Final Act

Best friends, Ivan Rabb & Paris Austin close their Bishop O’Dowd careers in dramatic fashion

  By CHACE BRYSON | Editor

  Ivan Rabb and Paris Austin spent the eve of their final game as Bishop O’Dowd High teammates breaking down all the different scenarios that could present themselves when the Dragons took the floor against Mater Dei-Santa Ana for the California Interscholastic Federation Open Division State Championship.

  They covered everything. And then they covered it again. 

  Finally, it wasn’t time for that anymore. It was time to just be Ivan and Paris — not the dynamic forward and point guard leading nationally-ranked Bishop O’Dowd’s quest for a first state title since 1981, but the best friends who have been at each other’s side since fourth grade. 

  “We went out for ice cream,” Rabb said. “We got our mind off the game. It’s not about basketball, it’s about us as a family. We went out and got our mind off of it. I dropped him off at home. We went home and we slept.”

  Close to 24 hours later, Rabb and Austin would carry their team to a dramatic state championship victory in a scenario that might’ve been hard for them to imagine the night before. 

  Austin entered the fourth quarter on March 28 at Haas Pavillion with just three points and the Dragons trailing 40-37. In fact, to that point, Bishop O’Dowd hadn’t had a single lead.  Everytime the Wolves would pull into a tie, Mater Dei would have an answer. Austin opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer — the first of 13 fourth-quarter points for the Boise State-bound guard. 

  Rabb scored four of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, but it was senior guard Austin Walker’s only basket of the contest — with 10 seconds left — that tied the game and eventually forced overtime after Mater Dei missed two game-winning shot attempts.  The Dragons still hadn’t led at any point in the game. And they would fall behind by four early in overtime. 

  “We talked all this week about adversity,” Bishop O’Dowd coach Lou Richie said after the game. “Everyone says how good we are, we’re favored, but what happens if we get down? All the games we played this year and lost, we’ve gotten down and haven’t handled adversity well. Credit to our seniors. They hung in there. Kept fighting.”

  Another senior, Franklin Longrus, gave the Dragons their first lead of the game, 64-63, on an offensive putback with 1:18 left in overtime. Mater Dei’s Rex Pflueger tied the game by making one of two free throws, which set up Bishop O’Dowd’s final possession. Rabb got the ball, drove the baseline and was fouled with 0.8 seconds left as he attempted a floater from about five feet away from the rim.

  The McDonald’s All-American went to the line for two shots, and didn’t even hit the rim on his first attempt. “I had to laugh and giggle,” Richie said. “You can just imagine. He’s here at Cal-Berkeley, it’s his last high school game, and everyone is ‘SHHHH.’ He was nervous and he short-armed it.”

  But the second shot was right on the mark. Mater Dei got a last second 3/4-court heave, but it wasn’t close. 

  “There wasn’t anything in my mind,” Rabb said describing his thoughts after the first free-throw attempt. “I knew for a fact that I was going to make the second one.”

  Rabb finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds. Austin finished with a game-high 21 points — 18 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime — and added seven rebounds and seven assists. In bringing O’Dowd it’s first title in more than 30 years, the senior class of 2015 scored all but three of the Dragons 65 points.

  Rabb held court after the game, talking to reporters while sitting on the scorer’s table. He was at peace. Only the ice cream was missing. 

  “I couldn’t have written it any better,” he said.