Eagles dominate Kowboys; Bulldogs win on 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left
In a game that more than lived up to expectations, Diomar Ortiz hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.7 seconds remaining to give St. Cloud a 54-52 upset road win over Harmony in the semifinals of the Orange Belt Conference boys basketball tournament.
The win puts the Bulldogs (15-5) into Friday night’s championship game against Poinciana (13-4), a 58-42 winner over Osceola. The game will tip at 7 p.m. at Celebration High, with Harmony (16-4) taking on Osceola (8-10) in a 5 p.m. third-place game -- a matchup of who played for last year's title.
Ortiz’s basket capped a terrific comeback for the Bulldogs who were down by as many as 14 in the second half. Trailing 45-36 heading into the fourth quarter, Alex Springs led the comeback with seven of his game-high 19 points. Springs’ short jumper in the lane gave St. Cloud its first tie at 49-49 with 4:20 remaining. Josia Cotto layup a minute later put the Bulldogs ahead for the first time.
Vlad Torrado cut the gap to one at 51-50 with a free throw and Harmony took the lead with 30 seconds to go on a Sylus Cory layup. With nine seconds remaining, Springs missed a shot inside the lane but scrambled for the rebound and forced a tie-up. The Bulldogs retained the ball with the possession arrow, and Sam Perez took the inbound pass on the wing and found Ortiz open at the top of the key for the game winner.
“We talked about not letting them get on top and pulling away early and they did it to us twice – both at the beginning of the game and the start of the third quarter,” St. Cloud coach Tommy Billiteri said. “But we kept our composure and fought back both times. Alex (Springs) and Malaki (Baker) both came up big for us tonight.”
In addition to Springs’ 19 points, the 6-5 sophomore Baker scored nine points in the second half and came up with three blocks down the stretch – two of which kept St. Cloud ahead. “He’s a young player, who keeps getting better and better each week. Certainly a player you can build a program around,” Billiteri added.
The game started off well for Harmony as Jeremy Penner hit a pair of threes early and the Longhorns jumped out in front 10-3. St. Cloud would fight back but a 5-0 run late in the second quarter gave Harmony a 36-31 lead at the half. Harmony used a 9-2 run to open the third period and would build their biggest lead of the game at 40-26 at the 5:33 mark of the third.
Penner and Cory led all Harmony scorers with 12 each; Torrado added 10 and Noah Tribe added nine. The Longhorns played the game without 6-4 senior Frans Richardson, who was injured in practice yesterday.
“Overall I thought we stuck to our game plan and I thought we took good shots tonight,” Harmony coach Duke Leonardo said of his team that shot 46 percent (19 of 41). "It was tough playing without Frans and I tried to ride our starting five for the entire fourth quarter. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake on my part because obviously we had some tired players on the floor at the end of the game.”
At Poinciana, the Eagles used the momentum from their home crowd, and a stifling defense early to open a lead it would never lose, or even have threatened, in a 58-42 win over Osceola (8-10).
Poinciana used a 16-2 run early in the game to build an 18-7 first quarter lead, and cruised from there.
"We came out with championship energy, we talked about it all week," PHS Coach Craig Walls said. "I give the guys credit for being disciplined in the game to stay with the gameplan we drew up, especially on defense."
Hakeem Alvena led all players with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Isaac added 17 points, nine boards and three steals.
Each time Osceola mounted any kind of comeback, like when Luke McCrimon (13 points), Jordan Mason (11) and Jordan Mundle (13) hit successive three-pointers to narrow the lead to 27-17, the Eagles answered. Alvena scored a bucket to close the half then added four quick points to start the third quarter. Mason and Mundle combined for 13 in the third quarter, but Poinciana stay composed and went 7-for-10 from the line to take a 47-32 lead into the fourth quarter. And from there, the Eagles took care of the ball and stretched possessions while again locking down on defense and allowing the Kowboys just one field goal in the final eight minutes.
On Thursday, Gateway will host Tohopekaliga in the 5th place game, and Liberty will host Celebration for 7th.
