Heritage Eagles soaring after PHS victory

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Heritage Eagles soaring after PHS victory

Sports

Friday, 22 January 2010 08:33

By Rick Pedone
Staff Writer
Maybe Heritage Christian School should buy a new scoreboard and hang it next to the one that reads: Home 67, Guest 65.
That score looks so good, Heritage athletic director and basketball coach Jim Estrella left the scoreboard lights blazing a day after the Eagles’ historic overtime victory against Poinciana Tuesday at the Heritage gym.
“Maybe that’s a good idea,” Estrella said, about another scoreboard. “I hate to turn it off.”
The school has won several Florida Christian Conference state championships over the past two decades, but no victory in the program’s history rings with the resonance of this one. It was Heritage’s first win against a public school.
Poinciana, a Class 4A District 7 participant, was handicapped Tuesday by the absence of a couple of starters, but Coach Jay Lunce said that Heritage deserves congratulations.
“They’re more athletic than you’d expect from a small school like that in Kissimmee. They made big shots at crucial situations,” he said.
The biggest basket for Heritage came from junior forward Maynard Rowe, who scored three of his game-high 32 points from halfcourt with a couple of ticks left in regulation to tie the score at 56 and force overtime.
“They were doubling me, then when we got to half court they backed off a little and I was able to get the shot off,” he said. “It banked in.”
Estrella said the shot was eerily similar to another that Rowe made in a summer league game last year against Poinciana.
“He hit almost the exact shot, except it was before he got to halfcourt. Then, the time had clearly expired and the officials correctly waved it off; this time, there was just enough time left for it to count,” said Estrella. “Maybe I should put that into our offense.”
More heroics were required by Heritage Christian players in overtime.
With Josh Newman, one of the team’s most dynamic players, sent to the bench with five fouls after 14 points and 13 rebounds, the Eagles got key plays from Ivan Cossio, who hit three free throws to tie the score at 59 in the overtime, and from John Pham, whose three-pointer from the corner put Heritage ahead, 62-61. Guard Emilio Giler nailed a pair of free throws, but it again was left to Rowe to rescue the team when the score was tied at 65 and he went to the free throw line with 1.9 seconds left.
He hit both shots.
“They were harder than the half-court shot,” he said. “I missed like eight free throws in the first half.”
Cossio said the Eagles weren’t satisfied with simply pushing Poinciana to overtime.
“We thought we could win. He (Estrella) tells us that every possession has value and we knew we had to make the most of every opportunity,” he said. “When I was shooting the free throws, I didn’t even hear the ball bounce.”
Perhaps because he was deafened by the Heritage fans’ cheers in the tiny gym.
“It’s hard to play in small gyms like that,” Poinciana Coach Lunce said.
Significant as the victory is, the Heritage players unanimously said their job is far from finished.
“We want the state championship,” Newman and his teammates said.
Estrella tested his team against Poinciana, and previously, Gateway, because the competition in the FCC is improving. The defending champion, Faith Christian, beat Heritage in the finals last year with a roster composed largely of great athletes from the Bahamas.
“They have probably six guys who can put their elbows over the rim,” Estrella said. “They can beat a lot of public schools. That is the kind of talent we’re going run into, so I want our team to have that experience going into the state tournament.”
The Eagles, 15-3 after a victory over Life Academy Thursday, played Liberty Christian in a conference game Friday. Giler led the Eagles with 20 points. Heritage can earn the No. 1 seed in the FCC’s Eastern Division.
With most of his players returning next year, with the potential additions of some good junior varsity players, Estrella said he would like to enter the Great Florida ShootOut next season.
“I think with the roster we have coming back, and it being Maynard’s senior year, that we could be good fodder for someone. But, maybe not,” Estrella said. “We have several kids on this team who should earn (basketball) scholarships.”
Meanwhile, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a morale-boosting win like the one on Tuesday.
“Our fans were going crazy; the kids were really excited. It was a great win for our school,” Estrella said.