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Coach Steve Mason draws up a play during the time-out of a recent game for the 7-1 Kowboys. PHOTO/DAN PEARSON
When he contacted his good friend and Olympia Coach Rob Gordon about playing a game in 2020-21, Osceola boys basketball Coach Steve Mason said that he was given a chance to opt out.
“Rob asked me if I was sure I really wanted to schedule them because he felt they were going to be pretty good,” Mason said. “I told him the only way I am going to know if we have a chance to be any good would be to play some outstanding teams, so we scheduled the game.”
And although the 8-0 Titans handed Osceola (7-1) its first loss of the season on Friday night, 73-59, Mason was anything but down after the 14-point defeat.
“I was a lot more disappointed after some of the wins we had earlier this year than I was with tonight’s loss,” Mason said. “They are ranked second in the state in Class 7A and were obviously the best team we played all year. I was extremely proud of the effort our kids put out and if we had done a better job of hitting our open shots, we certainly would have had a chance to win tonight.”
Cold shooting in the first half -- both from the floor and foul line – put Osceola in an early hole. The Kowboys made just seven field goals and were 3-of-7 from the free throw line in being limited to just 20 first half points. Meanwhile, sophomore Jizzy James was busy putting on a show as he outscored the entire Kowboys team with 21 first half points as Olympia built a 37-20 lead at intermission.
The Titans would use an early run in the third quarter to extend the lead to 21. But Sean and Chris Combs combined for 11 points in the period as Osceola fought back to close the gap to with 10 on two occasions. Late in the period, James took a hard foul on a layup that was later ruled a flagrant foul. The Titans' leading scorer made all four resulting free throws and also gave Olympia possession. That momentum allowed the Titans to build the lead back to 13 at the end of three, 52-39.
Cory Vega would score eight points in the final period and Vic Guzman would add six as the Kowboys made another run – dropping the lead to nine points at 64-55. But James would hit a layup and Joey Evans followed with a three pointer as Olympia built the lead back to double digits and cruised to the win.
James finished with 34 points; Vega led all Osceola scorers with 16, Tyler Newsome had 11 and Chris Combs chipped in 10.
“Cory Vega is turning into a real force for us,” Mason said about the Kowboy center that missed a lot of the preseason as a starting offensive lineman on the Osceola football team. “He’s only six-foot tall but he has been playing like he’s 6-5 or 6-6. He definitely has the football mentality toughness.”
Even with the loss, it was still a good week for the Kowboys, who beat Celebration (63-51) on Monday night and rival Gateway (54-53) on Thursday in nail biting fashion. Although Osceola was favored against the Panthers, Mason was not surprised the game was close
“I felt we may have had a little more talent but I am certainly not shocked that we had to fight and claw for a win,” Mason said. “Travis (Coach Travis James) does a great job with them and he always has his kids ready to play us. We were fortunate to come away with a win.”
Osceola used a pressing defense to jump out to a 20-11 lead after one quarter, but the Kowboy shooters would grow cold in the second period and Dimas Cervantes would key a 14-point period by the Panthers with seven points as Gateway closed the gap to 25-24 at intermission.
The Kowboys would push the lead to nine in the third quarter, but the Panthers got five points from Jorden Birmingham to fight back. The Kowboys needed a three-pointer at the buzzer from Sean Combs to take a 42-37 lead after three.
After the Panthers tied the score at 50-50 late in the game, Chris Combs and Newsome hit back-to-back buckets to push the lead back to four with 1:17 remaining. Cervantes would drain a three at 1:01 to make it 54-53; which would set up a spectacular finish where Osceola would need a big play and a little luck to hold on for the win.
The great play came at the 30 second mark when Birmingham had a clear path to the basket but Sean Combs came up from behind and made a huge block on the layup attempt to keep Osceola up by one.
An Osceola turnover gave Gateway the ball back with 17 seconds left and with time expiring, Cervantes drew a shooting foul with 2.2 seconds left. Surprisingly, Cervantes – who made his previous 10 free throw attempts including his four in the game – missed both ends. Chris Combs grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Although he missed the front end of the one-and-one, Gateway could not get off a shot and Osceola held on for the win.
Vega led all Osceola players with 13, Chris and Sean Combs also hit double figures, scoring 12 and 10 points each.
For Gateway, which fell to 6-4 on the season, Cervantes led all scorers with 18; while Velez added 11 and Yangel Malpica had 10. “I was really proud of our effort tonight,” James said of his team. “We sort of got into a track meet with them in the first period and we knew that was a mistake. We settled down and got back into the game.”
Both teams will participate in holiday tournaments over the school break. Gateway heads to Palm Bay starting Tuesday, when they place Eustis at 4:30 p.m.
