Bishop O'Dowd celebrates its second state championship.
Photo by David Steutel
BERKELEY, Calif. — The large and vociferous crowd filled up Haas Pavilion to see if possible future Cal Bear Ivan Rabb is as good as advertised, and if his
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) squad could break a dry spell in the state's biggest game.
They got both.
Ivan Rabb, Bishop O'Dowd
Photo by David Steutel
Capping perhaps the greatest weekend of California state championship games ever, Rabb made a free throw with 0.8 seconds left lifting the Dragons (28-4) to a remarkably resilient 65-64 overtime victory over four-time defending champion
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).
With the score tied at 64, Rabb, who finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds, took a pass from
Paris Austin (21 points) and missed a 5-footer in the lane but Mater Dei was called for a foul. The Monarchs contested the foul vehemently.
Rabb, a 75 percent free-throw shooter, actually air-balled the first shot, but made the second, giving the Dragons just their second lead of the game. The first came on a putback by
Franklin Longrus with 1:17 left in overtime.
"I knew I'd make one of them," Rabb said. "It was hard missing that first one, but I think I showed my poise making the second."
Said O'Dowd coach Lou Richie: "I had to laugh and giggle a little when he missed the first one. I knew he'd make the second."
Mater Dei's Gary McKnight, whose team played brilliantly throughout, told the Los Angeles Times that the late foul is "not usually called. (M.J.) Cage got the same one at the end of regulation and it wasn't called. I fell bad for the kids. As a coach, you always want to win, but it's about the players."
Mater Dei's
Rex Pflueger (19 points) made one of two free throws with 25.3 seconds left, setting up the final sequence.
O'Dowd, ranked 13th nationally, broke a streak of eight consecutive losses in state championship games. When the final horn sounded, Rabb was mobbed by teammates and fans.
Rex Pflueger, Mater Dei
Photo by David Steutel
KJ Smith had 13 points,
Bailey Stout 12 and
La'vette Parker 11 for Mater Dei, trying to win its 12th state championship. Mater Dei, which was equally resilient, made 11 3-pointers.
The one most imperative objectives for O'Dowd early was to jump out in front and get Rabb involved.
Neither of those happened.
Pflueger, a terrific all-around 6-6 wing, drilled a couple 3-pointers early and added a pair of dunks to boot. Then Stout swished two more threes and Mater Dei led 17-11.
Worse than that for the local fans, Rabb had only two points.
Slowly the Dragons climbed in and Rabb got busy. But every time O'Dowd and Rabb made a run, Mater Dei responded. An 8-2 run to start the second tied the game at 19 was met with a 7-2 run to take a 26-21 lead.
In the third, Rabb really got it going, lifting his arms to the crowd to cause a frenzy and then he proceeded to grab two of his own misses before dunking it home to tie it up at 35 with 1:23 left.
The teams traded buckets before Parker drained a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer, giving Mater Dei a 40-37 lead heading into the fourth.
Austin opened with a three to tie it again, but the Monarchs rattled off five straight points, capped by another Parker 3-pointer.
A three-point play by Austin and a tough runner by Rabb tied it at 50 and the Haas crowd went crazy, begging for the lead.
But like a broken record, the seasoned champs answered. Smith went long range for a triple and
MJ Cage threw in a hook shot, making it 55-50.
Paris Austin, Bishop O'Dowd
Photo by David Steutel
Unrelenting, Austin drove in for a couple of spectacular driving layups to close it to 55-54. A loose ball underneath evaded Rabb, Smith picked it up and banked in a deuce while being fouled with 1:07 left. He completed the three-point play to go up 58-54.
Two free throws by Austin with 25.6 left cut it to 58-56 and when Parker missed the front end of a one-and-one with 16.9 seconds left, the Dragons had a chance for a tie or win.
Austin Walker looked to pass to Austin on the wing, but instead broke for the hoop for a layup and his first two points of the game to tie it at 58 with 10.3 left.
Parker went baseline and Rabb went to block the shot, but it missed and Cage had an absolutely free putback to win it. It missed, sending the game to overtime.
Austin also had seven rebounds and seven assists. Rabb had four blocks.
Alex Zhao came off the bench to score 10 key points off the bench and Longrus had eight. Cage had nine points and 13 rebounds. He did a terrific job on Rabb.
For Richie, it was a giant weight lifted off his back. O'Dowd is now 2-8 in state title games all-time.
"It feels surreal," he said. "Everything feels fuzzy right now. We kept fighting and in the end it went our way."
Rabb, a 6-foot-10 McDonald's All-American, said he still hasn't decided
if he'll pick Cal or Arizona. "I may still make a decision tonight. I
still want to talk with my family. But with this game and this crowd it
might have made a difference."
Video: PG Paris Austin & PF Ivan Rabb Highlights
See video of Boise State commit Paris Austin and Top 10 recruit Ivan Rabb, Bishop O'Dowd teammates