SACRAMENTO – The painted area from the free-throw line to the baseline is a purple hue in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Arena.
On Saturday night, Oakland Tech’s relentless boys basketball team covered the rest of the 94-feet in a purple shade.
The Bulldogs, decked out in white, gold and purple jerseys picked up Centennial-Bakersfield’s guards from one baseline to the other, and overwhelmed the SoCal ballhandlers with their quickness and determination.
Then Oakland Tech’s standouts wowed the crowd with quick passes and electrifying finishes. By the end of Oakland Tech’s 79-55 CIF Division II state championship victory, the school’s trademark “O-T, Ohhhhhh-Teeeee” chants echoed throughout the building.
“It means everything to me,” Oakland Tech coach Karega Hart said about the chants. “We take pride in being Bulldogs, and we take pride in being from Tech. But most of all, we take pride in being from the city of Oakland.”
ArDarius Grayson was the engine of this frenetic system, a blur capable of transitioning from a relentless point-of-attack defender to an acrobat with the ball, capable of twisting and contorting his body around defenders on spectacular finishes.
He even shocked himself during some of his mid-air adjustments.
“On the one where I scooped it and made the layup, it was kind of surprising,” 20-point scorer Grayson said, referencing a play where he got the shot over three defenders. “I was expecting it to be blocked.”
Oakland Tech’s Ardarius Grayson (0) goes up for a layup past Centennial’s Dylan Fowler (22) in the fourth quarter of the CIF State Basketball Championship Division II Boys game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Oakland Tech defeats Centennial 79-55. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Tech rallied from an early 7-2 deficit by doing what they did best: attacking the rim and denying shots on defense.
Oakland Athletic League Player of the Year Grayson spearheaded the open-court attack with backcourt mate Caleb Rollins, who scored 20. Even though the junior guard was only 3 of 12 in the first half, his forays created open looks for others.
The two were the leaders of a relentless interior attack, taking and making a parade of tough layups and twisting reverse finishes as the Bulldogs took a 15-13 lead into the second quarter.
“In terms of athleticism, they looked like the greatest team in the world today,” Centennial coach Hernan Santiago said.
Donquavius Bolton kept Centennial competitive with his own dogged drives and spinning attacks, scoring a team-high 10 points in the first half. Tech forward Ahmed Gulaid (16 points) showed good feel for the game in the second quarter too, cutting into space for three layups as Tech took a 33-27 lead into halftime. And when Tech needed a three, Rollins buried them.
“It doesn’t always fall, but today I was just feeling it,” Rollins said.
Oakland Tech’s Caleb Rollins (11) shoots and makes a three-point basket against Centennial in the third quarter of the CIF State Basketball Championship Division II Boys game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Oakland Tech defeats Centennial 79-55. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Xan Meyer-Plettner, Tech’s shot-blocking big, scored six of his nine points in the third quarter as Tech blew the game open. Grayson and Rollins kept rolling too, Oakland Tech running at every opportunity and turning what had been a nail-biter into a Tech party.
“I wish we could have a redo, because I don’t even know what happened,” Santiago said. “I should’ve called a timeout.”
Oakland Tech was playing in its third state title game in program history. Westchester-Los Angeles defeated the Bulldogs in the 2002 and 2003 Division I finals.
To get there, Tech had to take down rival Oakland for the fourth time in six weeks to win the NorCal title game. That was a familiar task for the North Oakland program.
In 2023, Tech had taken down the Wildcats in the two regular season matchups and the Oakland Section title game. But at a neutral-site barnburner at Laney College, Oakland finally won the close game to win NorCal and advance to the D-III title game.
Tech made sure the 2024 sequel wasn’t a total repeat as Grayson, Kramer and Myer-Plettner, supporting players on the 2023 iteration, were the stars of the show in Tech’s 73-66 victory at a raucous Bulldog gymnasium.
“The games with Oakland High are always fun,” Hart said. “It’s kind of like Duke and North Carolina. The atmosphere is always electric.”
Oakland Tech’s Caleb Rollins (11) raises his hand in celebration after defeating Centennial during their CIF State Basketball Championship Division II Boys game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Oakland Tech defeats Centennial 79-55. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Tech was the No. 2 seed entering the playoffs and defeated Sacred Heart Cathedral, Jesuit-Carmichael and Del Oro-Loomis to get its fourth shot at Oakland.
Oakland Tech was the last of three Oakland schools to participate in Sacramento. The Oakland girls won the Division V title, while Bishop O’Dowd lost to Bishop Montgomery-Torrance 52-40.
“”In the city of Oakland, we’ve had a lot of rough times,” Hart said. “To be able to celebrate and shine a positive light on the city (means a lot), because there are a lot of good things going on in the city.”
Hart has been the coach since 2010 and has racked up 285 victories according to MaxPreps. But none have been sweeter, none meant more than the one that gave the program its first state title.
“There’s a sense of pride, and we wear it,” Hart, a Tech alum, said. “And clearly, you can see that I wear it.”
Oakland Tech’s Dylan Lucks (10), from left, Ethan Silberzweig (5) and Ahmed Gulaid (4) celebrate after defeating Centennial during their CIF State Basketball Championship Division II Boys game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Oakland Tech defeats Centennial 79-55. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)