The Wildcats were paced by junior forward Trey Townsend’s 20 points. Senior forward Michael Raisch added 15 points, sophomore guard Zachary Townsend scored nine and senior guard Logan Coughlin tossed in eight points for Oxford.
“We’re pretty good when Trey and Michael touch the ball (inside) and we have some guys that can shoot it on the offensive end. When you leave us open, we have guys that can knock down some threes,” said Laidlaw. “On the other end we play very good, aggressive defense. I don’t think we’ve ever had a team here (at Oxford) that plays defense the way we do this year.”
Kettering (9-12) could rarely find any consistent offensive flow against Oxford. The Captains were led by sophomore guard Bennie Crenshaw’s 18 points. Senior guard Trevor Frazier added 13 points for Kettering.
Oxford, the OAA Blue Division champion in the regular season, opened the campaign with 15 straight wins — the longest win streak in program history — lost a game at Ferndale, then have reeled off six more wins to reach the district finals.
The Wildcats previously recorded 17 wins in 2014 and 1927 but is over 20 wins for the first time.
“We’ve had just a great season so far and I think the guys don’t want to stop playing,” said Laidlaw.
“I knew we could win the OAA Blue, even with Ferndale’s transfers and Pontiac’s resurgence,’’ added Laidlaw. “We can play defense and we’ve got some kids who can shoot.
But I didn’t think we would be 21-1 going into the district finals. In our loss to Ferndale, we were down one (point) with the ball and three (minutes) to go. We were right there in the game. We are close to be unbeaten. We come ready to play and we’ll be ready for Friday. This group is very motivated.”
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