Fourth-Quarter Push Sends Osceola Kowboys Past Gritty South Lake, 73

By: J. Daniel Pearson

Ryan Rodrgiuez scored nine of his team-high 22 points in the decisive fourth quarter as Osceola (11-4) won its sixth in a row with a hard-fought 73-65 win over South Lake on Tuesday night.

“I told anyone who would listen that this was going to be a tough game for us,” Kowboys coach Steve Mason said. “They are extremely well coached, have two outstanding players and I knew they were going to play hard from start to finish. They came in 7-7 but their strength of schedule is really high.”

One of the Eagles standouts was 6-6 power forward Isaiah Pina, who gave who caught two touchdown passes in South Lake’s 19-13 regional semifinal win over Osceola in the Class 6A FHSAA State Football Playoffs. He dominated underneath Tuesday night – scoring 25 points.

Still, it was a night where Osceola led for most of the contest, despite playing a second straight game without injured 6-10 center Kaiden Zenkner. “Between Pina and Austin Cruz (6-5, 23 points), they haf a decided height advantage on us,” Mason said. “All season long we had to rely on our man-to-man defense and tonight when we had to get the stops, we were able to get them.”

Osceola held the lead early. Behind 11 points each from Luke McCrimon and Rodriguez, the Kowboys led by three after one quarter (14-11) and took a 35-29 lead at the half.

But South Lake would climb back into the game in the third period and Dwayne Foreman hit a three, the Eagles had their first lead of the game at 41-39 at the 4:10 mark of the third period. The Kowboys were able to stem the tide, as Jordan Mason came up with two steals, scored eight points in the period and helped Osceola regain a 52-47 lead after three.

Osceola took a 59-53 lead early in the fourth on a Mason steal and subsequent layup, but South Lake would continue to battle back. A three-point play by Cruz cut the gap to 63-60 and Foreman’s second three of the game made it 69-65 with 1:27 remaining.

With Pina out of the game, Osceola would take over – scoring the final six points of the game to cruise to the final eight-point margin.

Mason credited the play of several players for the win, including forward Helio Quinan – who did not score in the game. “Helio is 6 foot and plays 6-5. He was a load for us tonight and all season. He works so hard and does the dirty work, grabbing rebounds and altering shots for us and I’m so proud of what he brings to our team.”

“Jordan (Mason) made some great plays tonight at point guard and our freshman Jeremiah Reid (13 points) made some big baskets. Without question this was a team win tonight,” Coach Mason added.

Osceola faces another stiff test when it hosts Eustis (11-2) Friday night before next week’s Orange Belt Conference Championship Tournament next week – where the Kowboys will be the top seed.

Osceola is the defending champion and will be looking for their eighth OBC crown in the last 10 years (no tournament in 2001 because of Covid). Last season, six of Osceola County’s eight public schools earned spots in the FHSAA Playoffs and although the county does not appear to be as strong this year, Mason says he is not taking anything for granted.

“It’s great to be the top seed, but we certainly but we are anticipating a challenge next week. This county has some outstanding coaches and all the athletes just play harder during that tournament,” the veteran coach said. “The OBC Championship means something, it’s a chance to claim a county championship.”

St. Cloud (10-4) is the second seed for the OBC Tournament. The Bulldogs will join Osceola in hosting first and second round games on Monday and Wednesday, with games at 5 p.m, and 7:30 p.m. Placement games (3^rd-7^th place) will be played on Thursday on the home court of the highest seed; while the Championship Game will be played at Gateway High at 7 p.m. Friday night.

2026 OBC Basketball Bous Championships

Monday, Jan. 12

At Osceola

Game 1: #4 Harmony vs. #5 Tohopekaliga, 5:30 p.m.

Game 2: #8 Gateway vs. #1 Osceola, 7 p.m.

At St. Cloud

Game 3: #6 Celebration vs. #3 Liberty, 5:30 p.m.

Game 4: #7 Poinciana vs. #2 St. Cloud, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

At Osceola

Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 5:00 p.m.

Game 6: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m.