Osceola boys romp past Newport

OSCEOLA - Osceola surpassed Newport on the scoreboard and the conference standings after a 92-63 triumph at Seminoles Gym on Tuesday launched them into first place in the 3A-3 conference. Improving to 6-0 in conference play, the Seminoles trounced one of the conference’s best behind MJ Washington’s massive 32-point night. AJ Brown supplemented 23 points. This helped the Seminoles stave off a 15-point performance from Newport’s Jestn Russell.

The opening quarter was heavily-contested. Jeriyan Long cashed in on a shot from behind the arc to create an early 5-4 lead for the Seminoles. Newport struck back. Demetric Denton scored while being fouled. Osceola failed to rebound his missed free throw and Newport scored again. The Greyhounds Armoni Wren collected an offensive rebound and scored moments later. Osceola grabbed a few points at the line to keep things close, but were forced to call timeout after failing to protect the paint. Newport’s glass-cleaning gave them a lead as the quarter came to a close, but Osceola received a boost when Brown drained a three-point shot from the top of the key just before time expired.

Holding onto a slim 17-16 lead after Brown’s make, Newport’s offense began to wane Washington found space on the left wing to let a shot fly, and his three points put Osceola back into the lead. On the next possession, Washington scored from the same spot, and Newport had to call timeout. A few plays after the stoppage, Brown struck from deep and suddenly the Greyhounds were reeling, calling another timeout trailing 25-17. Newport found a score inside after the timeout, but Washington then lit them up from the perimeter again. Feeling it, he quickly took to the paint, spun off his defender, and scored. In just over two minutes, the Seminoles had a 30-19 lead. This run continued for a couple more minutes, and by the time Newport called a third timeout during the quarter, the score was 38-19. Denton’s put-back layup ended the drought, and Newport’s scoring picked back up, but Osceola’s offense was blistering. The Seminoles went into halftime in charge 48-32. Washington contributed 20 of his 21 first-half points in the second quarter, leading all scorers at the break.

Donovan Littleton scored his second basket of the night to open up the second half. Washington wasted little time, scoring on the Seminoles’ next possession. Trailing by 20 points, Newport felt compelled to call timeout. When play resumed, Washington looked untouchable as he hop stepped into a fadeaway jumper and got it to fall. The Greyhounds continued finding success inside, but Osceola’s prowess from the perimeter kept Newport chasing. Brown made his third deep shot, Washington drained his fifth, and Jeremiah Jacobs got on the board with a pair of three's. Osceola outscored Newport 28-17 in the quarter and lengthened their lead to 76-49 going into the final stanza. Washington wasn’t done, and didn’t look tired as he added to his total. He drove coast to coast to score and buried another three. He ended the night with five successful shots from deep. Brown was not far behind with four made three-point shots. With just over five minutes to play and the “sportsmanship clock” rolling, both teams pulled their starters. Jacobs added a pair of free throws to get to 10 points, and three Seminoles ended the night in double figures. Newport could never recover from the offensive flurry, and Seminoles head Coach Bryanth Basemore was left encouraged by his team’s potential. “I’m a defensive-minded coach. So, having our offense operating like that makes me happy. We still need to work on put-ting four good quarters together, which we’ve yet to do. If we can do that and facilitate offense efficiently like that, we can get past regionals, and our ultimate goal is to get back to the state championship.”

Osceola also won the junior boys game 59-53.