Olympia boys are No. 1 in their region

Despite his team being ranked No. 3 in Class 7A boys basketball, Olympia coach Rob Gordon is still striving for perfection.

A moment in the third quarter of Thursday’s 68-41 Region 2 quarterfinal win over Lake Nona was a prime example.

The Titans (26-2) were creating some distance between themselves and the Lions (20-8), who hung with the region tournament top seed in the first half. University of Cincinnati recruit E.J. “Jizzle” James had one of his 3 steals in the backcourt and made a beeline toward the basket and went up for a contested dunk while being guarded closely.

James missed the dunk but was fouled and made both free throws. The play still made Gordon turn toward the crowd and say to his father, Bob, a former basketball coach of 30 years: “This is painful to watch.”

It was the possibility of pain that concerned him the most.

“He has to be smarter on that play with risking injury to dunk it,” Gordon said of

James’ aggressive attack on the rim.

Gordon took out James for the equivalent of about six minutes of game time, and other players stepped up for the Titans, including Deshawn Tolbert, a bench player with not much experience.

“He’s a junior just learning the game,” Gordon said. “He’s had some flashes. He’s raw but works his butt off. I’m glad everyone got the chance to see what I’m seeing in practice.”

Tolbert had 8 points and 6 rebounds, all in the fourth quarter to help Olympia pull away and advance to

Tuesday’s regional semifinal against Metro West rival Windermere (20-7), which defeated Centennial 73-65.

James led the Titans with 16 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Kaiden White added 11 points and Jackson Outlaw contributed 8 points and 5 rebounds.

Grant Chamberlain led Lake Nona with 19 points and 8 rebounds.