Titans hold off late rally from Warriors, score big win -- Observer Preps

by Chris Mayer | Correspondent

Isaiah Reed and Amajeh Green scored 17 points apiece, and Olympia High’s boys varsity basketball team surged to a big early lead Thursday en route to a 59-55 road victory over Metro Conference West Division rival West Orange.

Markel Hudson contributed nine points and junior guard Jordan Grant added eight points – including three free throws during the final 21 seconds – and played a solid floor game as the Titans improved to 6-5 overall. The win was even more satisfying after Olympia dropped a 46-40 decision to Class 9A District 5 counterpart Cypress Creek the previous night.

“It was tough today coming off a loss, and Cypress Creek is a good team,” Olympia head coach Matthew Wheeler said. “We definitely felt like we needed to pick up our effort and be more consistent. That was the focus today and the guys came out playing really hard.”

West Orange (6-2) had its four-game winning streak come to an end. Head coach Eric Jones, who was without a couple key players from his normal rotation, watched the Warriors struggle during a 16-point first half against an Olympia team that generated more success around the rim.

The Warriors were also in a situation where they had won a Class 9A District 3 game against Apopka two days earlier (Dec. 13) and were starting preparations for next week’s appearance at the Big South Shootout in Valdosta, Ga.

“Everybody we’ve played to this point has been fairly physical,” Jones said. “But they [the Titans] outplayed us and they were a little bit bigger than our guys expected. There was a little bit of a letdown for us and I could tell in practice there wasn’t a whole lot of focus. The other thing was everybody I’ve seen Olympia play, they’ve run a zone. And on us they ran man-to-man.”

Olympia never trailed after Khadry Jackson’s basket gave the Titans a 4-2 lead at the 6:46 mark of the opening quarter. Hudson’s lay-up off a Grant assist and Green’s 3-pointer then highlighted a 9-0 run as Olympia pulled ahead 29-12 with 1:51 left in the second quarter.

“I’ve got three bigs that can really wall off the basket with Isaiah Reed, a sophomore, and then AJ Green and Markel Hudson,” Wheeler said. “The focus was contest shots and just get the rebound. We wanted a lot of one-and-done possessions and we did a good job with that.”

The Titans led 31-16 at halftime and 41-28 entering the fourth quarter. West Orange outscored Olympia 19-7 over the final 2:18 to make it a four-point decision.

“There’s a few things we can watch on film from the last couple minutes that we can learn from, but I’m glad we can learn and walk out with a win,” Wheeler said. “West Orange is tough and they’ve been playing really well.”

West Orange’s Ian Lopez scored 13 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, while Tyler Yorke (13 points) and KJ Simon (11 points) also finished in double figures. The Warriors open the boys portion of the Big South Shootout at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, against Washington County.

Olympia is idle until Wednesday, Dec. 28, when it meets The First Academy-Orlando in the opening round of the Royals’ Christmas Tournament.