In basketball, sometimes you die by the free throw and sometimes you live by the free throw. Poinciana tried to do both Thursday night.
The Eagles missed 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final 90 seconds of the championship game of the inaugural Kowboy Holiday Invitational, but then made all six attempts in overtime to upset Chattahoochie (Ga.), 63-60, to win the Kissimmee holiday tournament.
“It was a great win for our team and our program,” Poinciana coach Craig Walls said. “We faced some quality teams this week and kept our composure in the face of some adversity tonight. I was particularly proud of the way we were patient, moved the ball and looked for the good shots.”
Poinciana (7-2) reached the finals with a 57-22 win over Aretesia, Calif. in the opening round and then knocked off Kissimmee’s Southland Christian, 68-55, in the semifinals.
The finals did not start off smoothly for the Eagles. Chattahoochie (8-3) took the opening tip and Cameron James would throw down a thunderous dunk to set the tone. Poinciana, behind nine points from Jordan Isaac, responded with a 18-5 run to take a 20-13 lead after one period.
But the Eagles grew cold in the second, making just two field goals; while Jaylen Edgerton and Yuta Yamamoto combined for 14 points in the quarter as the Cougars took a 30-24 lead into the locker room at the half.
Isaac and Devin Williams brought Poinciana back in the third; scoring 10 and eight points respectively, as the Eagles forged back in front 44-40.
In a wild finish, Poinciana came up with several big stops and took a five point lead with two minutes to go. Although they ran the “four corners” stall to near perfection, they simply could not hit their free throws down the stretch.
Up 53-50 with seven seconds left and needing to make just one free throw to insure the win, two PHS shots clanged off the rim and Yamamoto raced the ball up the court and nail a deep range three with one second left to send the game into overtime.
The teams exchanged buckets to open overtime before Yamamoto nailed another three to give the Cougars a 58-55 lead. But down the stretch, Poinciana was the more composed team – coming up with several steals. Daniel Melendez made a bucket and hit two free throws and Williams went four for four from the line – including two with nine seconds left – to put the Eagles up by three.
The game ended with Yamamoto missing from the top of the key and Williams grabbing the rebound for the win.
“It was a wild finish,” Walls added. “We probably work harder on free throws in practice than probably any team in the area, but there is no way to duplicate in practice the pressure you feel at the stripe with the game on the line. I was really surprised we missed all those attempts late but then we made them all in overtime.”
Williams and Isaac led the way with 22 points each. Melendez added 10. Edgerton had 21 for Chattahoochie, Yamamoto added 19.
By losing their opening game to Ocala Forest, 63-60, the host Osceola Kowboys could finish no better than in fifth place in the eight-team tournament. But Osceola did just that, beating Kissimmee Life Christian, 74-30, in the consolation round on Wednesday before beating Artesia, 74-54, in the fifth-place game.
Osceola dominated the Artesia game, 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.
Osceola, which finished 2-1 in the tournament, has now won four of their last six to improve to 5-6 on the season. Those five wins included 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.
Mason said the Orange Belt Conference Tournament (Jan 22-26) should be a wide-open affair. Harmony, who already owns wins over Osceola, Gateway and St. Cloud, is off to an 8-2 start with big wins this week over Sebastian River and Centennial. Poinciana is 7-2 and St. Cloud is off to its best start in 20 years with a 6-2 mark.
“We have some good basketball teams in the county,” Mason noted. “Harmony is playing great basketball right now and after we beat Poinciana last week they come back and win this tournament against a pretty good field. The OBC tournament should be outstanding this year.”
