The Oak Ridge boys basketball team bounced up and down joyously to Chief Keef’s rap song, I Don’t Like, surrounded in a wild celebration by fans who spilled onto the gym floor after the Pioneers pulled out a heart-pounding 57-54 region championship win over Kissimmee Osceola on Friday night.
Oak Ridge fans stormed their home court after a halfcourt heave by Osceola’s Jaduhkiss Soto sailed wide of the basket as the horn sounded.
The victory propels the Pioneers (28-4), in search of their storied program’s first state championship, to next week’s final four. Oak Ridge will play Region 1 winner West Orange (17-13) in an all-Central Florida semifinal Friday night at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“All we did was keep our composure,” Perry said. “I told coach (Steve Reece), ‘I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I’m not ready to go home’.”
Osceola (23-7), which beat the Pioneers 63-60 a year on its way to the state championship, was up by one point going into the final minute. But the Kowboys made two costly turnovers in the final minute and Oak Ridge took advantage.
Antwann Jones
Oak Ridge forward Antwann Jones (1) fouled out of the game with 17 points. (Max Fay / Staff)
Perry, an unsigned senior on a team with three Division 1 recruits in Emmitt Williams, Antwann Jones and Damon Harge, led the charge down the stretch. He made a 3-point shot from close to 30 feet out for a 50-49 lead. Osceola answered with a 3-ball by Armani Thomas - setting the stage for a wild finish.
Perry, who scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed an errant Kowboys pass and drove for a layup to put his team ahead 53-52 with 54.5 seconds to go. After another Osceola mistake, Harge scored another layin off a sideline inbounds play.
Osceola’s Jaduhkiss Soto was fouled on a 3-point shot attempt and made two of his three free throws to slice the lead to 55-54 with 15.8 seconds remaining. Oak Ridge then sealed the deal when Taylor was fouled and made two free throws with 3.5 seconds to go.
“They’a helluva team,” Reece said of Osceola. “Tonight, we won off all of those games we played out of town against national teams. That prepared us. We finally executed down the stretch.”
Perry scored a game-high 18 points. Jones fouled out with 17.
Thomas led Osceola with 11.Both big men, Osceola’s 6-foot-9 Omar Payne and 6-7 Williams of Oak Ridge were limited due to fouls. Williams still managed seven rebounds, three blocked shots and three dunks.
Payne had four blocked shots, six rebounds and two dunks, but he sat out most of the first half after he was assessed a personal foul and then a technical foul after battling for a rebound in the early going.
#HoopJourney
Subscribe To Our Second Channel
Hoop Journey 2: / @hoopjourneyii
LIKE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE!
Hoop Journey is committed providing basketball fans consistent exclusive content on a daily and weekly basis! We are dedicated to producing High Quality footage and mixtapes of the top high school talent in the country, potential NBA stars, and much more. Hoop Journey produces the Best basketball documentaries on RU-vid. Hoop Journey strives to bring you the highest quality content on all things basketball.
If you like our videos and want to see more make sure to subscribe, for more similar videos!
Also if anyone wants to see a type of video, of a player, or game, leave it in the comment section below.
Follow Us On Social Media
TWITTER: / hoopjourneyhj
INSTAGRAM: / hoopjourneyhj
2 мар 2018
