Riller hits thriller for Ocoee
APOPKA — Grant Riller has played in the shadow of a steady stream of Central Florida basketball standouts since he was called up from JV to varsity as an Ocoee ninth grader.
But this is his time to shine and Riller is rising to the occasion. The 6-foot-2 senior guard k n o c ke d down a tiebreaking 3-point shot with 10.2 seconds remaining and then stole the ensuing inbounds pass to give Ocoee (4-0) a 53-50 victory over Deltona (4-1) in a duel of two Sentinel Super 16 teams at the fifth annual Metro vs. Florida Challenge on Wednesday.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a kid come so far in four years in all my 22 years of coaching,” Ocoee coach Rob Gordon said of Riller.
The College of Charleston signee scored a gamehigh 24 points. He had 17 in the first half as Ocoee built a 23-8 lead.
That pace slowed when Deltona, ranked No. 12 in the preseason Sentinel Super 16 rankings, switched to a triangle-and-two defense and rallied with guard Evan Hinson catching fire.
Hinson, a 6-4 junior playing only his second game since suffering a broken hand in football, scored 13 of his 16 points in the final five minutes. Chad Brown, a 6-9 UCF signee, had 14 points, 18 rebounds and four b l o c ke d shots for the Wolves.
Vaughn McCall drained consecutive 3-point shots for Ocoee, setting up Riller’s game-winner for a team ranked No. 14 in the area.
No. 3 Dr. Phillips (3-0) built a 24-point lead and won 72-58 over Port Orange Spruce Creek (3-3). Jonathan Laurent scored 20 points and Desir Wilkins and Malik Williams stuffed multiple lines on the stat sheet for the Panthers.
DP was missing three ro- tation players with Q Bargnare and Nick Smith still playing football on a region final team and sophomore standout Chaundee Brown out due to sickness.
“I want our football team to do well, but it will be nice to get our whole crew back together,” DP coach Anthony Long said. “We have enough talent to make a deep playoff run.”
No. 7 Orlando Christian Prep improved to 3-1 with a 68-40 victory over Jones (0-3). Josh Raoul, a 6-6 senior who came back to the Warriors after one year at Orlando University, scored 26 points and guard Mike Tolbert added 22.
OCP’s loss was 62-40 against 7A power Pompano Beach Ely.
“Ely smoked us,” said new Warriors coach Matt Ruta. “Hopefully we can get to where we can compete with teams like that, We just need to build chemistry and toughness.”
Kissimmee L i b e r t y, which was 4-16 two years ago, improved to 3-0 with a 51-48 win over host Apopka (2-1). Dawan Williamson and Brandon Bradley combined for 24 points and the Chargers bolted out to an 18-0 lead.
“Out start was the difference in this game,” said third-year Liberty coach Bob Lauster. “We’ve got work to do but I’ve got a good group of seniors.”
Daytona Beach Father Lopez (3-2) standout Malik Maitland scored 24 points and made a play for a teammate to give the Green Wave a 39-37 overtime victory over Orlando University (1-2). The Morehead State signee whipped a pass across the lane to Richard Perez for the game-winning layup.
After a Thanksgiving day break play continues with seven games on both Friday and Saturday. The final three games are DP vs. area No. 10 Windermere Prep at 4, Apopka vs. No. 16 Lake Brantley at 6, and No. 8 Winter Park vs. No. 4 Oviedo at 8 on Saturday.