By Fred Kroner
Oakwood’s eighth-grade boys’ basketball team finished the season with a 15-4 overall record after losing in the IESA Class 3A regional championship game, 38-28, to St. Joseph.
Jackson Dudley scored 11 points in the finals. Alex Wallace hit nine points and Cale Thomas scored five points.
In the semifinals, Dudley tossed in 20 points in a 48-37 win over Westville. Thomas and Wallace each netted 10 points.
In the quarterfinals, Oakwood handled Bismarck-Henning, 50-39, behind a 32-point outburst from Dudley.
Thomas tallied 11 points and Wallace finished with five points.
For the season, Dudley led the team in scoring in 17 games. Wallace led twice, and had a high game of 26 points.
Dudley’s high game was 46 points. In seven other games, he scored in excess of 30 points.
Dudley was the team’s top scorer with a per-game average of 23.2. He scored in double figures in all 19 games and connected on a team-best 23 three-pointers.
Wallace was second on the team in scoring (8.1) and led in free throw accuracy, 72.5 percent (29 of 40). Dudley was the runner-up in free throw accuracy, 62.2 percent (56 of 90).
Camden Harris had the greatest percentage of his baskets from three-point range (12 of 21).
Beside Dudley and Harris, other squad members who made three-pointers were Gauge Carrillo, Collin Furry, Grady Johnson, Cooper Murray, Taylor Nevitt, Jaethan Perez and Wallace.
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The Oakwood seventh-graders ended the year with a record of 7-11.
The team won its IESA Class 3A regional opener, 48-19, over Watseka and then dropped a 28-14 decision to eventual regional champion Westville.
Jaethan Perez hit 19 points against Watseka. Riglee Hart and Nathan Young each contributed 10 points. Lane Stitt scored three points.
Against Westville, Perez led the way with 10 points. Hart and Young each netted two points.
For the year, Perez led the team in scoring in 10 games, Young led in seven games and Hart led once.
Young hit the 20-point mark twice and Perez reached it once.
Perez (12.9) and Young (9.8) were the top Oakwood scorers.
Perez (17) and Young (15) led in three-pointers. Other teammates who bagged shots from three-point range were Hart and Stitt.
Stitt had the highest percentage of his baskets from three-point range (10 of 15).
