Oak Ridge coach loses sleep before before 7A semis
Reece also helps out with son’s hoops travel team
Following Oak Ridge’s win over Windermere High in last Friday night’s Class 7A, Region 2 championship game, coach Steve Reece could not take a break.
He had to catch a Saturday 6 a.m. flight Saturday to Philadelphia. Reece, who is in his third year as head coach of the Pioneers, is also a coach for son’s seventh-grade travel ball team, which played in the MADE Hoops Finale. He spent the weekend in Pennsylvania and then traveled back to Orlando.
Reece’s hectic week continues as Oak Ridge (21-8) plays Miramar (22-6) in a Florida High School Athletic Association Class 7A state semifinal on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland. The Pioneers, who were the fifth seed in their region after losing a district final, are searching for their second state championship in three years under Reece.
“It’s just I love basketball, so if I wasn’t traveling and doing it, I would be somewhere in somebody’s gym anyway, so it’s fine,” Reece said. “Right now, just been a real focus on trying to win this state championship. Bring another one to Oak Ridge.”
For the fourth consecutive season the Orlando area has two teams in the large-class final four. Seminole (26-1) won the Region 1 championship and will make its first state tournament appearance in 40 years when it plays No. 1 rated West Palm Beach Forest Hill (28-2) at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
The Seminoles are led offensively by senior guards Ladarron Cleveland (16.9 points per game), O’Shae Baker (13.5) and Amaire Perkins (12.7) and thrive on defensive pressure. Forest Hill also plays at a rapid pace and has five players averaging double-digit points per game, led by 6-foot-6 junior Donovan Draper, who averages14.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
Also Friday, Orlando Christian Prep (28-2) plays Impact Christian (19-8) of Jacksonville for the Class 2A championship at 4:30 p.m. OCP is seeking to win its eighth state championship in 13 years. The Warriors already hold the Central Florida record for boys basketball titles.
The 7A championship game is set for Saturday night at 8.
In 2018, Oak Ridge won the Class 9A state title, then the largeschool division, with a team whose senior class included current college standouts Emmitt Williams (LSU) and Rob Perry (Stetson) and Antwann Jones, who is sitting out this season as a transfer from Memphis to Creighton. Reece was in his first season at the helm and watched a team that he described as more “battletested” as a group than the current crop of Pioneers.
But this iteration of Oak Ridge is not lacking talent.
Forward/guard Michael
James, a 6-5 junior, has emerged as one of the top prospects in the country. James, who is averaging 18.2 points per game, is ranked No. 84 in the country in the 2021 class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. The former Wekiva player transferred to the Oak Ridge, the highs school most of his family attended, and has shined alongside a young squad.
Rodrick Henry, a 6-6 junior who is also new to Oak Ridge this season, averages 9.8 points and 7.5 rebounds. Jalen Smith, a 6-3 holdover junior guard, averages 11.9 points and 3.0 assists. And Keanu Calderon, a 6-7 senior who joined the Pioneers at mid-season, is averaging 14.4 points and added a new dimension.
“In the beginning of the year, me and my coaching staff said that this team could be very talented,” Reece said. “We’re a very deep team. We just had to get them to value winning. And if you look at our schedule, we made our schedule kind of for this week right here. A lot of our games were back-to-back against tough teams. We played a lot of Thursday-Friday games to try to prepare us for this moment right here.”
Senior guard Brent Davis is Miramar’s leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game, and the Patriots have two others who average double figures in scoring.
In 2018, when Oak Ridge won its state title, Miramar lost to Wellington in a semifinal.
“They’ve been there before,” Reece said. “Very scrappy team with good size, so I’m looking forward to it. In order to be the best, you gotta beat the best.”
“We just had to get them to value winning.” — Oak Ridge coach Steve Reece