Sage Hill’s Witte steps up against Oxford

NEWPORT COAST— Everything is all right with Sage Hill School point guard Nick Witte — except for the left side of his body.

Already dealing with a left shoulder that possibly needs surgery again, a left pulled quad, a left knee that went through surgery, torn ligaments in his left thumb, Witte continues.

Oh, and he pulled his left groin a couple of days ago.

The setbacks haven’t kept Witte away from the court. The Lightning needed their junior Tuesday as their leading scorer, Jamie McGee, played with a severe sprained ankle.

Witte had no qualms with fighting through the pain. He scored a season-high 19 points and directed Sage Hill to a 56-44 boys’ basketball victory over visiting Oxford Academy in an Academy League game.

The way Witte sees it, Sage Hill can’t reach its ultimate regular-season goal without him.

The Lightning (11-9 overall, 4-1 league) are one game back of league leader St. Margaret’s (13-5, 5-0).

“I can play through. It’s not a big deal,” said Witte, who made 11 of 14 free throws. “We feel like we didn’t play very well [when we lost to St. Margaret’s, 58-43, on Jan. 9]. We got them at home next time around, so we feel we can take them.

“We feel like it’s going to be for the league championship.”

For Sage Hill to be in such a position, it will most likely need to go unbeaten in league the rest of the way. Seeing others beside Witte and McGee contribute could make that possible.

Stepping in for McGee and his 19 points per game average were Preston Oklejas and Connor Rose. The two 6-foot-4 juniors allowed the Lightning to run away from Oxford (6-13, 1-4) early.

In the first half, with Sage Hill up, 37-18, Oklejas scored all of his 15 points and Rose added eight of his 10 points.

“We needed those extra points,” said Sage Hill Coach Steve Keith after watching McGee finish with a season-low four points.

The Patriots struggled with Rose’s three-point shot, as he made two. Oklejas slashed through the defense, twice converting three-point plays after getting fouled on layups.

“They are really good players,” said Oklejas of McGee and Witte. “I just hoped to back them up and give [our] team some points.”

A matchup zone prevented Oklejas from hurting Oxford in the second half.

But Witte broke it down by penetrating through it. The Patriots used a small player on Witte, and the 6-foot Witte shot over him. Then a big player, and Witte scooted past him, showing no signs of a bad groin slowing him down.

The Patriots tried, hammering Witte three times in the third quarter when he drove into the paint. Witte rose each time and converted five of six free-throw attempts.

When Oxford went on a mini 6-2 run to open the fourth and cut the deficit, 50-36, Witte responded. His coach called out from the sideline for Sage Hill to shoot with 10 seconds left on the shot clock.

Witte didn’t listen. He attacked and easily scored on a layup, two of his six points in the final quarter.

“All left side, left knee, left shoulder, left groin, left thumb ligament, I got it all,” Witte said of what’s wrong with him. “But I felt like I needed to step up a little bit and take care of the ball.”

See, when Witte’s playing, everything’s all right.

Academy League

Sage Hill School 56,

Oxford 44

Score by Quarters

Oxford Aca.

10

8

12

14

—

44

Sage Hill

22

15

11

8

—

56

Oxford -- Chang 10, Schrader 10, Bui 9, Jubran 7, Hwangbo 4, Warren 3, Yoon 1.

3-pt. goals -- Bui 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None.

Sage Hill -- Witte 19, Okljas 15, Rose 10, Astorino 6, McGee 4, B. Hurst 2.

3-pt. goals -- Rose 2.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None