CRESTVIEW — Crestview High School’s boys basketball team might not be Hickory in the movie “Hoosiers,” but the Bulldogs hope for their own hardwood magic today, when they host defending state champion Oviedo in the Region 1-7A finals.
The game is a rematch of last year’s region final played at the Northwest Florida State College Arena. Oviedo won that game 76-48. The Bulldogs (20-9) advanced to the region final with a 58-56 win over Lincoln. Oviedo (24-5) earned the trip to the game by beating Wekiva 60-56.
The winner of the game, played this year at Crestview, advances to the state finals next week in Lakeland. Bulldog Coach Greg Watson hopes familiar floor will help his Crestview squad. "But the bad part is there are going to be a bunch of people that aren’t going to be able to see it," he said, referring to no tickets being pre-sold. "That’s not good, and you never want that.
“From a basketball standpoint, for this gym to be packed and the people that have supported us all year to be here is great. Our kids are really excited about playing here.”
Like with most championship-caliber teams, the Lions don’t rebuild from one year to the next; they simply reload. Watson sees a deep, talented Oviedo team with plenty of weapons.
“Oviedo has a guy that is a guard (Matt Milon, who averages 22 points a game scoring) that can really score and is going to Boston College,” he said. "He’s about 6-4 and a strong kid that can really shoot it. The point guard (Carlos Maffuz) is back; he’s a senior. He’s a really disciplined kid, and he takes care of the ball and doesn’t turn it over. He can make the open shot. They got a new kid (Ben Hayden) that moved in that is about 6-8 or 6-9.”
The team's second-best player is Qua Harper, who averages 16.5 points a game, Watson said.
Watson said this year’s Bulldog team isn’t as big as last year’s team, which had Denzel Ware and Jerry Aaron, physically. That hasn’t changed his desire trying to score on the inside with Marquis McClain and Andrew Adkins. What has changed is the way Crestview tries to score on the inside.
“This year, we try to spread the floor a little bit and try to attack by driving, and that kind of thing, instead of just feeding the post,” he said. “Our philosophy is to spread teams out and then screen curl cut, back cut and then also by driving to the basket.”
Crestview got off to a slow start in last year’s game and never recovered.
“We dug ourselves such a big hole, and right from the get-go we are trying to crawl out of the hole and it made it really, really tough,” he said.
“We need to get off to a good start (tonight). I think our guys are pretty confident that we can go out there and compete.”
WANT TO GO
WHAT: Oviedo vs. Crestview boys basketball region final, 2 p.m.
WHERE: Crestview High School gym
COST: $7; no tickets presold. Doors open at 1 p.m.; game is expected to sell out quickly
CRESTVIEW BY THE NUMBERS
Record:20-9
Current winning streak: Seven games
Down the stretch: Crestview has won 11 of last 12 games
Largest margin of victory:33 points (69-36) vs. Tate, Feb. 6
Largest margin of defeat:15 points (67-52) vs. Chipley, Dec. 12.
Last year: Oviedo beat Crestview 76-48 in region final
EmailNews Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Coach: Crestview boys basketball team ready for Oviedo (VIDEO)