Sage Hill came out hot to start scoring the first 4 points of the game to take an early lead. Freshman John Good knocked down a hook shot in the lane though to get Oxford on the board (2-4). Sage came right back with an outside jumper for two more. Turnovers by the Patriots on offense and surrendering offensive rebounds on defense hurt the team as Sage was able to capitalize on these mistakes (2-8). Senior Christian Saw got into the lane for an easy lay up. Good followed it up with a deep jumper from the top of the key (6-8). Sage struck back though with a quick 3 pointer from the corner (6-11). Senior Colin Togashi beat everyone down court and hit a lay up and got fouled but wasn’t able to convert the three point play (8-11). Good hit another deep jump shot and was followed up by another Togashi lay up to give Oxford the lead at the end of the first quarter (12-11).

Sage Hill retook the lead early on with another 3 from the corner (12-14). After a missed shot by Oxford, Sage got inside and drew a foul. They hit both free throws to extend the lead and followed it up with another lay up inside to take an early 7-0 run to start the second (12-18). Junior Amer El-Hariri drew a foul on Oxford’s next possession and went on to hit 1 of his 2 free throws (13-18). Sage came right back with a deep jump shot from the top of the key (13-20). Saw used his athletic ability to pull down an offensive rebound and get an easy put back on the next possession. Sage came right back in transition and got too far inside the key for an easy 2, but Oxford beat Sage down court and Saw got the lay up (17-22). On Sage’s next possession, El-Hariri got the steal, hit the lay up, drew the foul, and converted the 3 point play to pull Oxford within 2 (20-22). Sage seemed to be finding all the holes in the Oxford defense as they were able to knock down another 3 pointer but El-Hariri answered with a drive to the bucket for 2 (22-25). Sage came right back with another 3 point shot to take a 6 point lead (22-28). Oxford went on a run to end the half as El-Hariri hit a 15 footer from the top of the key. Togashi outran everyone in transition and got the easy lay up to pull the Patriots within 2 (26-28). Senior Ian Cuthbertson made a great defensive play by sprinting back to get a block which led to a lay up by Junior Joshua Icasas to tie it up at the end of the half (28-28).

Sage Hill got things started in the second half, getting inside and drawing the foul, leading to 2 made free throws. El-Hariri came right back and drew a foul of his own but hit just 1 of 2. He continued to impose his will as he drew another foul on the next possession and hit both this time to give Oxford the lead (31-30). Sage proceeded to go on a run as they were able to take advantage of their size advantage inside. They drew a foul and proceeded to hit both free throws to begin the run. They beat Oxford’s defense down court and got the easy transition lay up. An offensive rebound led to another put back for Sage. They took advantage of an Oxford turnover to get out in transition and hit the lay up and get fouled. They converted the 3 point play to extend the lead to 8 (31-39). Size continued to be a problem for the Patriots as Sage got another offensive rebound and got the put back to extend the lead to double digits (31-41). Icasas finally ended the run as he got in the lane and hit the running jumper. El-Hariri followed it up with a lay up that just beat the buzzer (35-41).

Togashi got it going for Oxford in the 4th as he drew the foul and hit 1 of 2 (36-41). Sage went back down and was fouled which means that they will be in the bonus for the last 7:13 of the game and that turned out to be a big difference. Sage got in the lane and drew the foul and hit both. After a missed shot by the Patriots, Sage came back and got an offensive rebound and another easy put back (36-45). Sage got inside once more and got the easy lay up to extend the deficit to double digits (36-47). Sophomore Daniel Lee came back for Oxford and drew a foul and hit 1 of 2 (37-47). Sage continued to impose their will inside and get some easy buckets to push the lead (37-56). After a couple free throws by Sage, Oxford got their final point of the game on a free throw by Freshman Jesse Han to end the game (38-58).

Oxford simply had no answer for Sage inside as they continuously imposed their will upon the size depleted Patriots. Oxford showed some good signs though as they hung in there until the very end and continued to fight.