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Mitchell Butler remembers when his 1988 Oakwood boys basketball team faced adversity – a kind of challenge they hadn’t seen on the hardwood before.
“We were playing Ribet Academy in the playoffs. They had athletes, and it scared our team. I remember our coach, Roz Goldenberg, telling our team not to shoot unless I touched it first,” said Butler with a shy chuckle. “I had 50 points that game and we beat Ribet 55-48.”
Mitchell, who was a junior at the time, went on to lead Oakwood to the CIF Southern Section Small Schools Championship with a 61-60 win over Hesperia Christian in 1988. It’s still the school’s only CIF title in boys basketball.
“There’s footage of me playing somewhere, but it’s real grainy,” Butler said.
Butler finished his high school career as a three-time CIF Player of the Year, scored 2,682 points (ninth all-time in Southern Section history), averaged 28.8 points per game (seventh-best mark) and had 1,445 rebounds (fifth). The McDonald’s All-American went on to play at UCLA and in the NBA.
He was back at his old stomping grounds Thursday, beaming with pride as he walked through hallways that look much different than when he walked through them when he was a teenager.
His Oakwood Owls are back in the CIF finals.
“This team would beat our team back in 1988,” Butler said. “I might’ve scored a lot of points, but this team has too many weapons, and Ben Eisendrath. He’s a very good player.”
Butler will be in attendance to watch Oakwood take on San Gabriel Academy in the CIF-SS Division 3A final Saturday at Mira Costa High at 8 p.m.
Eisendrath, the team’s senior leader and best player, was a freshman when Oakwood lost to St. Pius X-St. Matthias in the Division 4A final in 2020, which was the program’s second straight finals loss. The Owls lost in the 2019 Division 5A final to Western Christian.
“I didn’t appreciate…
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