Clarkson, MI. – The Oak Park Knights were defeated in overtime Friday night 51-48. The Knights came out strong against the Clarkston Wolves in a battle of two top 50 ranked teams in the state of Michigan. The Knights led by two after the first.
But things got strange fast as the Knights were called for a foul on every little thing they did and could not even drive to the basket without being called for charges which caused them to play softer than usual. At the half, they trailed by 7.
The Knights battled back best they could despite having to be on the side of caution throughout the game. They entered the 4th down by 4 but they would not give up. They ended up tying things up and going into overtime but many of their starters had fouled out by then.
Down by three with 7/10ths of a second left was when more controversy happened. A ref told one of the many sheriff’s deputies that an Oak Park fan threw something at him and despite nothing being on the court floor or anybody seeing anything that came out of the crowd, the deputies told all the Oak Park fan base they had to leave the stands. This caused quite an unfair discriminatory situation since Oak Park school and its families are a 97% black school and this happened at a school that is only 2% black. Nevertheless, the fans complied with the harassment so their kids could finish the game.
As far as the game itself the Knights team received 3 times as many fouls as the Wolves did. The Knights were led in scoring by LaJuan Holloway with 14 points, 3 steals, and 12 rebounds while Jason Harris had 11 points and Jamill Fuller finished with 9.
The Knights fall to 8-3 on the season and will travel to take on 7-7 Ferndale Thursday.
