By: J. Daniel Pearson
It’s basketball time again in Osceola County!!!
The 2025-26 season opens tonight Monday, Nov. 17 with Ridgeview Academy playing at Poinciana and Tohopekaliga at home against City of Life. Tomorrow night, Osceola entertains Harmony, St. Cloud (vs. Innovation), Celebration (vs. New Dimensions) and Tohopekaliga (vs. Orangewood Christian) open their seasons; while Liberty’s first game will be at New Dimensions on Thursday.
On the girls’ side, Monday (Nov. 17) action includes Osceola at Windermere, Innovation at Tohopekaliga, Hagerty at Celebration and Poinciana visiting Four Corners and St. Cloud at Lake Howell. Harmony host Village Charter and Liberty will be at East Ridge the next day; with defending OBC Champion Gateway hosting Davenport on Nov. 19.
It was a historic season for Osceola County boys’ teams last year, as a record six of the county’s eight public schools made it to the regional round. The Osceola Kowboys led the way, advancing to the regional finals and coming up just a few points short of making the Final Four. Harmony won a district championship; while St. Cloud, Poinciana, and Gateway all earned at-large regional bids – as did Liberty, who after nine consecutive losing seasons posted a 16-6 mark.
The new year will bring intrigue, along with a fair amount of the unknown.
Osceola (25-4 last season), returns three of five starters and will be looking to return to the Final Four for the first time since the 2019 state championship run. The Kowboys are led by two-time Player of the Year Luke McCrimon (18.7 ppg), all-county selection Jordan Mason (13.4 ppg, 4.3 apg), scrappy forward Helio Quinlan (5.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg).
Although standouts Jordan Mundle and Jordan Isaac depart via graduation, the Kowboys welcome 6-9 transfer Kaiden Zenkfer, who should give them the rim protector they lacked from a season ago. Ryan Rodriguez (8.0) also transfers in from St. Cloud to give the Kowboys an additional scorer and tough defender at small forward; while senior Jayden Jones will see action at power forward.
“Two years ago we had a sophomore class who started but they were young and made mistakes. Last year, they matured and had a great season,” head coach Steve Mason said. “Now they have a chance to take it to the next level.”
Harmony’s all-time winningest coach Duke Leonardo (94-43) stepped down after last season and the Longhorns are turning the reigns over Adam Ojeda. Under Leonardo, Harmony was known for as a gritty, tough defensive minded club that would try to keep games in the 40s or low 50s and find a way to win at the end.
Leonardo worked that formula to perfection, winning 20 games in back-to-back season (2023-24), before going 19-9 last season and winning a district championship. Despite losing nine players – including his entire starting lineup – to graduation, Ojeda says the goal is to continue on the path Leonardo created. “We lost a lot of players, but the goal is the same – get back to the Orange Belt Conference championship game and win districts again,” Ojeda says. “Our junior varsity went 13-1 last season, so we have a lot of confidence in those guys stepping in and contributing at a high level. We will be a defense first team.”
Jaden Smith (F), Lincoln Smith (G) and Daniel Mena (G) return with varsity experience; while promoted JV standouts Quianel Reyes (G), Jeremiah Pacheco (F) and Benjador Edmond (F) are expected to make an impact.
In order to comply with county rules, Gateway head coach and athletics director Travis James had give up one of those roles. After mulling the decision last year, James decided to remain as AD, paving the way for the school to name Joseph Roy as the new coach.
Roy is an experienced head coach and welcomes some talent back from the Panthers’ 11-12 at-large playoff team from a year ago, including Maxwell Garcon (F), Steffon Radcliff (G) and Landon Curry (PG). “With a young team, our goal is to be competitive every game,” Roy said. “We will need to take it one game, one possession at a time, play hard for all 32 minutes and hopefully get the entire team to buy-in.”
For years, St. Cloud boys’ basketball was an after-thought as consecutive losing seasons stretched into decades. That changed when Tommy Billiteri took over two seasons ago and turned the program into a winner – going 43-12 in that time that included a 24-5 mark and a trip to the regional semifinals last year.
Graduation took away all-county selections Josiah Cotto and Alex Springs, and three key players – including Malaki Baker – decided to transfer. Still, the Bulldogs return some experienced talent, including guards Elias Torres and Diomar Ortiz – a four-year starter. Guard JJ Barrett will see considerable action; as will promoted JV players Nate Thompson, Julian Nunez and Jadiel Fontanez.
“Our goal is to build a lasting, competitive program at St. Cloud and the last two years have put us in the right direction,” Billiteri said. “Even though several players left our program, I am 100% confident that the players we have will be able to compete. We are hungry and eager to prove to the doubters that this can be a good team.”
Michael Van Hooser begins his third season as head coach of Celebration and returns two outstanding players in Edson Olivieria da Silva (10.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and sharp-shooting senior guard Braiden Plaisted (8.2 ppg). With a solid group of reserves back including Dai-Dai Blackman (G), Nick Edouard (G), Michael Motta (F) and Adan Nahi (G) returning, Van Hooser has more than 60% of both his offense and rebounding coming back from a season ago.
“In an age of transfers and teams looking for quick fixes, we return of juniors and seniors truly dedicated to changing the perception of Celebration basketball,” Van Hooser said. “These returning players have fought through tough times in building our program and it is their time to see results of those efforts.”
Another team with a new coach is Poinciana. The Eagles went 16-11 last year and new coach Richard Morgan will have a big rebuilding job in front of him as graduation and transfers have depleted the roster from last year’s regional qualifier. Senior guard Jahmel Hill (8.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg) is the top returning player.
“Although extremely young, this team has shown a lot of commitment and great energy during off-season workouts,” Morgan said. “Our goal is to be competitive in every game as we build the foundation for our future.”
Another team facing a major rebuild is Liberty, who broke a string of nine consecutive losing seasons by going 16-6 and earning a regional bid last season under Steve Ross. If he is to match that success, Ross will have to do so with a relatively new roster, as eight starters or reserves depart via graduation. Juniors Lamar Lee (12.2 ppg) and Camry Irvin (5.5) are slated to return, as is senior Julian Sora (5.5).
Tohopekaliga Coach Jesus Merced returns guards Derrick Lewis (8 ppg) and Manuel Portilla (5 ppg) from last year’s 5-16 team; as well forward Jonas Merced. The Tigers will count on sophomore Nicolas Murillo (up from JVs) and freshman Jaxen Powers to contribute. Coach Jesus Merced said the goal of this year is for his team to “finish” games. “We were in a lot of games in the fourth quarter last year and simply were not able to finish at the end,” he says. “We have a group of solid young players who are working hard to change that mindset.”
In girls basketball, Gateway finally broke St. Cloud’s six-year stranglehold on the county championship, beating the Lady Bulldogs, 55-49, to capture their first OBC title. The Lady Panthers finished the season 20-7 and Justin Marino’s team looks to make a deep run in their year’s state tournament.
He returns Player of the Year Alyssa Marino, a point guard that averaged 18.3 ppg and 7 assists; as well as one of last year’s top freshman in the state in Ashylynn Day (22.6 ppg, 10.7 rebounds). Add in forward Evana Rivera (Sr., 9.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg) and electric freshman Yaya D’Amore Troupe and the Panthers should be looking at a deep run in the post-season.
“We have established a standard, where are expectations are to compete for district and regional championships,” Justin Marino said. “With two high-level seniors, one of the best sophomores in the state and a dynamic freshman we will continue in that direction. Staying healthy will be critical.”
St. Cloud coach Chad Ansbaugh, who starts his 16th year, seems to repeat the same formula every season. Say goodbye to a talented senior class, complain about the lack talent coming up and then mold them in a team that usually comes close to 20 wins and makes the playoffs.
Under Ansbaugh, St. Cloud has averaged 20.5 wins over the last nine years – winning six OBC, seven district and one regional championship. Whether the pattern continues remains to be seen. His top returners include Elle Wetzel and Kamila Ruiz, a pair of reserves from last season. Juniors Gio Hernandez and Gabby Santana and sophomore Juliana Thompson should be key players this year.
“We have a very inexperienced group that will be learning a new offense, defense and everything in between,” Ansbaugh said. “But it is a great group that appears very interested in learning and getting better.” An early season matchup with Gateway (11/21), will give Ansbaugh a good indication of where his team stands in the early going.
Coach Paul Strauch says he had an “excellent mix of senior players and young talent” at Harmony. Senior leaders include Jayme Montanez, Emme Aslan, Ellah Husbands and Dali Velez players beginning their fourth year in the program. Five freshmen may see action as Harmony looks to improve on last year’s 13-9 record that included a close 39-33 loss to St. Cloud in the district championship game.
Impact players Emma Zukowski (13.2 ppg), Evelyn Juden (18.5 ppg, 13.8 rpg) and Ella Kolaric (4.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg) all return for third-year Coach Kenyatta Long off of last year’s 12-10 district runner-up team. “We are looking for another strong season of growth and competition,” Long said. “On goal is to build winners, not only on the court, but in mindset and character.”
When Tohopekaliga opened eight years ago, the Lady Tigers won just two games total in their first two seasons. Coach Jennifer Farrell has built that team up over the years and has gone 31-10 over the past two seasons – including a 15-6 mark last year.
Although the team has not been on the same level as Gateway or St. Cloud in those years, Farrell believes here team continues to progress in the right direction and welcomes back three veteran players who should help keep the needle moving in the right direction. Those players include senior Sanaa Charles, a multi[sport star who averaged 7.1 ppg and 9.1 rpg last season; and Jamylah Williams (10.2 ppg) and sophomore Yanethzy Salamanca (5.8 ppg); transfer Amaya Reyes (Gateway) and foreign exchange student Mara Albert (Switzerland) could factor in.
First-year coach Domonique Traver hopes to turn around Liberty’s fortunes (2-14 last season). Returning players include shooting guard Christiana Mossey and center Jade Morris; while newcomers Genesis Rodriguez and Taisha Reynoso are expected to make an impact. “Our goal is simple, we want to compete and start winning games,” Tarver said. “Our players have been putting in the work, building chemistry and buying into our system. They are hungry, focused and determined to make this a statement season.”
Poinciana head coach John Carrasquillo will rely on returning starters Jaishiana Aguayo,
Natalia Calderon, Jasmine Burgos for leadership this season and hopes Osceola transfer Keyanna Stanley to provide a boost. “This new group seems to have a lot of chemistry,” Carrasquillo said. “Hopefully that will translate into becoming a more competitive team and improve our win total from a year ago.”
It’s been six years since the Lady Kowboys have posted a winning record and eight seasons since their last OBC Championship. First-year head coach John Wall hopes to reverse that trend as he takes over the program. Returning veterans include Jewelie Lazo (Jr./G), Katherine Sweet (Jr./F), and Lyrie Lanzo (So,/G); while key newcomers are freshman Jaelyn Longsworth. Wall knows the transition back to contender will take some time. “One of the biggest goals this upcoming season will be to compete in every game from beginning to end. Practices have been very intense and full of energy, so we look forward to transition that same intensity and energy over to every game. A goal that we have is to finish the season at least .500.”
