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DME Murray Hits Game Winning 3 - Jan 31, 2020
Jan
31

DME Murray Hits Game Winning 3 - Jan 31, 2020

After getting victimized by an over-officious jerk w/ a whistle on their 1st attempt at a game-winner, @DMEAcademyMBB regroups and 6’8” @IowaHoops-commit Keegan Murray (@keegan3murray) DRILLS a cold-blooded dagger as time expires to beat Woodstock 81-78 at the 2020 #NPSI

Link to Game Winner: https://twitter.com/PHawkKenyon/status/1223397263646580743?s=20

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West Oaks Basketball Snaps Oak Hill’s 23-year Home Win Streak - Jan 27th, 2020
Jan
27

West Oaks Basketball Snaps Oak Hill’s 23-year Home Win Streak - Jan 27th, 2020

West Oaks Academy, a tiny Orlando private school that plays big-time basketball, shook the high school hoops circuit with a stunning upset of national No. 2 Oak Hill of Virginia on Monday night.

The Flame scored an 86-81 road win to deal the Warriors their first home-court loss since a 1996-97 defeat to a Redemption Christian Academy (N.Y.) team led by Lamar Odom. Based on published reports, the Warriors had won more than 360 consecutive home games before Monday’s shocker.

“Nothing is impossible, but if anything is close to impossible, it’s beating Oak Hill at Oak Hill,” fifth-year West Oaks coach Kenny Gillion said on Tuesday morning after his team took a 6 a.m. flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Orlando. “I think Oak Hill is the most dominant program inside of high school basketball. The fact that we were able to beat them at Oak Hill, that just let everybody around the country know that West Oaks has arrived. That was kind of the signature win that I think let people know that we’re a national program.”

West Oaks improved to 17-5 against a schedule that has included two wins and three losses against out-of-state teams ranked in the top three of at least one national poll. Oak Hill was 27-1 and in contention to claim its 10th national championship under legendary coach Steve Smith as the No. 2 team behind Montverde Academy (22-0) in current polls.

Selton Miguel, a 6-foot-4 guard signed by Kansas State, led the Flame with 27 points. Two other senior major-college prospects, AJ Staton (6-4) and Jadrian Tracey (6-5), scored 21 and 17, respectively. Fray Nguimbi, a 6-7 sophomore, added 13 points and 9 rebounds.

According to Oak Hill records, Smith has 1,152 career wins against only 77 losses in 35 years at the school. The Warriors, who, like West Oaks, are an independent with no scheduling limits, won 40 games or more eight times in the past 14 seasons. They lead high school basketball with nine mythical national titles, the most recent in 2016.

Smith made this statement by Twitter after the defeat: “Tough loss. West Oaks Academy was the better team tonight for sure.”

“After losing at Oak Hill last year, I really wanted us to go back,” Gillion said. “We were fortunate that Steve Smith would play the game. Much respect to him.”

There was no time or place for much of a celebration party. The Flame had to drive nearly six hours from Oak Hill’s campus in remote Flint Hill, Va., to Charlotte to catch its flight home because they had a home game Tuesday night against Sunshine Independent Athletic Association rival The Rock of Gainesville — the only Florida team West Oaks has lost to this season.

Gillion said players went to class Tuesday morning and waited until the afternoon to get a little rest before the 7:30 p.m. game.

“I told the guys no excuses. This is what they came to West Oaks for,” Gillion said of the tough turnaround.

Seven of West Oaks’ nine varsity players have Division I scholarship offers, and the Flame has been ranked in the top 25 of national polls, trailing only Montverde and IMG Academy among Florida teams.

Staton, a shooting guard who left state champ Pompano Beach Ely to play his senior season for the Flame, has a long list of mid-major offers and is getting increasing interest from Alabama, according to Gillion.

Tracey, a three-star prospect according to 247Sports, holds offers from USF, Florida Gulf Coast and FIU, among others.

Nguimbi already has offers from Alabama, Iowa State and USF, among others. And the most highly recruited West Oaks player is 6-1 junior starting guard AJ Neal, the son of Gillion’s wife and assistant coach, Diana.

West Oaks, which has an enrollment of about 150 students grades K-12, withdrew from the Florida High School Athletic Association in 2008 after being sanctioned for major rules violations. It has the reputation as a school without rules that reloads its roster with transfers every year. But Neal has been at the school since sixth grade, and Miguel and Nguimbi have been on board since they were freshmen.

Gillion said Tuesday that the team grade-point average is 3.1 on a 4.0 scale, and that every one of his players is on track to be academically eligible for athletic scholarships. Staton, he said, already has 57 college credit hours.

Outside of SIAA play, the Flame mostly packs its bags to play a number of games on the Grind Session national circuit, which caters to a plethora of basketball powers that, like West Oaks, play outside traditional high school governing bodies like the FHSAA.

West Oaks drove to Grind Session weekend events in Mississippi and Atlanta and flew to Kentucky for Jan. 4-5 games. West Oaks is scheduled to go to two more Grind Session events in Kentucky.

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