Oak Ridge guard James, coaches at Dr. Phillips, OCP receive nods
Oak Ridge senior guard Mike James is a finalists for the 2021 Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award.
State championship coaches Treig Burke of Orlando Christian Prep and Ben Witherspoon of Dr. Phillips are also finalists for the organization’s Coach of the Year award.
Burke became the sixth coach in state history to win four titles in a span of five seasons when the Warriors capped a 27-0 season as this year’s Class 2A champs. That marked OCP’s ninth state title.
Witherspoon, in his second year on the job, led Class 7A Dr. Phillips to a 24-3 record and its first state championship in the sport after decades of knocking at the door.
James, a Louisville recruit and the Sentinel Orlando-area Player the Year, averaged 19.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists for a 22-3 state semifinal team and was voted Class 7A Player of the Year by a panel of coaches and media. Another round of voting by a
panel of coaches and media members will decide who takes home the awards.
The other players of the year by classification are:
Class 6A: Tre Carroll, Punta Gorda Charlotte, Sr., averaged 22.6 points, 11.3 rebounds for 21-10 final-four team.
Class 5A: Tony Green, Naples, Sr., averaged 22 points, seven rebounds for 25-5 team.
Class 4A: Dallan “Deebo” Coleman, West Nassau, Sr., averaged 24.7 points, nine rebounds, 4.2 assists for 20-12 final-four team.
Class 3A: Emanuel Sharp, Bishop McLaughlin, Jr., averaged 24.7 points, 3.9 assists for 22-7 state runner-up team.
Class 2A: Aaron Jones, Fort Myers Evangelical, Sr., averaged 28.3 points, 11.2 rebounds for 13-15 team.
Class 1A: Joe Poyser, Wildwood, Sr., averaged 14.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.9 blocks, 2.4 assists for 22-7 state title team.
Here are the other coachof-the-year finalists, all state-title winners:
Class 6A: Terrence McGriff, Bartow, claimed a repeat state championship (and third since 2010) with a 22-4 record.
Class 5A: Dave Roca, Pembroke Pines Charter, led Jaguars to 13-3 season and first state title in program history.
Class 4A: Ike Smith, Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest, led Panthers to 21-1 season and championship in his first year as head coach after 19 as an assistant.
Class 3A: Cilk McSweeney, Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian, led Eagles to 17-7 record and second championship since 2017.
Class 1A: Marcus Hawkins, Wildwood, led Wildcats to 22-7 record and state title.
GEICO Nationals
Montverde Academy seeks to win this week’s GEICO High School Nationals boys basketball tournament for the fifth time since 2013.
Lake Highland Prep’s undefeated girls are also in the made-for-TV showcase that will be played in Florida for the first time at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers.
The Class 4A state champ Highlanders can claim the mythical national title if they win a field that includes four undefeated teams.
Montverde (21-1) is arguably the boys favorite again, butnotbymuchinadeepfield that includes AZ Compass Prep (27-1) of Arizona, Sunrise Christian (19-3) of Kansas and IMG Academy (20-2) of Bradenton.
Compass Prep’s only loss was an overtime defeat at Montverde in January.
Sunrise has two tight losses to Montverde and another to Compass Prep. But the Buffaloes ended a 44-game Montverde winning streak when it beat the Eagles 69-66 in overtime in February.
IMG’s losses were to Montverde 55-51 and Sunrise 69-62 in back-toback games.
All GEICO games will be televised by an ESPN network.
The 10-team boys tournament opens Wednesday with two play-in games. Prolific Prep (30-3) of Napa, Calif., plays Indiana boarding school La Lumiere (10-9) at 6 p.m., followed by Georgia Class AA state champ Pace Academy (28-1) of Atlanta against Oak Hill Academy (20-8) of Virginia at 8.
All four Thursday quarterfinal games will be on ESPNU, including Montverde’s 4 p.m. matchup with the Pace/Oak Hill winner.
Friday’s semifinals (ESPN2) are set for 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., leading to a Saturday noon championship game (ESPN).
The four-team girls tournament tips off Friday with two semifinals on ESPNU. Class 4A state champ Lake Highland (19-0) faces Paul VI (10-0) of Virginia at 10:30 a.m., followed by Georgia 6A champ Atlanta Westlake (20-0) against Utah champ Fremont (26-0) at 12:30. The title game is Saturday at 10 a.m. on ESPN2.
MaxPreps ranks Lake Highland No. 1 and Westlake No. 2 nationally. ESPN has the Highlanders No. 3 and Westlake No. 2 behind Hopkins of Minnetonka, Minn., which was 14-0 and had won 77 consecutive games going into its state tournament quarterfinal Tuesday.
The Florida High School Athletic Association, along with the Georgia and Utah associations, are among just a handful of state governing bodies that have permitted member schools to participate in the GEICO postseason tournament, which dates to 2009.
Ocoee picks coach
Multiple sources have confirmed that longtime Lake County coach Marcel Thomas has been selected to fill the boys basketball coaching vacancy at Ocoee.
Thomas, 44, coached Leesburg to a state championship in 2011 and state runner-up finish in 2012. He coached Lake Minneola for the past five years, closing that chapter with an 11-16 record last season.
He owns a 269-197 career record at six schools, including three years and 75 wins at Leesburg, plus four seasons at South Lake and two at All Saints Academy of Winter Haven.
The hiring won’t be official until Thomas is processed and approved by Orange County Public Schools. The Ocoee job opened when former coach John “Sarge” Siers was removed from the position late in the regular season.
OCPS policy does not permit Thomas, Siers or school officials to comment to the media without permission from the district.
Faith A.D.
Tony Medina, who coached boys basketball for 17 years at Faith Christian, announced his planned departure from the school Tuesday morning.
Medina worked at the school for 20 years and is finishing out his 19th year as athletic director this spring.