We decided to take in the Oak Ridge/Wellington regional semifinal in Class 7A, Region 2 Monday night. Both teams were ranked in the state’s top twenty overall and #4 and #6 respectively in 7A heading into the district tournaments two weeks ago.
Wellington got on the board first with a bucket inside by Chase Lombardo. That was answered by two free throws from Treyvon Maddox of Oak Ridge after getting fouled on a putback. That was the start to a first quarter offensive showcase by both teams. Oak Ridge got a brief 7-5 lead after a Jamier Jones transition basket but that was the only lead the Pioneers would have in the first quarter. Oak Ridge would hit six three-point shots in the period while Wellington knocked down four, three of those coming from Jeremy Tovar, who had 11 points in the period. Trailing 24-21 with a few seconds left in the opening period, LSU signee Jalen Reece connected on a three-pointer to tie the score at 24-24 going into the second period. Reece had eight points in the period.
Not surprisingly, neither team could maintain that type of pace in the second quarter. Oak Ridge broke the tie first with two free throws from Reece and then a transition dunk by Jones. A three-point play from Wellington’s Tor-El Robinson brought them to within one but then Reece hit another three to push the Pioneer advantage to two possessions, 31-27, with four minutes to play in the period. Wellington would continue to fight uphill much of the quarter and they looked in good shape with under a minute to play after getting a putback bucket to make the score 36-33. The Pioneers had other things in mind. Jones scored a bucket inside and then after a Wellington turnover, Maddox was able to throw down a transition dunk just before the halftime horn to make it a seven-point Oak Ridge lead at 40-33.
The Pioneers opened up the third quarter with a backdoor cut and dunk by Jones than an absolutely absurd putback dunk by Maddox. Oak Ridge now had a double-digit lead but Wellington didn’t let them pull away. They were able to stay within seven to nine points for the quarter. That was until Reece of Oak Ridge was able to knock down a half-court buzzer beater to make the score 61-48 in favor of the Pioneers heading into the final period.
The first three minutes of the fourth quarter saw Oak Ridge put together a game-sealing 13-2 run, including an unusual seven-point play. Wellington fouled Reece on a three-point shot attempt. When the defender got carried away voicing his displeasure, he was assessed a technical foul. Reece hit all five of the foul shots and on the ensuing Oak Ridge possession, Reece was fouled on a drive, hitting two more free throws. This pushed the Oak Ridge advantage to over twenty points and as Wellington pressed on defense and attempted quick shots on offense to get back into the contest, it just allowed for more transition opportunities for Oak Ridge. The Pioneer lead grew even after the bench players were rotated into the game. Oak Ridge would go on to win surprisingly comfortably by the score of 91-65 and will head across Orlando to take on Windermere for the right to go to Lakeland for the Class 7A semi-finals.
Oak Ridge was led by Reece’s 31 points, followed by 22 from Jones. Will Jackson added 13 points while Maddox finished with 10 points.
Wellington got 16 points from Tovar, 14 points from Dakota Izard, and 11 points from Rashard Reinhardt.