By: J. Daniel Pearson
A county-record eight teams, including six on the boys’ side, will represent Osceola County this week as the FHSAA State Basketball Championship Tournaments get underway this week.
Action begins on Wednesday night with the boy’s tournament, where Osceola, Harmony, St. Cloud, Poinciana, Gateway and Liberty will all participate in Regional Quarterfinal action. “Earlier in the year, I made the comment that this was the highest level of boys basketball I have seen in my 30 years of coaching in this county,” Osceola Kowboys head coach Steve Mason said. “For six of the eight public county high schools to make it to the regional round, certainly supports that notion.”
Osceola County Athletics Director Ryan Adams agreed. “I am pretty certain we have never had six boys teams qualify for regionals,” he said. “Add in Gateway and St. Cloud and our county has eight teams in the tournaments. It’s a fantastic achievement for both the county and the sport.”
The Kowboys (23-3) are the number one seed in Class 3A, Region 3 and – as long as they keep winning – will have home court advantage through the regional finals. Osceola enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak, including a 76-61 win over Poinciana in the District 9 finals last week.
Osceola opens region play at 7 p.m. against #8 Sarasota Riverview (14-12), who lost to Lehigh in the District 12 semifinals, 79-69. The Rams are a solid team led by 6-4, junior shooting guard Josh Harris, who averages 20 points per game.
Luke McCrimon (18.5 ppg) and Jordan Isaac (18.1) lead a balanced Osceola attack that features four players who average in double figures – including Jordan Mundle (12 ppg) and Jordan Mason (13 ppg/4 apg).
“Securing the top seed was really important because being playing at home in front of our fans is a huge advantage,” Mason said. “I really like the way we are playing right now as we are taking some confidence and chemistry into the state tournament.”
If Osceola defeats Riverview, they would host the winner of #4 Newsome and #5 Plant on Monday, Feb. 17.
First-year Poinciana head coach Ramesses Khalfani guided the Eagles to a 16-10 record this season and earned an at-large bid to the Region 3 Tournament as the #7 seed. Poinciana will travel south on Wednesday to face number two seed Sarasota (25-2).
Sarasota enters the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the state. The Sailors have not lost a game since a 54-51 setback to Palmetto on Dec. 19 and enter the regional on a 15-game winning streak. Poinciana has also had a successful season. Led by 6’-6” junior center Javonte Simpson-Lee (16.4 ppg. 13.7 rpg), half of the Eagles losses have come by five points or less.
7A, District 6 champion Harmony (19-8) and runner-up St. Cloud (23-4) both find themselves in a tough Region 2 Tournament that features three of the top 10 ranked teams in Class 7A – including #2 Windermere, #4 Oak Ridge and #10 Olympia.
The region is so stacked that despite a combined 42 wins, the district champion Longhorns were ranked eighth in the region and St. Cloud was fifth — which means both teams will open on the road.
Harmony, which played a masterful game in upsetting top-seeded Bulldogs, 49-46 in the district finals, get “rewarded” by drawing #1 seed Windermere in the regional quarterfinals. The Wolverines have been a dominant team this year, with an average margin of victory this season of just under 20 points per game. Four of their five losses have been to teams ranked in the top 20 overall in the state of Florida (across all classifications).
The number 8 seeding was not unexpected, according to Harmony coach Duke Leonardo. “I told our kids after the district game that we would probably be a number 7 or number 8 seed in regionals,” he said. “It’s an extremely tough region and every team is good. It doesn’t really change anything for us, we will just try to play the same style of basketball that got us here.”
That style features a gritty, pressure defense where the Longhorns contest every possession and allow opponents just 49 points per game. Key players on defense include Jayden Smith and Jeremy Penner; while Sylus Cory (17 ppg) and Ivan Ramos (8.3 ppg) carry the load on offense.
St. Cloud also faces a tough opponent on the road in #4 Olympia. Despite the disappointing loss to Harmony in the district finals, the Bulldogs set a school record for wins this season (23) and head coach Tommy Billiteri is happy that his team will get a chance to continue playing basketball into the regional tournament.
“Winning the school’s first district title was a big goal of ours, so losing was devastating. The region is so stacked, there was no guarantee we were going to get an at-large bid, but I was not ready to say goodbye for the season. I felt this team both deserved and earned a spot in the regionals and now we have a chance to move on.”
In the Harmony loss, the Bulldogs got 15 points from Alex Springs and 11 from Julian Fox, but will also need more production from big man Malaki Baker against Olympia. Baker, who averages more than 10 points a game, was held to just two points in the loss to the Longhorns.
A young team, Olympia is led by a trio of sophomores averaging in double figures, including James Nowell (14 ppg). Ironically, if the Bulldogs and Longhorns were to pull major upsets, they would meet for a fourth time this season in a regional semifinal next Monday.
Liberty (16-5) lost a tight 45-41 game to Bishop Moore in the 4A, District 7 finals but earned a spot in the Region 2 Tournament as the #5 overall seed. They will play at #4 Santa Fe (16-10), who is led in scoring by junior forward Antonio Hall (12.2 ppg). Led by Lamar Lee (12.2 ppg) and Tasir Best (10.2 rpg), the Chargers –under coach Steve Ross – have enjoyed a big turnaround season after winning just six games a year ago.
A Chargers win would pit them against the winner of #1 Eustis and #8 Bishop Moore next Monday.
Gateway (11-11) was somewhat the surprise team after being upset by #5 Pine Ridge (69-55) in the semifinals of the 5A,District 7 tournament. Still when the computer generated rankings after districts, Gateway came in at number six and will play at #3 Auburndale (21-6) in its regional quarterfinal.
“We’ve had an up and down season,” head coach Travis James said. “When we execute, we can be competitive.”
The FHSAA Girls State Championship takes center stage on Thursday, with Orange Belt Conference champion Gateway (20-6) traveling to Lake Wales (16-8) in Class 5A, Region 2; while St. Cloud (18-8) will host Oak Ridge (17-9) in a 7A, Region 2 Quarterfinal.
Although they are the number 3 seed in the region, the Panthers will be on the road against #6 Lake Wales, as FHSAA rules award a quarterfinal home game to a district champion over a higher-ranked runner-up.
Under Justin Marino, the Panthers have had a really good season – defeating the St. Cloud for the OBC championship before losing a hard-fought 56-48 decision to New Smyrna Beach (22-5), who will be the #1 seed in the region.
Gateway is led in scoring by freshman Ashlynn Day (22.6 ppg) and point guard Alyssa Marino (19.1 ppg, 7.2 assists per game).
The same rule on home court advantage that hurt Gateway, helped St. Cloud, as the #6 Bulldogs – who won the District 6 title with a 39-33 win over Harmony – get home court nod over District 5 runner-up Oak Ridge.
St. Cloud’s lineup received a boost with the return of Savanah Kroener (12.7 ppg) from injury a couple of weeks ago and are led in scoring by shooting guard Arianna Viera (20.1 ppg) but will have their hands full in trying to stop Oak Ridge, who are led by senior co-captainst Khalsie Vidal (15.7 ppg) and Sarah Jean (12.1 ppg).
The winner faces the winner of the #2 Centennial vs. #7 Jupiter game next week.
In addition to the public schools, private school City of Life Christian (14-8) qualified for the 1A State Championship. They will open play Wednesday night as the #4 seed playing at Gulf Coast Christian in Region 3.
