Oakland high school basketball teams state champions again

Oakland Tech and Oakland High basketball teams both have state champions again this year.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Tech and Oakland High basketball teams both have state champions again this year.

Tech's Bulldogs won the 2024 California Interscholastic Federation State Division II for boys basketball on Saturday, with a 79-55 win over Centennial High School in Bakersfield.

Also, this weekend, the Oakland High Wildcats girls team won the CIF State Division V, beating Montgomery High of San Diego.

"Waking up felt great," Tech basketball coach Karega Hart told KTVU on Sunday. "We wanted to win our last game and we were able to finish the job."

Hart said there's no real "secret" to winning, other than putting in hard work.

That means showing up for morning workouts, weight training and practicing every day from summer through the season.

"We focus on every game being the biggest game," Hart said. "We don't look ahead at all. Just the game in front of you."

As for the girls, Wildcats coach Nita Simpson said both she and the team are feeling "great."

"They worked really hard," Simpson said. "And I asked a lot of them."

Simpson said she was brand new this year and getting the girls' "buy-in" had to be expedited this season. She said she's especially glad that a senior on the team finally got a ring before graduating.

"I'm elated," Simpsons aid. "The girls have grown so much. I'm one proud coach."

As sportswriter Nick Lozito reported, that's seven state titles by Oakland Athletic League teams in the last four years that state title games were held, as there were no championships in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID.

Last year, the wins at Tech and Oakland High were reversed.

Tech's girls won and Oakland High's boys team won their state championship games.