JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers IN CLOSE—Oaks Christian's Dillon Van Der Wal gets a rare easy basket during last Friday's semifinal loss to Chaminade at CLU. All season long it seemed as if the Oaks Christian boys' basketball team could do no wrong. Against Chaminade last Friday night, however, OCHS could do no right.

Poor free-throw shooting, coupled with an off night from the Lions' two leading scorers, doomed OCHS from the opening tipoff as the Tri-Valley League champs were defeated by Chaminade, 5947, in a CIFSouthern Section Division IVA semifinal at Cal Lutheran.

Chaminade will play Price in the championship game today at Colony High at Ontario.

OCHS (254) could only muster 13 first-half points against the Eagles, including only two combined points from seniors Tyler McGrath and Jules Sharpe. McGrath and Sharpe entered the contest averaging a combined 31.6 points per game.

"I wish there were do-overs in basketball, but unfortunately there isn't," McGrath said following the loss. "This was Chaminade's night. They deserve all the credit for the win."

McGrath and Sharpe's lack of offense could be attributed to Eagle senior center Jules Montgomery. The 6-foot-10 center had four blocks in the first half and seemed to contest every OCHS shot.

"We've seen people as tall as Montgomery this year but probably not as good as him," Sharpe said. "He was a big challenge for us, and we missed out on a lot of block-outs because of him."

Another reason for Oaks Christian's low-scoring output in the first half was that the Lions only had two assists.

"When you only have two assists as a team in a half, that tells you we weren't playing good, team basketball," Oaks Christian head coach Tom Roanhaus said. "We weren't sharing the ball and making that next pass."

Defensively, Oaks Christian had trouble guarding junior guard Jamal McClerkin, who scored 12 of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter.

Trailing 19-6 at the end of the first quarter, OCHS started double-teaming McClerkin and held him scoreless in the second quarter. Unfortunately, the Lions continued to have trouble offensively and found themselves in a 26-13 hole at intermission.

Although it wasn't the kind of break Oaks Christian was looking for, the Lions seemed to gain an advantage when both McClerkin and Montgomery left the game in the third quarter due to leg injuries.

The Lions couldn't stop junior Jake Basmagian, however, as the forward hit a 3-pointer to put Chaminade up 39-21 with a minute remaining in the third quarter.

Down but not out, Oaks Christian began a furious fourthquarter comeback when a jumper by Sharpe pulled the Lions within 14 points at 41-27.

Sharpe appeared to be on his way to getting the Lions even closer but a breakaway dunk was missed when the senior was fouled hard by Chaminade junior Christian Fuentes.

Despite Sharpe hitting the floor awkwardly, Roanhaus didn't think the technical foul was intentional.

"No, I don't believe there was any ill-will involved on that play," the coach said. "It was just a case of two teams that were playing hard and really wanted to play again next week."

McGrath saw the play differently. Seconds after the foul, McGrath approached Fuentes and earned a technical foul of his own.

"I didn't really have a problem with the foul as much as the taunting that came after it," McGrath said.

"Nobody is ever going to show up one of my teammates in a game like that. I'm sorry, we're not little Oaks Christian, and we're not going to put up with that."

The play gave the Lions life, and they soon cut the lead to 5144 with just over a minute remaining in regulation. Leading the fourth-quarter comeback was OCHS freshman Chass Bryan, who scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the final quarter.

Despite its last-gasp run, Oaks Christian fell short in its comeback bid.

In the end, OCHS could not make its free-throws (12-for-24), while Chaminade converted on nine of its 12 attempts during the final two minutes to seal the win.

"We played with more intensity in the fourth quarter," Sharpe said. "We were confident we could come back, but we should have played better in the beginning of the game."

Despite the loss, Roanhaus was proud of the season the Lions had and said he'll miss the senior class, consisting of Brian Owusu, Corey Ghilarducci, McGrath and Sharpe.

"This was possibly the best senior class I've had in my 25 years of coaching, and if you look back through the years in the papers, you'll know I don't say that often," Roanhaus said.

"Sure, some of them didn't have their best games tonight, but just because they didn't win a CIF championship that doesn't mean their legacy is going to be tarnished."

McGrath, who ended up with 10 points, said he'll miss playing for OCHS.

"I'm going to remember how hard this team worked and how we came together as a brotherhood," McGrath said.

"This is about more than just basketball. It's about moving on and becoming a better person in life. I look into my teammates' eyes and know that I've developed lifelong friendships."