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Osceola’s Luke McCrimon defends Harmony’s Ivan Ramos in Tuesday’s season opener. The Longhorns won it, 50-48. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS
One season after unseating Osceola as the county’s top team and winning its first district boys basketball title in school history, the Harmony Longhorns may be facing a rebuild but still hopes to challenge for the top spot in both the county and district basketball race.
The Longhorns, who lost a 46-44 decision to Osceola in the final of the Orange Belt Conference Tournament last year, but rallied to defeat the Kowboys (58-57) in the district semifinals, went on to claim their first district championship with a win over Lake Nona.
Coach Duke Leonardo saw several key players graduate from that team, including three of its top four leading scorers in Miguel Torado, Caden Scarborough and Rafael Balines but he remains optimistic heading into the 2023-24 campaign.
“We had pretty good depth and rotated a lot of players last year, with our first and second team playing almost equal minutes,” Leonardo said. “We’re not going to be that deep this year, but I think our top eight players are going to give us a solid base.”
Vlad Torrado (9.7 ppg), Fran Richardson (5.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Noah Tribe (4.8 ppg) and Jeremy Penner (4.2 ppg) are returning regulars; while Ivan Ramos steps up from the junior varsity to handle point guard duties. Transfers Jason Ford (Osceola) and Aiden Wiggins (Lake Nona) are also expected to bolster the Harmony lineup.
The Longhorns opened this season with a pre-Thanksgiving thriller over Osceola, winning 50-48. Torrado scored 17.
Osceola coach Steve Mason calls this edition of the Kowboys the youngest in the 30 years he has been coaching or assisting with the program. He believes the starting lineup will consist of three sophomores and two juniors.
Top returning players include Jordan Mason (4.5 ppg), Mason Fontaine (7.1 ppg), Luke McCrimon (5.7 ppg), and Jordan Mundle (5.0 ppg). Mason has high expectations for Javante Simpson, a 6-6 sophomore who excelled on the football field for the Kowboys this past fall. With such a young team, Mason will rely on Jalen Bell, another football player, to provide senior leadership. “With a team as young as ours, you absolutely need an older guy to provide leadership and Jalen is definitely that guy. He didn’t get a ton of playing time in basketball last year but he is a great athlete and absolute leader. He’s taken charge of this team from the first practice.”
In addition to playing in Winter Park’s annual Christmas Tournament, Osceola will host its own eight-team tournament, Dec. 19-21, where one of the featured teams will be Artesia High School from Lakewood, Calif. – the high school attended by NBA star James Harden.
After serving as JV coach the last two seasons, Tommy Billiteri hopes to turn around the fortunes of a St. Cloud program that has not had a winning record in at least two decades. Billiteri calls the opportunity to head the St. Cloud program as lifelong ambition to build a winning program at his former high school.
An interesting combination of young players, proven veterans and three transfers may provide the Bulldogs the tools needed to accomplish that goal sooner than later. Roy Frett (6.4 ppg), Ryan Rodriguez (4.7 ppg) and Elias Torres (3.2 ppg) are notable returnees. They will be joined by two Osceola transfers in All-County performer Alex Springs (11.6 ppg) and Josiah Cotto (4.6 ppg); while Malaki Baker is a 6-5 “big” from West Virginia.
“We want to change the perception of St. Cloud basketball,” Billerti said. “We have a really good core of kids and some promising newcomers. If everyone buys in I think we have a real chance for a winning season and to be competitive in the county.”
Jesus Merced says he hopes the upward trend of his Tohopekaliga program continues this year. After winning just 13 total games in the school’s first three years of existence, the Tigers won 11 games in each of the past two seasons.
“Our players are starting to understand what it takes to win and we have shown a lot of growth in the last couple of years,” Merced said, “We have a good mix of experienced players and talented newcomers coming in this season and hope to build on our successes from the last two years.”
Tohopekaliga will rely on a trio of upperclassmen to lead the team, including senior guards Alijah Hall and Steven Almonte; as well as junior shooting guard Jesiah Merced. A strong group of first-year players enter the program, including Derrick Lewis – who Merced believes will make the varsity roster as a freshman.
The Tigers fell in their opener, 46-37, to Lake Nona. Center Jayden Barthelemy had seven rebounds and three steals.
Travis James does not return a lot of experience or height from last year’s 11-12 Gateway squad, but is optimistic about what the new season will be bring. Yangel Malpica is the only returning player with significant varsity experience but James notes that newcomers Kyle McGregor, Isaiah McGill, Gabe Haynes and Sebastian Vazquez will fill the void from last year’s graduating class.
“Our biggest kid is only 6-3, so rebounding will be a huge factor for us,” James noted. “We are a small team and we are going to play fast to take advantage of our quickness. We are going to be aggressive defensively. So far, it has been a lot fun coaching these guys and I am looking forward to watching this group develop as the season goes on.”
Michael Van Hosser takes the reigns at Celebration. The Storm lost much of their offense to graduation from last year’s 11-12 team. The Storm’s top returning players include Andy Ndambo (4.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Jedaiah Sankitts (3.2 ppg). Top newcomers freshman Nick Edourd, senior Kendley Jean and sophomore Ricardo Baro.
“We are basically putting a brand new team of inexperienced players on the court,” Van Hosser said. “But those players have some talent, are extremely hard-working and enthusiastic to compete. I really couldn’t ask for a better group of players to start our rebuilding process with.”
Craig Walls guided Poinciana to a 10-9 season last year and returns contributors Hakee, Alveena (10.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg), Elijah Davis (6.0 ppg) and Jordan Isaac (7.4 ppg). After last year’s difficult 4-18 campaign, Liberty starts anew under first-year head coach Steve Ross.
