St. Leo's No. 10 Brandon McGhee watches St. Lawrence O'Toole's Brandon Lawrence's jump shot.

By Bill Ford
Special to The Catholic Voice

The 2012 Boys' CYO Basketball playoffs concluded with the final games — two games in overtime and another final won by one point.

In the Eighth Grade, highly anticipated "A" division final game, St. Lawrence O'Toole, Oakland, won the championship over St. Leo the Great, Oakland, team in overtime, 56-50. St. Leo player Solomon Nathom scored a basket at the buzzer to tie the game 48-48 and take the teams into overtime. St. Lawrence O'Toole then outscored St. Leo in overtime for the win.
High point scorers in the game were Armond Simmons for St. Lawrence with 22 and Nyjahl Thompson for St. Leo with 23.
In the other Eighth Grade final game, in the "AA" division, St. Bede, Hayward, won over St. Edward, Newark 49-39 for the St. Bede's team's second diocesan championship.

The other overtime final was between St. Bede and St. Francis of Assisi, Concord, for the Seventh Grade "AA" division championship. St. Bede won the game 56-51 for its third straight diocesan championship. The one point game was in the first game of the finals, with the Fourth Grade team from St. John the Baptist, San Lorenzo, over Assumption, San Leandro, 43-42 to win the Fourth Grade "AA" championship.

The 49th annual Oakland Diocese Boy's CYO Basketball playoffs featured 60 CYO basketball teams from around the diocese. The playoffs were played at St. Bede Parish, Hayward, St. Joachim Parish, Hayward, St. Elizabeth Parish, Oakland, and St. Theresa Parish, Oakland, over two weekends. The teams represented the six participating leagues playing in CYO boys' basketball playoffs, with more than 1,000 teams and 10,000 players competing in CYO basketball this past season.

For complete results of the games or for more information on CYO, visit the CYO Website www.oaklandcyo.org.