With Damian Lillard watching, ArDarius Grayson sends Oakland Tech to state championship with fourth-quarter heroics

OAKLAND – Scoring was already difficult enough for ArDarius Grayson in the closing minutes of the NorCal Division II title game against rival Oakland. The Oakland Tech two-guard was hounded and pounded by Wildcat defenders on every drive, but that was standard procedure in a playoff game. 

But adding an aching left arm to the mix made the already laborious task even more of a hassle in the biggest moment of the season’s most important game. 

But the junior guard ignored the pain caused by a fall in the first half, and relentless defense, as he sank a fallaway jumper to give Tech a 3-point lead. 

On the next possession, he swooped baseline and cradled the ball before scooping it in for a reverse layup. Then seven free throws and a chasedown block closed out the game. 

As a famous former Wildcat, Damian Lillard, watched on from the sideline, it was Tech’s number-zero that put on a crunchtime masterclass to secure the 73-66 victory over defending state champion Oakland and send the Bulldogs to the Division II state title game on Saturday in Sacramento.

The Bulldogs will play Centennial-Bakersfield, which upset top-seeded Heritage Christian in the SoCal bracket.  

“It hurt a lot … but I was running on adrenaline,” Grayson said after scoring a game-high 34 points in the NorCal Division II title game. “I tried to take over the entire game, but when the fourth quarter came and it’s a close game, then I knew we’ve got to end the game.”

The teams had played thrice this season, and each game followed a similar script. Oakland would hold and early lead, in this case a 21-16 advantage after the first quarter. But the Bulldogs would slowly chip away at the lead, and then find a way to win a close one at the end. 

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Oakland coach Orlando Watkins said after his team lost to Oakland Tech for the seventh time in eight meetings. “When we had the lead, they’d fight back, and we’d be one play away from getting the lead back, and we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Aside from Grayson’s 34, Asher Kramer and Xan Meyer-Plettner each scored 13 and Ahmed Gulaid scored 10. 

Anthony Lacy played his last game in an Oakland uniform just like every other: with a motor revved high. He grabbed double-digit rebounds and scored the majority of his 17 points on high-effort putbacks. Jonathan Chapple put in 16 and made buzzer-beaters at the end of the first and third quarter.

A year after the teams played for the NorCal Division III title at Laney College, a game won by Oakland, Hart and the Bulldogs were adamant that the game be played in Tech’s smaller but familiar gymnasium on Broadway Ave. 

“We got what we wanted,” Grayson said.”We got a higher division and we got revenge.” 

Packed to capacity, with dozens of spectators resigned to watching from the doorway and baselines, Lillard was the most notable of a whole gallery of Oakland lifers who crammed into the bleachers to watch the game. 

Both programs were loudly well-represented, but by the time the outcome was obvious, the Wildcat faithful were drowned out by a booming “O-T, Ohhhhhhh-Teeeeeee” chant as the fans shaped the letters with their arms. 

After watching the girls basketball team win state titles in each of the past three playoffs, Tech’s fans will finally see the boys team compete against SoCal’s best. 

“Look at this environment,” Hart said, motioning his hand toward the hundreds of Oaklanders still mingling on the court well after the game ended. “We haven’t lost here in a long time.”

That homecourt advantage helped Tech take a 33-32 lead into halftime and another slim 52-51 advantage into the fourth quarter. Each made shot felt like a haymaker in a game where almost every attempted in traffic. 

As late as 4:40 left in the fourth, Oakland held a 60-59 lead when Isaac Johnson put back a miss. But Gulaid answered right back by pushing in a layup through the foul. Grayson took over from there and punched the Bulldogs’ ticket to Sacramento. 

“There’s no feeling like it,” Gulaid said about making the state title game, before looking around at the stands and adding. “I wish it could be right here, in this doghouse.”