Gateway point guard Alyssa Marino drives on Harmony forward Ella Husbands in Friday's title game. (Photo/Taylor McFee)
While Senior Jordan Mason scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Osceola Kowboys to their second straight Orange Belt conference championship with a 73-60 win over rival St. Cloud Friday, the girls win for the host Gateway Panthers over the Harmony Longhorns, 64-29, was more of a coronation and the prelude to a tough upcoming schedule.
Mason was on fire from the beginning of the game – driving the lane early and often. That either led to layups or free throws as the point guard scored eight first quarter points.
“Jordan told me before the game that he didn’t think there was one player on the other side that could stop him one-on-one,” Osceola Coach Steve Mason said. “So he said he wanted to attack the basket all game and he did.”
St. Cloud’s J.J. Barrett hit all five of his first quarter shots – scoring 11 points and keeping the Bulldogs within seven at the first break, 23-16.
Mason and Luke McCrimon combined for eight quick points as Osceola (16-4) went on an 11-1 run to start the second period and build a 37-17 lead and forced a St. Cloud timeout. The Bulldogs switched up defenses that helped stem the tide.
“Coach Billiteri did a good job switching to a 1-3-1 zone defense and that slowed us down a bit until we made an adjustment,” Coach Mason noted.
Osceola took a 14-point lead into halftime. but a wild third quarter made the game interesting. St. Cloud opened with a 7-0 run to cut the gap to seven, 42-35. Osceola built the lead back to 10 and had a chance to make it more on a fast break with seconds to go. But St. Cloud’s Zeus Howard picked up a wayward pass on the defensive end with three seconds to go, took one dribble and launched a shot two-thirds the length of the court. The attempt found nothing but net to keep St. Cloud within striking distance at 53-46.
The teams battled back-and-forth for the first six minutes of the final quarter. St. Cloud’s Nate Thompson buried a three on one end, only to see Osceola’s Jahmer Hill counter with his own three on the other end. Bulldog guard Elias Torres hit a jumper and then scored a quick two off of a steal and St. Cloud trailed by just four at 63-59. Osceola’s Ryan Rodriguez, who played for the Bulldogs las year, made a pair of free throws, but Diomar Ortiz hit one free throw. When two-time county Player of the Year Luke McCrimon fouled out with 53 seconds left, the Dogs were down just five at 65-60.
But Mason, with the help of Helio Quinan’s two steals and two rebounds, took the game over. He made the final four baskets, as Osceola finished on an 8-0 run to claim its eighth OBC title in the last nine tournaments.
In addition to Mason’s 25, McCrimon added 20 and Hill pumped in 13. Torres had 17 for St. Cloud (13-5); while Barrett and Thompson chipped in 13 each.
Both coaches came away with positive thoughts.
“The OBC Championship is always nice, but for us it’s always about districts and making a run through regionals.” Mason said. “We’re playing well right now and the first part of the season was about building chemistry and that’s coming together for us.”
“Bottom line, we didn’t get enough stops to win the game,” Billiteri said. "We were in right defensive position for most of the night, but they made the shots and we didn’t get the stops.
"I like the way we fought back. It’s been our identity not to quit. We obviously wanted to win and I’m proud of the way this team rallied back.”
In the earlier girls game, Gateway (17-2) jumped out to an 18-6 first quarter lead and never looked back. Sophomore Ashlynn Day scored 12 first half points and Evana Rivera added 10 as the Panthers expanded the lead to 40-12 at the half. When Rivera hit a three-pointer with 3:33 remaining in the third, Gateway went up by 35 and triggered a running clock.
Day scored 21, Rivera added 15 and point guard, team captain and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University signee Alyssa Marino chipped in 10. Harmony (13-3) was led by Emerson Aslan and Jayme Montanez, who scored nine points each.
In the Panthers’ three OBC tourney wins, they outscored the opposition 200-73 and sent all three games to a running clock in the third quarter.
“I don’t really want to downplay it too much, because winning the OBC championship does mean something to our kids,” GHS Coach Justin Marino said. “They have been playing against each other since middle school and I did sense they were excited to play tonight. But it was hard to get up for this week because of the overall level of competition in the county this year. Our three wins this week, despite the big margins of victory, hurts our strength of schedule and may adversely affect our ranking.”
Still, Marino and the Panthers (17-2, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 5A) have upcoming opportunities to rebound from any ranking drop this week. After a home game against Four Corners, Gateway concludes its regular season with three consecutive contests against state top 20 teams — a road match-up against long-time nemesis Bishop Moore (15-4, No. 1 in 4A) on Thursday. They will also face Central Florida Christian Academy (13-4, No. 11 in 1A) on the road and conclude the regular season against The Villages Charter (13-7, No. 14 in 3A)
“We back loaded our schedule by design.” Marino said. “When we get to districts, we want to be battle tested and ready.”
Thursday's games: 3rd, 5th, 7th place games
Girls 3rd place: Tohopekaliga 47, Celebration 41
Girls 5th place: Poinciana 64, St. Cloud 34
Girls 7th place: Osceola 43, Liberty 26
Boys 3rd place: Harmony 55, Celebration 51
Boys 5th place: Poinciana 72, Gateway 70
Boys 7th place: Liberty 66, Tohopekaliga 50
Friday's championships (at Gateway High)
Girls championship: Gateway 64, Harmony 29
Boys championship: Osceola 73, St. Cloud 50
