Buzzer-beating bank shot sends California school to state championship game

West Hills (Calif.) Chaminade High boys' basketball coach Todd Wolfson must be thanking the heavens for junior guard Michael Oguine's transfer from L.A.'s Reseda Cleveland Charter High this past summer.

Over the weekend, Oguine banked a pull-up 35-footer home as the final buzzer sounded for the final three of his season-high 32 points, sending the Eagles (26-6) to the Division III state championship game with a 53-52 victory against Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.) in the regional title game.

"We worked hard all year and I didn't want to let my teammates down," the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Oguine told the Los Angeles Daily News. "I would say it's the best game of my career. It's the biggest game I've played in. The coaches told me to keep shooting and they would fall."

Oguine scored all 18 of his team's fourth-quarter points, including a string of nine that erased a 49-44 deficit with 2:04 remaining. Following Santa Margarita's miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4.2 seconds left, all it took was four dribbles for him to put a buzzer-beating punctuation on that effort. 

A recruit unranked by Rivals.com, Oguine has averaged 11.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game, according to his MaxPreps profile. He entered Saturday's game shooting 28 percent (14-50) on 3-point attempts -- but is now making 100 percent of his pull-up 35-footers in big games.

Perhaps that's why he's reportedly received interest from the NCAA Tournament upset specialists at Harvard. Well, that and the respect he received from the losing coach this past weekend.

"I absolutely love that kid," Santa Margarita coach Jeff Reinert told the L.A. Times after his team's stunning loss courtesy of Oguine's handiwork. "He's a classy, respectful player."

Oguine and his Chaminade teammates face San Anselmo (Calif.) Drake in Friday's state title game.

(h/t MaxPreps)