OAKLEAF - With six games played on Friday, Nov. 28 and five on Saturday, the Oakleaf Thanksgiving Classic basketball tournament had its share of exciting high school basketball ranging from freshman, junior varsity and varsity games with teams from Bishop Kenny, Sandalwood, First Coast, St. Joseph Academy and Westside visiting the Oakleaf gymnasium for a shot to sweat off a bit of the holiday eats.

"We want to stay sharp and stay on the court during the holiday," said Oakleaf coach Jason Price. "A lot of teams do practice over the holiday, but game speed is much different than practice speed."

In the Friday finale matching Sandalwood and Oakleaf, the young Knights lineup flipped a 29-27 Sandalwood lead with steals and three-point shooting from Jerry Compere and Makylan Reeves to earn a 42-35 third quarter finish.

"We have a young group of guys, and they have to learn not to make the mistakes we are making," Price said. "We played well in the third after I told them to slow down a bit and be deliberate with the ball."

Under the boards, Oakleaf was countering a much bigger front line by Sandalwood with Jermaine Robinson, Amaru Butler-Bailey and Jackson Ray battling for loose balls in the paint and getting second and third shots off offensive rebounds.

In the fourth, battled back to tie the game at 51-51 with a 5-1 spurt in the last two minutes as the Knights got steals but failed to convert.

"We missed a bunch of layups and free throws in the fourth that let them get back in the game," Price said. "That's a situation we can address as the season progresses."

In the four-minute overtime, Sandalwood moved quickly to a 57-51 lead with another scoring spurt with Daylen Watson missing a three for Oakleaf.
Oakleaf took a time out and came right out with back-to-back threes from Compere and Ce'Jay McKnight to make the game a one-point contest, 58-57, with 1:47 to go.

A steal by Butler-Bailey was followed by an errant release pass, a steal and double dribble that cost the Knights two scoring opportunities before Gunnar Castle muscled up a hook in traffic that had a foul. But Castle missed the freebie as the score stood at 61-59.

Oakleaf had one final shot for a tie or go ahead three pointer with four seconds left, but Sandalwood stole an inbound pass to end the game.

In their Saturday game, Oakleaf beat Westside 68-52.

In other games, Bishop Kenny beat Wolfson 70-54, Westside beat St. Joseph Academy 67-59, Bishop Kenny (5-1) beat Sandalwood, 78-74 and Bishop Kenny beat First Coast 70-42. Oakleaf continued their regular season with Menendez on Dec. 3 and will have a road game to St. Joseph Academy on Dec. 5.

County boys basketball games

Tues., Dec. 2
OPHS (2-0) at Ribault (3-1)
RHS (2-2) at MHS (0-3)
FIHS (1-1) vs. Tocoi Creek (3-1)
KHHS (1-2) vs. Duval Charter

Thurs., Dec. 4
Westside at OPHS
CHS (1-3) at MHS

Fri., Dec. 5
Middleburg at OPHS
RHS at Menendez
Westside at FIHS
KHHS at Baldwin

Sat., Dec. 6
RHS at Bishop Snyder 6pm
FIHS at The Villages Charter 5 p.m.
at Oak Ridge HS

Mon., Dec. 8
Bishop Snyder at OPHS
MHS at Baker County

Tues., Dec. 9
OPHS at Global Outreach
RHS at Yulee
Baldwin at MHS
Bartram Trail at CHS