Growth of young players key to Ocoee hoops' success

OCOEE — With an undersized team, and two integral seniors shouldering most of the workload, Ocoee boys basketball is looking to its younger players to step up.

Two players developing into key role players on the varsity team include Elie Cadet and Eisley Porter. Cadet, a freshman, has an average of 3.6 points per game. Porter, a sophomore, has averaged 4.6 points per game, and coach Rob Gordon said he is growing into his position nicely.

“Elie is really coming into his own as a freshman; we’re relying on him more and more now that we’re getting into January,” he said. “And Eisley is not just a sophomore playing varsity any longer; he’s a varsity starter who is giving us quality minutes and production.”

Another player with potential is junior Demerit Brown, who is averaging 10.7 points per game. In the past seven games, he has scored 75 points.

The Knights hosted and won the Great 8 Holiday Tournament over the holiday break, defeating Leesburg in the championship, 88-80, and doing so without Brown. According to Gordon, Brown has been going through a difficult time and declined to comment any further.

Senior Grant Riller has been the Knights’ undisputed leader and has an average of 26 points per game, while senior Vaughn McCall has been scoring an average of 14 points.

Riller, recently breaking the school record with 53 points in the win over Leesburg, feels confident about the team’s abilities as district tournaments draw nearer.

“I feel like we have a good chance to get the 20 wins if we keep playing like the way we’ve been playing,” Riller said.

Gordon said that having an undersized team — Ocoee usually plays without a center or a true power forward — makes playing as a team even more important. He said that even though they have two exceptional guards, it takes a collective team effort; the pressure can’t be on two players alone.

“When you have an undersized team like ours, you can never get satisfied, because it takes an unbelievable effort to be able to compete against the teams in our area, in our district, in the Metro Conference night in and night out,” Gordon said. “The minute that you relax, somebody just sneaks up on you and beats you.”

Winning the Great 8 Holiday Tournament put the team in a position to now look ahead to the goal of being district champions. With recent success on the court, Ocoee is looking toward their key role players to grow and create a tight-knit team.