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On Saturday night, the Chaminade Eagles came out victorious over Bennie Boatwright and Village Christian, much thanks to Chaminade senior guard and Montana commit Mike Oguine, who set the single-game school scoring record with 45 points. The previous record of 41 points was held by former Eagle and current UC Irvine guard Jaron Martin.
“I just got to keep doing what I know I can do. My teammates help me so much, they give me a lot of space and get me the ball a lot.” said Oguine, “It can be like that every night I just have to play hard every game.”
Oguine has become a superstar since coming to Chaminade before the start of his junior season, and he seems to get even more impressive every time he steps onto the court. Surprisingly, recruiters have not shown Mike the love that his type of play deserves, but Oguine does not let this get to him, instead he uses it to his advantage.
“You just have to use it as motivation. You know they might count you out, but you just gotta use it as motivation. Guys like Damian Lillard especially, he’s one of my biggest role models. He wasn’t recruited in high school and he didn’t let it affect him. He used it as motivation and went out and proved that he was better than all those guys, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Next year, Oguine will be playing for Coach Travis DeCuire at the University of Montana, and he is truly following the Lillard path. Going to a mid major like Montana and getting to play for a great coach in DeCuire will provide Oguine with a high level platform for him to continue his dominant ways, just as Lillard once did at Weber State.
For the present though, Oguine knows there is going to be many hard-fought, close games just like the Village Christian one. As a leader on the team, he has to make sure that everybody is focused and playing hard night in and night out, but tonight he can rest easy knowing that he has played his way into the Chaminade history books.
—Alec Neimand
Follow on Twitter @LATimesNeimand
