Poinciana Eagles Take Home Title in Kowboys Invitational Basketball Classic

By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola

Poinciana Eagles’ Devin Williams made two free throws with nine seconds left to cement a thrilling 63-60 overtime win over Chattahoochie (Georgia) in the championship game of the inaugural Kowboys Invitational Basketball Classic on Thursday night.

After falling behind by three in the extra stanza, the Eagles showed great determination and composure to win and push their season record to 7-2. “It was a great win for both our team and our program and it came against a really good Chattahoochie team,” Poinciana coach Craig Walls said. “I was particularly pleased with the way we stayed patient tonight, moved the ball and found the open shots.”

Although the Eagles won the game at the foul line in overtime by making six of six attempts, they nearly lost the game in the final minutes of regulation because of poor foul shooting. With under three minutes to go, Poinciana led by five and had the ball.

They would run the four-corner stall offense almost to perfection, but simply could not hit their free throws down the stretch, missing five of six in the final seconds. Those errant shots included Jordan Isaac missing a pair with 1:32 left. Holding a narrow 52-50 lead, Elijah Davis would hit just one of two and then in the final seconds, Williams would need to make just one of two to put the game away. He would miss both badly, however, which allowed Yuta Yatamoto to drive the length of the floor and nail a long-range three at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

“It was an absolutely wild finish. I never through the final two minutes of regulation would go the way they did,” Walls said. “I doubt any team in the area spends more practice time than we do on free throws. But there’s no way to replicate in practice the pressure you have from the stripe with the game on the line. I was surprised we missed all those attempts in the final minutes, but then we win the game by making all six in overtime.”

Yotomata would put the Cougars ahead with a basket to start overtime and then after a Poinciana basket, he would hit a three to give Chattahoochie a 58-55 lead. But despite losing momentum, the Eagles would be the more composed team down the stretch. Daniel Melendez and Williams both hit baskets in the extra frame in addition to making all six free throw attempts. The last two by Williams gave the Eagles a three-point lead but the Cougars still had a chance to tie but Yatamoto’s three ball attempt with a second left missed the mark and Williams rebounded for the win. Poinciana would also force two turnovers and get two defensive stops down in the final minutes.

The game would not start smoothly for the Eagles.

A thunderous dunk by Cameron James on the game’s first play spurred an 8-2 run as Chattahoochie took an early lead. Behind nine points by Isaac, the Eagles would settle down and take a 20-13 lead after one quarter of play.

Cold shooting and a tough interior defense by the Cougars limited Poinciana to just two second quarter field goals as the Eagles found themselves down 30-24 at the half.

Scoring 10 and eight points respectively in the third, Isaac and Williams would lead the Eagles back in front, 44-40 to set up the wild fourth quarter and overtime finish.

Three other Osceola County teams participated in the tournament. Host Osceola lost its opener to Ocala Forest, meaning the Kowboys could only capture fifth place in the eight-team tournament. The Kowboys (5-6 and winners of four of their last six) would do just that by defeating Kissimmee Life Christian (74-54) in a Wednesday consolation game before dominating California’s Artesia in the fifth place game, 74-54.

Osceola would easily control that game against the Pioneers, which is the alma mater of NBA star James Harden. Led by Jordan Mundle’s game-high 18 points, the Kowboys put four players in double figures in the win. Luke Mccrimon, who was named to the all-tournament team had 16, Jordan Mason – playing in his first regular season game after a back injury sidelined him in the pre-season – had 12 and Helio Quinan added 11.

In addition to going 2-1 in the tournament, Osceola also recorded a 55-54 win over Poinciana last week. “We’re a young team, we were without Jordan (Mason) for the first 10 games of the season and we have played a tough schedule,” Osceola Coach Steve Mason said. “I think we’re going to get better and better as the season wears on, but I want to congratulate Coach Wells and Poinciana, they played a great tournament”

Southland Christian (10-5) lost the third place game to Forest, 62-56. Juan Rios had 19 and Derek Lopez had 16 in the loss. Kissimmee Life Christian (1-11) lost all three games they played in the tournament,

Kowboys Invitational Classic

Quarterfinals