Best boys and girls players teamed up in Osceola County Premier showcase game
With Osceola County’s high schools mixed among six districts or conferences, they did not meet on the court much outside of the Orange Belt Conference tournament.
It begged the question: what if the county’s best players matched up in an all-star format?
Fans got their wish Thursday at the Osceola County Premier event at the Silver Spurs Arena. Fans attending received a free ticket to Saturday’s Osceola Magic game, a win against the Birmingham Squadron.
Kissimmee native Ryan Buhain, founder of 2 Hands Basketball to train basketball players, worked his channels to be able to put on such a game, to give the county’s girls and boys players added exposure, and one more shot—or in the seniors’ case, one last shot—to wear their school’s colors, or any colors for those not playing at the next level.
“This has been on my mind for two or three years, to showcase the top high school players in the county,” he said. “There’s never been a precedent for it. We’ve got some talent in Osceola County which shouldn’t be overlooked by Orange County right next door.”
The East teams were represented by players from Harmony, St. Cloud, Tohopekaliga and Gateway High Schools and Southland Christian Academy; the west included players from Osceola, Poinciana, Celebration High, Center Pointe Christian Academy and Heritage Christian.
Much like other all-star games, the action was often fast and furious up and down each end of the floor. In the girls game the West team, led by Poinciana’s Natalia Calderon (14 points), Osceola’s Keyanna Stanley (12) and Center Pointe’s Yohangeli Guzman (12) and Yari Escobar (11), took early leads against an East starting lineup made of starters from the Orange Belt Conference finalists Gateway and St. Cloud.
The East, trailing 62-53 with 2:56 minutes left, nearly completed the comeback, as the West forced two late East misses to win, 69-65. Gateway’s Ashlynn Day (game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds), Alyssa Marino (15, four assists) and Evana Rivera (7) hit big shots to close the gap. St. Cloud point guard Ariana Viera added 10 and Harmony’s D’vinity Cook and Jaymelee Montanez and Tohopkeliga’s Sanaa Charles added 12 off the bench.
“At Gateway I keep a short bench, so I had to make sure I got everybody in the game, and back to their schools healthy,” said GHS and East Coach Justin Marino. “But I’m glad we had the chance to do this.”
Daughter Alyssa concurred. “I had fun, I didn’t expect to put on a Gateway jersey again this year. And playing the Center Pointe girls is a lot of what we play against in travel ball.”
The boys game, playing with 10-minute quarters and a target score (“Elam ending”), resulted in a 111-99 East team jump ball-to-horn victory. But it was a true showcase of talent as coaches Steve Mason (Osceola High, East) and Duke Leonardo (Harmony, West, but more on that in a second) brought full lineups in and out of the game, and, simply, players made plays.
Harmony’s Sylus Cory scored the game’s first six points and led the East with 22. The crowd was introduced to Southland Christian point guard Sebastian Rivera, who scored 21 with five three-pointers, and Life Academy’s Ahmed Mustapha, who had eight rebounds. St. Cloud’s Malaki Baker tallied 10 points and three blocks.
On the West side, Osceola’s Luke McCrimon led with 24 points and seven rebounds. Center Pointe’s Caleb Rivera had 20 with six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Comically, Mason and Leonardo switched teams the day of the game, to get a chance to “take theirs and beat yours”—and so Mason wouldn’t have to coach his son Jordan, who tallied 14 for the West side.
“It was a lot of fun getting to see all these great players together, 2 Hands did a great job putting it together, and it was really cool to be a part of,” Leonardo said.
McCrimon, a junior, hopes it continues next year.
“I had a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to it.
Of the 38 players who got in both games, 37 scored, all boys recorded points and rebounds and every East player recorded an assist.
“I was happy to see that,” Mason said. “We’ve proved that we have quite a bit of talent in Osceola County playing at a lot of schools. For the first year doing this, I thought it was a great show.”
