Koji Hefner Explodes for 37 Points in San Marcos’ 66-62 Overtime Victory Over Oxnard

Koji Hefner dominated down the stretch on his way to 37 points and the San Marcos High boys’ basketball team grinded out a 66-62 victory over visiting Oxnard in overtime, on Friday night at the Thunderhut..

The Royals trailed 49-41 going into the fourth quarter, but relied on Hefner’s individual brilliance to mount an epic fourth quarter comeback before outlasting the Yellowjackets in overtime.

“He’s really worked at his game, you guys can see it in his jump shot, in his midrange, in his finishing,” said San Marcos coach Matthew Jordan of Hefner. “This is a really special moment for him in a really big spot for us.”

The Royals were coming off a last second loss to Rio Mesa that dropped them to third place in the Channel League standings behind Oxnard. With the victory over Oxnard on Friday, San Marcos completed the Channel League sweep of the Yellowjackets and secured the tiebreaker for second place as both teams sit with 8-2 league records.

“This is probably the biggest game of the year in terms of momentum and mentality,” Jordan said. “Our best player showed up when it mattered most, you can’t really ask for anything else.”

Oxnard jumped out to a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter on a three-pointer by D’aries Garrett. However, San Marcos immediately responded with a 14-4 run capped off by a driving layup by Brody Green that put the Royals ahead 16-14 at the 7:30 mark of the second quarter.

Back-to-back three-pointers by David Giron III put Oxnard ahead 25-18 at the 4:48 mark of the second quarter.

The Royals cut their deficit to 29-25 on a basket inside by Hefner off an inbounds play with 5.2 seconds remaining in the first half, but Oxnard snatched away the momentum as Garrett’s layup was goaltended as the buzzer sounded to put Oxnard ahed 31-25 at the break.

Oxnard outscored San Marcos 18-16 in the third quarter, but Hefner began to find his extra gear offensively as he scored ten points in the period. 

Oxnard’s Mikey Duran-Morales scored to open the fourth, giving the Yellowjackets their largest lead of the game, 51-41.

San Marcos methodically cut into its deficit. Aidan Conlan scored through contact inside to bring the Royals within 51-45 with just over five minutes remaining.

The San Marcos comeback got a huge boost when Hefner drained a three-pointer at the 1:35 mark to cut the Oxnard lead to 53-50.

A lay by Garrett put Oxnard ahead 55-50 with 1:10 remaining, but by that time Hefner was on fire and he responded with another three-pointer to cut the San Marcos deficit to 55-53 with just under a minute left in the game.

The San Marcos defense came up big with a steal and Hefner’s third three-pointer in the fourth quarter gave San Marcos its first lead of the second half, 56-55 with 9.3 seconds remaining.

“Just do whatever it takes to win at all cost,” said Hefner of his mentality in the fourth quarter and overtime. “I just felt like attacking and seeing if they are not going to put two on me I’ll just take it.” 

Oxnard’s Marcos Ramirez took the inbounds pass and exploded up the court. He was fouled at the rim with three seconds remaining. Ramirez made the second of his two free throws to tie the score at 56-56. Hefner’s half court heave at the buzzer rimmed out and the two teams went to overtime.

No San Marcos players outside of Hefner made a three-pointer in regulation, but senior sharpshooter Danny Diaz changed that in overtime. His first three-pointer gave San Marcos a 61-56 lead with just under two minutes remaining. 

Diaz inserted the dagger with his second three-pointer from the corner with ten seconds left to put San Marcos ahead 66-60.

“I told him when the overtime started you’re going to get some {shots} because they are doubling on Koji,” Jordan said. “I said ‘shoot the ball, you’ve earned it this year,’ there’s no reason for him not to shoot it.”