By Ron White
MaxPreps.com
The road to Lakeland winds to an end this week for Central Florida’s still-hopeful boys basketball teams. Whether teams avoid the roadblocks depends on how they fare in tonight’s regional semifinals and Saturday’s regional finals.
Tonight features two mammoth Class 6A matchups. Territorial rivals Winter Springs and Winter Park hook up in Winter Park. After starting the season 11-1, Winter Park, led by sophomore guard Austin Rivers, the son of NBA star Doc Rivers, began to falter. The Wildcats (24-7) went 8-6 in their final 14 games, but the team held off Oviedo, 64-56, last Thursday to earn a shot at Winter Springs. The Bears (21-7) upended Timber Creek 71-49 to reach the regional semis.
Winter Springs is a youth-infused group led by coach Travis Jones. The Bears have just three seniors, but they also have 6-foot-6 Ossie Faisson and a trio of great guards. The winner moves on to play Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Orange Park-Gainesville Buchholz winner. Worth noting is that Orange Park (19-9) defeated Deltona, which finished 13-12 after knocking off a power-packed DeLand team in the district semifinals.
Buchholz reached the semis by topping Spruce Creek, which won the district title over Deltona. DeLand, which finished the season 20-4, was expected to advance at least to the regional semis, but the Bulldogs faltered after losing Deante Saunders, one of the state’s top freshman players, after he was declared academically ineligible in January. DeLand was 17-1 before losing Saunders’ services.
On the opposite end of Orlando, tonight’s big game features Dr. Phillips and Olympia. It only takes five minutes to drive from one school to the other. Naturally, there’s a huge rivalry between the two teams, who play in the same district. The Panthers put their 27-2 record on the line against a 24-4 Olympia squad. The Panthers topped Olympia, 75-71, the last time the two teams met, which was in a district title tilt, but the Titans won in the team’s first meeting, 65-61, back in January.
The DP-Olympia victor faces the Tampa Sickles-Lakeland winner on Saturday. There are no other Central Florida teams still alive in Class 6A, but there is plenty more rivalry action.
In Class 5A, a pair of Daytona Beach teams hooks up looking to make it to Saturday’s regional finals game, which will be against the Tampa King-Ridgewood winner.
It’s tough to overstate the degree to which these two schools rate their rivalry. In football, the two play annually in the city’s municipal stadium largely for bragging rights.
Mainland (16-9) hasn’t had an easy road to the postseason. The Bucs started the year 2-6 under the tutelage of coach Landis McCoy, who inherited a team that lost its star player, consensus 2008 Volusia County player of the year C.J. Reed to graduation last spring.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the team also lost a pair of starting guards midway through the season when they were declared ineligible. The Bucs, though, have plenty of young stars in the making. Sophomore Cortez Davis averages better than 15 points per game, and the team is 6-1 since moving junior Daniel Reed to point guard.
Seabreeze (18-7) has defeated the Bucs two times this season, including in the district championship game. That 52-43 win broke Mainland’s nine-game winning streak. Mainland defeated Seabreeze once, but that was when the Sandcrabs were without leading scorer Cory Walden, a talented guard who averages almost 20 points per game.
Walden had 27 points, including seven three-pointers, last week in the Sandcrabs’ 87-44 win against Kissimmee Liberty. Junior Matt Thompson added 14 for a Seabreeze team that uses depth to its advantage.
In Class 4A, Cocoa continues a big year for its boys sports programs. Cocoa won the Class 5A state championship in football on Dec. 19 with a 7-6 win against Tallahassee’s Godby High. Now Cocoa’s boys' basketball team puts its 26-3 record on the line against a 21-6 Rockledge team. Cocoa, which is coming off a 54-38 win against Jensen Beach, faces Rockledge on the road, and the winner plays on Saturday against the Belen Jesuit-Monsignor Pace winner.
In Class 3A, Orlando Jones hosts Wildwood tonight. Jones (25-3) defeated Wildwood by double digits in December. Wildwood defeated Jones 74-61 in this round last season.
In Class 2A, Orlando First Academy (18-10) travels to face Florida Air Academy, which is undefeated with a 23-0 mark.
In Class 1A, DeLand’s Lighthouse Christian takes its 14-13 record to Lake Mary Prep (21-8). It’s a matchup of district rivals, who split a pair of games this season. The winner probably doesn’t get much further. That’s because the other side of the regional bracket features a 26-2 Orlando Christian Prep team vying for its second straight state title behind 6-foot-8 senior Keith Clanton. OCP hosts an 18-11 Orlando Faith Christian team tonight.
The boys’ game isn’t the only one to watch. In fact, several Central Florida girls’ teams are already preparing for this week’s state semifinal games. In Class 6A, Lake Mary hooks up with Orlando Edgewater. The Rams reached Lakeland by defeating Gainesville Buchholz 53-52 on Saturday. Edgewater, 25-4, coasted past Sarasota 72-43 to advance to the state semis.
In Class 5A, Lake Howell team faces Big Bend powerhouse Pine Forest on Wednesday. Lake Howell is coming off a 52-28 win against Wesley Chapel.
In Class 4A, the Bishop Moore girls hook up with Pensacola on Thursday after defeating St. Augustine 58-20 on Saturday.
In Class 3A, Central Florida’s best team, Lake Highland Prep, lost 59-51 Saturday to P.K. Yonge in the regional finals to end the team’s season.
In Class 2A, Orlando’s The First Academy faces Cottondale Thursday. TFA has been a powerhouse in girls basketball for several years and counts among its alums current Duke sophomore Krystal Thomas.
In Class 1A, Deltona Trinity Christian faces Tallahassee FAMU on Wednesday. Trinity Christian is an interesting story. The team won its first district title in more than a decade earlier this month with a win against rival Lake Mary Prep, and the Eagles held on Saturday for a 54-52 win against Merritt Island Christian. Trinity Christian features a senior guard who played on Lake Mary Prep last season and an incredible eighth-grader, Tyisha Moore, who plays the post position as well as anyone in the prep game. Moore had 11 points in the win against Merritt Island Christian, and her rebounding ability gives her team second-chance shots.