Lucky 13: In D’Ari Bruce’s return, 13-seed Oakland routs Mitty to reach CIF NorCal Division I quarterfinals
SAN JOSE — The American zeitgeist believes 13 is an unlucky number.
Oakland High believes in making its own luck.
“CIF tells us where we are,” Oakland coach Orlando Watkins said. “And we just play the game.”
The 13th-seeded Wildcats were in San Jose on Tuesday to face No. 4 Archbishop Mitty in the opening round of the CIF NorCal Division I playoffs, and they were no underdog.
Oakland held Mitty to two first-quarter points and kept firm control from then on, routing the Monarchs 52-32 and putting to rest any speculation that the Wildcats will slink away quietly in the D-I bracket.
“A team of this caliber, to do that, that was big,” Watkins said of the first quarter. “And I think it set the tone for the rest of the game. Super proud of my guys. I think Mitty is a hell of a team. We gave them a lot of respect in our preparation and everything, but the guys just played really well today.”
Oakland (24-7) benefitted from the return of star freshman forward D’Ari Bruce, who missed Friday’s Oakland Section championship loss to Oakland Tech with a groin injury.
He looked plenty spry on Tuesday night, which was of great relief to his coach.
“We were really nervous,” Watkins said. “He went to the doctor on Monday. The doctor said he’s cleared, and then you saw what he did today. He’s pretty good.”
Bruce led all scorers with 15 points. Te’Mond Gamble added 14 and Romyn Waugh had 12 for Oakland.
Bruce and fellow big man Waugh stood out all night on the boards, vacuuming up rebounds and cleaning the glass until it sparkled.
“We’re blessed,” Watkins said. “We’re always telling our guys, ‘Share the ball, share the ball.’ But those two guys are like, ‘Share the ball, but I’ll just go get it off the glass.’ And they’ll go rebound, kick it out. But they’ll (also) go with rebound and put it back in. So we’re blessed to have them, and I’m lucky enough to be able to coach them.”
On a slow offensive night for Mitty (17-11), Isaac Turner led the way with nine points. Amani LaMere-Swift had eight.
“That’s definitely not a 13-seed team,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. “You look at the record, you look at their resume, that was the hardest 13-seed team I’ve seen out there. Right from the get-go, they played with more force, and they played harder, which is frustrating when we’re fighting in the first game of a NorCal.
“You never prepare to do the end of the season speech. And especially, your heart breaks for the seniors. So that’s what I’m not looking forward to right now, is seeing our four seniors being done and having to talk through that. That’s the hardest part, trying to wrap my head around that right now.”
Oakland advances to the NorCal quarterfinals, where the Wildcats will travel to face No. 5 Clovis North.
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