High School

CHAMPS: Oak Park wins first Missouri Class 6 boys state basketball championship; live scoring, recap

Late turnaround helps Northmen shock Chaminade in dramatic comeback effort in Show-Me Showdown at Mizzou Arena

Levi Payton

Oak Park claimed its first boys state championship with a comeback win over Chaminade at Mizzou Arena.
Oak Park claimed its first boys state championship with a comeback win over Chaminade at Mizzou Arena. / Oak Park Basketball Instagram

When a 10-loss team reaches a high school basketball state championship game, it’s often because they’ve gone on a Cinderella run through the playoffs to get there.

But the Chaminade College Prep Red Devils are not your average 20-10 team. They were in this game last year with nine losses. They finished as the runner-up then, but today they’re back to chase their third state title in program history on Norm Stewart Court inside Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

To do it, they’ll have to beat a 30-1 Oak Park team that has been on a Cinderella run all season. That’s not to say the Northmen weren’t expected to be any good. Quite the opposite, really.

This is already the best season Oak Park’s program has ever had, simply because it’s the farthest they’ve ever been in the state playoffs. As recently as 2015 the team went 4-21. After a brief turnaround that saw them go 23-3 in the 2017-2018 season, from the 2018-2019 season through 2020-2021 Northmen basketball went 30-44.

But this latest turn started happening in 2021-2022 when they went 16-10, before following that up with a 27-5 mark last season and the program’s first MSHSAA hardware in more than a decade when they took fourth at state.

They’ve been even better this season. Their only loss came in the second game of the season to North Crowley in Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 29. Since then they’ve gone on to win 29 straight while averaging 73.8 points per game on offense and surrendering 54.2.

Chaminade, meanwhile, played the bulk of its games out of state against other national powers. Their only two in-state losses were to De Smet Jesuit and Vashon, but they bounced back in the Class 6 District 3 Tournament and survived two overtimes to eliminate De Smet on March 10.

Since then, it’s been smooth sailing. They thumped Ft. Zumwalt North and Lafayette (Wildwood) to get to today’s final.

The Red Devils enter today’s game averaging 66.9 points on offense and 56.7 on defense.

Chaminade vs. Oak Park: MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown Class 6 boys state championship; live scoring, updates

Today’s starters:

Oak Park: Adam Tanner, Josh Kori, Corbin Allen, Caleb Estes, Zeke Brown

Chaminade: Collin Perry, Jonny Jordan, Jamo White, Elija Poniewaz, Hadi White

FIRST PERIOD

Chaminade jumps out to a 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer by Perry and a fast break dunk from White. Estes answers with a 3-pointer for the Northmen for their first basket with 6:23 left in the first, sparking a 7-2 run to make it 7-6 with 4:53 left.

Brown drills a 3-pionter and Kori follows with a jumper in the paint to give the Northmen a 12-8 lead, but White answers with a pair of baskets for Chaminade to tie it at 12 with 2:39 left in the first.

A 9-0 run by Chaminade gives them a 17-12 lead, capped on a 3-pointer from Keller with 1:48 to go.

Robinson sinks a trey for Chaminade near the end of the first quarter and extends the lead to 19-16 at the end of the first quarter.

End 1: Chaminade 19, Oak Park 16

SECOND PERIOD

Estes begins the second period with a jumper to cut the deficit to 19-18.

It's Estes again. He scores on a layup to tie it at 20 with 6:46 left in the half.

White scores on a jumper and Jordan sinks a 3-pointer to put Chaminade back in front 25-20. Tanner answers with a basket for the Northmen to cut it to 25-22 with 4:37 left in the half.

After Oak Park cuts it to 25-24 on a layup by Ross, Jordan buries another trey for Chaminade. Keller and Collins later add five more points to the total and Chaminade takes a 33-27 lead into halftime.

Halftime: Chaminade 33, Oak Park 27

Halftime notes: Jordan leads Chaminade with eight points, while Hadi White has seven and Keller has six. … Estes leads Oak Park with seven points, while Tanner, Kori and Brown have five apiece. … Chaminade shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, while Oak Park shot 38 percent.

THIRD PERIOD

A pair of free throws by Jamo White and a jumper by Jordan kicks off the second half and Chaminade leads 37-27.

Oak Park calls a timeout with 4:48 left in the third. Both teams have been trading baskets here in the third. Each time Chaminade goes up by 12, Oak Park answers to cut it to 10. It's 43-33, Chaminade.

Brown cuts it to an eight-point deficit, but Jordan ansers with a jumper of his own to keep it at 10. Chaminade calls timeout with 3:29 left in the third. It's 45-35. Jordan has 12 points.

Jamo White buries a 3-pointer to make it 48-35, but Tanner got it back with a trey of his own to keep it the deficit at 10.

Jamo White picks up his fourth foul and heads to the bench right before Zeek Brown goes to the rim and makes it 48-40 with 2:08 left in the third..

Kori scores to make it 48-42. Oak Park is making a bit of a run here at the end of the third.

Hadi White makes one free throw but Tanner scores with his right hand with 19 seconds left in the third. Tanner scored again, but it was after the buzzer. His shot would've cut the deficit to three points.

End 3: Chaminade 49, Oak Park 44

FOURTH PERIOD

Estes and Allen sandwich a Chaminade basket with a pair of 3-pointers. Allen's shot pulls Oak Park within one, 51-50, with 7:05 left.

Oak Park has its first lead since the first period on another trey from Allen. Brown follows with a layup and Chaminade calls timeout with 4:52 left. Oak Park suddenly leads 55-51.

The momentum of this game flipped as soon as Jamo White picked up his fourth foul.

Perry scores for Chaminade with 3:51 left to cut it to 55-53.

Jamo White fouls out with 2:38 to go and Brown quickly scores and completes a three-point play for Oak Park to make it 58-53.

Jordan scores a pair of free throws with 1:44 left to make it 58-55. Brown follows with two free throws and Tanner adds a layup with 1:06 left to make it 62-55, Oak Park.

Oak Park leads 64-37 with 31 seconds to go.

Oak Park hangs on to win its first ever state championship in boys basketball. They beat Chaminade, 68-60.

Final: Oak Park 68, Chaminade 60

Recap

After trailing since midway through the first quarter, Oak Park started to find its groove as Chaminade slipped into foul trouble late in the third and the comeback was on.

Carried by clutch shooting from long range late in the game, Oak Park managed to survive a consistent shooting barrage by Chaminade that saw the Red Devils finish 50 percent from the floor (20-for-40).

Corbin Allen hit two clutch 3-pointers - his only two of the game - early in the fourth quarter and that seemed to set the tone the rest of the way for the Northmen, as they made 7 of 8 field goals (87.5 percent) in the fourth quarter to win it.

Zeek Brown paved the way for Oak Park with 18 points while Caleb Estes and Adam Tanner had 14 apiece and Josh Kori had 10. Corbin Allen had nine points and seven boards and Donovan Ross chipped in three points.

Jonny Jordan led all scorers with 19 points for Chaminade, while Hadi White added 10.

More Missouri high school sports links:

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before. For more information, visit si.com/high-school.

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app:

Download iPhone App | Download Android App

Published |Modified
Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Home/Missouri