LOS ANGELES – The last individual that the passionate home crowd at Windward High wanted to see at the free-throw line in overtime Monday night with an opportunity to secure the Gold Coast League boys basketball victory was likely Shane Frazier.
But the Brentwood School senior guard made his return to the Lewis Jackson Memorial Sports Center a meaningful one, as the Windward transfer calmly sank both free throws with two seconds left in the extra period to help the visiting Eagles secure a 70-66 victory.
Frazier had 12 points, with sophomore guard AJ Okoh contributing 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and overtime, in addition to freshman Shalen Sheppard scoring 18 points for Brentwood (22-3, 5-0), which snapped a four-game losing streak against Windward (17-5, 2-1) with its first victory in the series since 2022.
The teams will square off again Feb. 3 at Brentwood.
Despite trailing the entire fourth quarter, the Wildcats forced overtime on a straightaway 3-point field goal by senior Louis Bond with 1.5 seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 62-62.
Brentwood had a six-point lead with six minutes remaining in the fourth, but the Eagles were victimized by making only one of four free-throw attempts in the last 20 seconds of regulation, leaving the door open for Windward to produce a comeback.
Sheppard’s free throw with nine seconds left extended the Brentwood lead to 62-59.
Following a timeout, Bond drove the length of the court into the paint, but Brentwood wasn’t able to follow the instructions of coach Ryan “Moose” Bailey and didn’t foul, allowing the Windward senior to dribble back to the top of the key, turn and connect on the dramatic tying 3-pointer.
The Wildcats fed off the momentum to produce the opening basket of overtime on a layup by JJ Harris – the team’s first lead since 38-37 with 5:37 remaining in the third – but Brentwood responded with six unanswered points and Windward went more than three minutes without scoring until a basket by Asher Haloossim with four seconds left cut the deficit to 68-66.
Frazier, who had a combined 10 points in the first three quarters but didn’t score in the fourth, silenced the boisterous Windward fans with his two free throws to help the Eagles remain the only Gold Coast program without a league loss this season.
Brentwood had a two-point halftime advantage, before Okoh scored 12 of the Eagles’ 18 third-quarter points to extend the lead to 51-46 entering the fourth.
Sheppard, a 6-foot-8 forward, had a combined eight points in the fourth quarter and overtime in his first varsity matchup against Windward.
Jeremiah Hampton led Windward with 25 points, including five 3-pointers for the senior guard, with Bond and Harris both scoring 11 points apiece and Haloossim adding nine points for the Wildcats.