ANAHEIM – Kezie Okpala will remember every detail of the biggest shot he’s made in his life.
The score. The opponent. How much time was on the clock.
Even who passed him the ball, right?
“I have no idea,” Okpala said. “Wait, I think it was … I forgot.”
The sophomore made a memory-making 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to tie the score, was fouled on the shot and made the free throw Tuesday to give Esperanza a 62-61 win over Servite in a CIF-SS Division 3A quarterfinal boys basketball playoff game at Servite.
Esperanza (22-7) will play at top-seeded Beverly Hills (23-4) in the semifinals on Friday. A win there would put Esperanza in a championship game for the first time.
Servite finished 16-14. The Friars, who reached the 3AA semifinals last season, played without 6-foot-11 sophomore starting center Jacob Hughes who was out because of illness.
Servite’s Trevor Treinen made a free throw with 21 seconds left to push the Friars’ lead to 61-58.
The play Esperanza coach Mark Hill called for fell apart. The Aztecs’ Travis Kettering, double-teamed near his team’s bench, fired a cross-court pass to Okpala who was stationed one foot behind the 3-point line. Okpala let it fly and was fouled as the ball dropped through the hoop to tie the score, 61-61, with 1.8 seconds to go.
Okpala made the free throw to give Esperanza it’s first lead of the game at 62-61. Servite could only come up with Cameron Griffin’s 35-foot attempt that was wide left.
Okpala, listed as 6-foot-2 but probably taller than that now – Hill said Okpala grew 6 inches in eight months – offered a simple evaluation of what happened.
“If it’s an open shot,” he said, “I just shoot it.”
Shoot it, he did. That was Okpala’s only 3-point attempt. He finished with a team-high 23 points.
Esperanza 6-4 senior center Tyler Thomas scored 17 points, all while fighting off traffic inside, and had 11 rebounds.
Jarrett Brodbeck, among Orange County’s scoring leaders, missed his first five shots and finished with 13 points. But Brodbeck made three 3-pointers in the second half, including one with 1:23 remaining to tie the game, 58-58.
Griffin, a 6-6 junior, led Servite with a season-high 26 points. Senior guard Tyler Davis, who sat out much of the third quarter after getting his fourth foul, scored 13 points including seven in the fourth quarter.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
