Osceola edges rival Colts to stay unbeaten in conference

OSCEOLA – A season ago the deck appeared to be stacked against the Osceola Seminoles as they lost all four matchups to rival Rivercrest.

Fast forward to the 2024-25 campaign and the Noles appear to holding all the cards.

For the second time in as many tries this season, the Seminoles (18-6, 11-0 3A-3) defeated Rivercrest and are on track to return the favor from last year. After an 11-point win Jan. 30, the Noles edged the Colts by a count of 68-66 Feb. 4.

“It ain’t left my mind,” said Osceola head coach Bryanth Basemore of his team’s two regular season and two postseason defeats at the hands of the Colts. “They definitely had our number.

“Would it be nice to return the favor?” he replied answering a question with a question of his own. “Heck yeah, but we’re still going to take it one game at a time. I think we’ll see them again and we’re hoping for the same outcome.”

The latest game between the two longtime foes saw the Colts welcome back starting point guard Jayden Young who had missed the two previous games – both losses - due to illness.

But his presence wasn’t enough late as Osceola rallied from a 14-point first half deficit to notch the win.

“Yeah, absolutely, everything just kind of snowballed,” explained Basemore of the team’s futile first 15 minutes of the game. “Hats off to that bunch. Coach (Hunter) Robinson always has them ready to play and the rivalry already had the kids extra motivated.

“First half we couldn’t do anything right,” he continued. “It wasn’t all us. You have to credit them for causing a lot of our difficulties.”

Osceola struggled from the field in the first half hitting just 11-of-36 of its attempts, while Rivercrest, specifically Cavonta Washington and Buddah Harris, were better than 50 percent from on their shots.

“Vonta played an exceptional first half,” said Robinson of his senior who scored 11 of his 13 points in the first two quarters of play. In fact, he only missed one of his five shot attempts in the second quarter when he accounted for nine points.

“Rivercrest was unbelievable from mid-range,” agreed Basemore. “They couldn’t miss in the first half. Buddah was on fire and Vonta was on fire.”

Washington’s jumper with 2:15 to go before halftime gave Rivercrest its biggest lead at 34-20 but then Osceola began to make its push.

Behind a defense that had steals from Tyrese James and Chris Wilkins on back-to-back possessions, the Noles scored four points on two stick backs – one each from Jeriyan Long and Tyler Bell.

Long then blocked a Rivercrest shot which preceded four Osceola free throws in the final 25 seconds of the half. Sandwiched in between the freebies was a Harris jumper which set the halftime score at 36-28 Rivercrest.

“Yeah, I kind of lost my mind there at halftime; like you have to do sometimes,” said Basemore his locker room debriefing, “and the guys responded really well.”

The Seminole did but their response came late in the third quarter when they closed the frame on a 7-2 run to close a nine-point deficit to four at 53-49.

Osceola, which has but one defeat at home this season, scored 14 of the first 16 points in the final stanza to lead 63-55 with 3:34 to go in the game.

And credit Basemore for turning up the defense a notch to ignite the run.

“I tried to save the defense toward the end of third, start of the fourth quarter,” explained Basemore whose team employed a press as well as a combination of zone defenses. “What we tried to do was deny one person. Take ManMan (Young) away and then they started missing shots that were falling in the first half.”

Robinson pointed toward fatigue as an issue for his Colt team as well.

“Just being gassed,” said the Colt head coach who team lost for the fourth time in a row. “We weren’t moving without the ball, weren’t setting screens. It was a totally different first 16 minutes from the last 16 minutes.

“(Osceola) just pounded us on the boards in the second half, got the 50-50 balls,” he added. “They’re a good team; a really good team, undefeated in conference and here we are fighting for our lives.”

The Colts made a push in the final two minutes and actually closed the gap to one point with a chance to tie. Trailing 65-62, Jamarius Byrd stuck back his own miss and was fouled by the Noles Donavon Littleton creating the and-1 opportunity.

However, Byrd couldn’t connect on the free throw. Still, Rivercrest (13-8, 5-5) had another chance when Byrd again put back a miss after James had swished two from the charity stripe.

“We did  have lapses on the boards allowing some second and third shots,” said Basemore of the Colts offensive rebounds late in the contest, “and that can cost you some ballgames. Luckily it didn’t this time.”

Osceola’s Kash Span was only good on one of his two free throws and with 5.2 seconds left Rivercrest still had life.

But a final attempt at a basket was thwarted when Osceola knocked the ball away.

“Same ole broken record,” commented Robinson. “We’ve lost eight games and four of them have come down to something like this.

“We have to find a way to finish,” he continued obviously frustrated with the outcome. “Haven’t been able to win a big game all year but hopefully we can win one real soon.”

Harris led the Colts with 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals, while Asier Burks chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds. In his return, Young totaled 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Byrd finished with 11 points and eight boards.

For Osceola, Long posted a double-double scoring 19, collecting 15 rebounds and also blocked four shots. Bell added 17 points and five rebounds, Span 13 points and James 10 and five steals.

Both teams are prepping for next week’s district tournament at Harrisburg. Osceola enters the tourney as the one seed, while the Colts are tabbed as the four seed setting up a likely semifinal matchup against their rival.