A few weeks before the boys basketball team approached the post-season, Head Coach Steve Laidlaw said the group of athletes he had this season made up one of those teams that a high school coach sees only a handful of times. The stars aligned for the Wildcats this season as they broke record after record.

“Do I hope this continues? With the years going on, I hope so. But I’m also not naive to realize that this could be just one special team,” Laidlaw said at the time.

And one special team he had, indeed. This season, the Wildcats set the record for the best season start and most consecutive wins with 15, shattering the previous record of 10. They also won the OAA Blue league, captured a district title for the first time since 1993, won their first regional semi-final since 1948 and ended the winter with an overall 23-2 record.

Though that all came to an end on Thursday night with a 42-37 loss to Howell in the regional finals, Laidlaw couldn’t be more proud of all that his teenage athletes, namely the seniors, accomplished this season.

“Oxford’s season ended at a school record 23-2. The previous highest win total was 17,” he said. “Our seniors were absolutely sensational this year, not only providing tremendous play, but very good leadership.”

Michael Raisch, a senior captain and forward, ended his Wildcat career as Oxford’s seventh-leading all-time scorer with over 800 points in his four years. Raisch also now holds the school record for the most blocked shots.

Another senior captain, forward Connor Nicholson, was Oxford’s powerhouse defender this season.

“Connor Nicholson was our defensive stopper, always drawing the other team’s best scorer to guard,” Laidlaw said.

The team’s third senior captain, guard Logan Coughlin, led the Wildcats in assists this season as the squad’s starting point guard.

Laidlaw also singled out his other seniors, noting that guard Nolan Hiler showed tremendous growth throughout the season and became a reliable shooter, forward Grant Kornburger being a key bench player who led with attitude, forward Dujoun Williams for showing a great deal of growth and guard D’Wavay Turner for being someone who could be counted on to make every second count.

“The seven seniors will be sorely missed,” Laidlaw said. “Not only did they leave their mark on the basketball program by being the winningest team in school history, but also being fine upstanding young men who conducted themselves well on and off the court.”

On March 7, the Wildcats took their second loss of the season to Howell during the regional final in a close 42-37 game. Leading all the way through halftime, Oxford suffered what Laidlaw called a “uncharacteristic” third quarter and was outscored 15-5.

Howell took the lead early in the fourth quarter and held onto it from that point on. Though Raisch hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to three points with less than 30 second left, Oxford missed its final shot and, therefore, it’s opportunity to tie up the game.

In his final game as a Wildcat, Raisch led Oxford with 15 points He was followed in the loss by junior forward Trey Townsend with nine points and sophomore guard Zach Townsend with eight.

A few nights earlier on March 2, Oxford won its first regional game since 1948 with a win over Milford 59-38. Oxford captured the win, according to Laidlaw, by outscoring Milford by a wide margin. Trey Townsend led Oxford with 23 points, and was followed by Nicholson with 13 and Raisch with nine.

Other key players were Williams with three steals and Zach Townsend with five assists.