Chaminade Blows Out St. Francis

University of Montana commit Mike Oguine and Jordan Ogundiran lead the Chaminade High School Eagles boys basketball team to a major surge in the third quarter, outscoring St. Francis High School 26-6. The lead created was too large for St. Francis head coach Jeff Stephens to coax his team out of, as the Eagles finished the game with a 71-42 victory.

The second half of the Chaminade’s league play was kicked off in all the wrong ways. They started with a huge loss to Alemany High School and then lost a nail biting matchup against Loyola High School by only three points. Luckily, head coach Todd Wolfson and his team did not let these losses affect them Friday night as they bounced back with a major 29 point win against the St. Francis High School Golden Knights. 

Friday’s blowout score does not tell the whole story for the Golden Knights. St. Francis actually played a fantastic first half of basketball, outscoring the Eagles 26-21. Chaminade’s slow start could be attributed to senior point guard and four year varsity veteran Dylan Cuenca having to sit due a concussion suffered against Loyola. Jr. Justin Brown filled in for his first career start as a varsity player, and performed nicely. He scored 6 points on 75% shooting while dishing out 3 assists. 

With Cuenca out and senior center Joel Loth still dealing with a sprained ankle, Wolfson looked for some of his other seniors to take over the second half. Oguine lead all scorers with 17, along with fellow seniors Ogundiran and Jake Porath contributing 14 and 13 points, respectively. 

Another large bright spot in the game was freshman Mike Wilson. Wilson has consistently been the first guy off the bench to add a spark to the defense. He seemingly can lock down anybody he is matched up with in the Mission League; however, recently it has been his offense that has been shining. In his last three outings, the freshman guard has scored 7.3 points per game on a perfect 100 percent shooting, a great sign for the future of the program. 

Overall, the game was much needed confidence boost for the Eagles, as their next game is their biggest rivalry game of the year: Crespi High School at home. Loth is expected to play, but it is unknown if Cuenca will be able to. Chaminade won the last matchup 65-64, much thanks to Ogundiran’s 31 point outing. Wolfson will want all the help he can get in what will be an important matchup in the Mission League. 

—Alec Neimand