The Teams
Oak Hill Academy, the nations top ranked high school team, came into this game with a perfect 36-0 record. Their rotation consists of no less then 7 high major division one players, those being UNC bound point guard Tywon Lawson, top three junior and Charlotte commit Michael Beasley, Beasleys best friend and Duke commit Nolan Smith, 67 PF/WF Jeff Allen (Virginia Tech signee), 68 WF/PF Landon Melbourne (Maryland signee), 66 WF Anthony Wright (Michigan signee), and 610 PF/C Alberto Jackson (Georgia signee).
We covered Oak Hill back in December, when they topped one of the nations top prep schools, Harmony Community School without McDonalds All American Tywon Lawson. Since then, Oak Hill has only gotten better, knocking off top schools such as Wayne Ellington and Gerald Hendersons Episcopal Academy and Lance Thomas Saint Benedicts Prep. With Lawson at the helm, Oak Hill is nearly unbeatable. The senior point guard has explosiveness reminiscent of former UNC guard and current Charlotte Bobcat Raymond Felton. His ability to set everyone else up while scoring over 20 points per game has given opponents nightmares all season, and continued to this past Saturday against North College Hill.
Cincinnati North College Hill, ranked 2nd in the nation by USA Today, is led by the top two juniors in the land in O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker. We first featured Mayo and Walker last April, as the duo put on a jaw dropping workout at the EA Sports Roundball Classic. Since then, we have tracked them multiple times, most recently in late December when they blew out the highly touted Patterson Schools high school team.
Since then, North College Hill has ran the table at numerous national tournaments. They knocked off multiple USA Today top 25 teams, including Ohios defending division one state champion Canton McKinley. One thing has changed since then however 611 junior center Keenan Ellis was dismissed from the team. Ellis, a top 50 recruit nationally, was an extremely emotional player who could not seem to handle not being in the spotlight and desired a more significant role with the team. While many said good riddance to Ellis, basketball insiders realized how crucial of a loss this was to a North College Hill team that already lacked depth to begin with. Never would this be more evident then in last Saturdays game against Oak Hill.
The Game
The game was played in front of a sold out crowd of 16,500 at Cincinnatis US Bank Arena. Tickets were going for nearly four times face value, and up to $200 for floor seats. Noticeable people in attendance were ESPN executives, various prominent AAU figures, multiple people associated with the grassroots basketball facets of shoe companies, and college stars such as Rajon Rondo, Eric Hicks, and James White. Reebok grassroots director Chris Rivers couldnt have been too happy to see O.J. Mayo sporting Kobe Bryants new Nike signature shoe and Bill Walker wearing LeBron James new Nike signature shoe, considering that Reebok sponsors both Mayo and Walkers AAU and high school teams, and the duo were considered Reeboks poster children of the future.
While the game was played in Cincinnati, the atmosphere did not give North College Hill any distinct advantage. Although they have the two best juniors in the nation, many in Cincinnati do not care for North College Hill because of their supposed constant trash-talking and running up the scores in local games. Because of this, it was more like the game was played at a neutral site than in North College Hills hometown.
The game started off with a bang, as O.J. Mayo threw an off the backboard pass to Bill Walker for an emphatic dunk on the games first play. The duo hooked up on another alley-oop two minutes later that had the fans in attendance going wild. Oak Hill then hit its stride, as Tywon Lawson begin to put on a scoring clinic. The UNC bound guard had 10 points in the games first four minutes, forcing North College Hill coach Jamie Mahaffey to call a timeout with his team trailing 15-8. Oak Hill came out of it in a flurry, scoring six more points before the quarter ended to give them a 21-11 lead. Mayo and Walker had scored all of North College Hills points throughout the first stanza.
New quarter, more of the same old story for North College Hill. Their role players seemed incredibly nervous and contributed nothing to the scoring column. Oak Hills Tywon Lawson changed his role, setting up his teammates with open looks instead of scoring himself like he did in the first quarter. Duke bound Nolan Smith and Michigan signee Anthony Wright were the main beneficiaries of Lawsons playmaking skills, scoring 8 points each in the half. Lawson also had a great no-look pass to Michael Beasley, who shocked the crowded with an explosive right hand dunk on a helpless North College Hill defender. O.J. Mayos awesome scoring ability was the only thing that was able to keep this game close, as he scored all of North College Hills 13 second quarter points.
At the half, Oak Hill had a 37-24 lead. They were led by Tywon Lawsons 10 points, and 8 point contributions from Nolan Smith and Anthony Wright. For North College Hill, not one single player aside from O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker scored in the entire half. To go into even more detail, Walker scored his five first half points all within the first two minutes of the game, and O.J. Mayo scored every single North College Hill point after that, giving him 19 for the half.
The third quarter was a bit different from the first two, as Bill Walker and O.J. Mayo were able to give Oak Hill a run for their money. The duo showed why they are considered the top two players in the country, as Walker and Mayo scored 8 and 13 points respectively in the third. At around the four minute mark, North College Hills Andre Evans converted on a lay-up, giving the Trojans their first points from someone whose last name wasnt Mayo or Walker. Oak Hill kept up with Mayo and Walkers scoring barrage through a balanced scoring attack led by Lawson, Smith, and Virginia Tech recruit Jeff Allen. The Warriors carried a 61-46 lead in the fourth quarter.
Never was O.J. Mayos competitive nature more clear then in the final quarter of this game. The North College Hill junior put his team on his back and tried to defeat Oak Hill himself, scoring 19 fourth quarter points. Bill Walker chipped in with 11 fourth quarter points in his own right, including 3 dunks. Unfortunately for the Trojans however, they were unable to get the game within less then 10 points. Oak Hill had far too much size for North College Hill to compete with, beating them on the glass 46-27. The Trojans players not named Mayo or Walker combined for 7 points on an abysmal 3-25 from the field. Never was it more evident that two players, although the two best in the country, will never be able to beat a team with 7 very good ones.