January Issue:           

Sheffield @ Oakhaven

       Season opening district game for both ball clubs and always an intense game between these two Division AA rivals with both teams going into three overtimes before the Knights prevail 89-84 on the road. Four ties and 4 lead changes in the first half with Sheffield taking a 6 point lead before the Hawks went on a 10-0 run the end the first quarter and a 22-18 advantage. Scrappy play from both sides but better outside shooting from the Knights especially from Sheffield's senior Jessie Holland (Hoopers Top Unsigned Senior List) who possesses a very deadly jumper from long range and good ball handling skills that will better with time finished the night with 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Oakhaven press gave the Knights serious problems in the first quarter but with some adjustments and changes the Knights figured out how to soften the full court pressure effect to take a 37-34 halftime lead. First half statistics showed how effective the Hawks pressure caused 14 turnovers for the Knights to Oakhaven 9 in that department. Another department that helped balance the game was Sheffield stronghold on the boards with 2.5 to 1 margin with Sheffield snatching 16 rebounds to Oakhaven 6. Assist category was close at 5-5 with the Knights in the lead. Steals had a big disparity which is revealed in the turnovers with Oakhaven with a 2-1 margin as they got 9 steals to Sheffield 4.

     Sheffield got their offense going and was in rhythm as the Knights in the third quarter were patient on both ends of the court as they recorded their largest lead of the game for both sides with a 47-38 advantage with 3:55 left in the third quarter. Oakhaven was nowhere near over as the Hawks went on a 11-2 run to round out the third quarter all tied at 49 all. Six lead changes and 5 ties played out for the remainder of the game as both ball clubs were going back and forth. Sheffield took the lead again to only see the score back tied at 49 all to end the third quarter. Senior Justin Street (Hoopers Top Unsigned Senior List) relentless work down low produced one of the best performance of the year with 26 points, 27 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a very strong double double outing for the young man, coaches take a good look at this young man. Oakhaven to start the fourth quarter garnered a 4 point lead with 4:37 left in the contest at 55-51 to see it slip away in the next two minutes. Sheffield takes over the lead with a 10-2 run to make it 61-57 before a tech is called on Sheffield sending Oakhaven to the line. Allante Milam misses the first and nails the second to go down by 3 at 61-58 with under a minute left in the contest and Oakhaven calls a timeout with :53 left. Sheffield has many opportunities to win the game at the end of regulation missing an important free throw to secure the game but instead Oakhaven ties the score at 62 all.

      Sheffield jumps out on a 4-0 run at 66-62 before Oakhaven sophomore sensation Allante Milam fouls out with 1:04 left in the first overtime period, Milam finishes with 23 points and 5 steals. When this kid starts to lower his turnovers he will be very special especially being so young. Oakhaven despite losing Milam fights back to tie the game 67 all to go into another overtime period with both ball clubs only scoring 5 points in the extra session. The second overtime period was a lot more offensive on both sides of the ball with both ball clubs scoring 12 points respectively as Justin Street scores 6 points in the second overtime for Sheffield and Kadeem Cathey scores 5 points for the home team, Cathey finishes with 19 points handily.

      The third overtime period the Hawks run out of gas as the visiting Knights behind Quanshawn Tate 11 points, 5 in the final session were to much for the home team as Sheffield scores 10 points to Oakhaven's 5 points to sneak an very important district game on the road 89-84.

     Oakhaven junior Jarvis Billingley all over the court play finished with 14 points and 8 steals in a strong performance. Oakhaven senior Terry Johnson at 13 points and 5 rebounds in the cause.

Key Points of The Game: Sheffield resilience to the Oakhaven pressure and the Knights just kept fighting hard and with a 2-1 advantage on the boards just was too much. Oakhaven does have an very decent press and Coach Milam of Oakhaven gets the all out of every kid and plays the entire bench at the same time. The Hawks are very young and with the freshman class coming in it will definitely be making some serious noise in the years to come.

Team	Rebounds	Turnovers	Assists	Steals	Blocks
Sheffield	47	37	13	8	5
Oakhaven	29	24	13	21	2

By Staff Writer Harold Rivera