A year after a historic season, the St. Cloud boys basketball team got trampled by the transfer trend.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 24-5 campaign that included the program’s first regional win since 1965, lost four key players to other schools.
“Out of the nine returners I should have, we only have three,” Bulldogs coach Tommy Billiteri said in the preseason. “For some reason I got killed by the (transfer) portal. Makes no sense. Most of the guys that left had been with me since freshman year.”
Billiteri lost Ryan Rodriguez to Osceola, Julian Fox to Edgewater and Sam Perez to City of Life. And 6-foot-8 big man Malaki Baker departed to Dr. Phillips a few weeks before tryouts.
“But, regardless, I am excited to coach the group we have, and at the end of the day we only want guys to be here that want to be here,” Billiteri said.
And it turns out the death of Bulldogs basketball was greatly overstated.
St. Cloud is 20-5 and closed its regular season with a seven-game winning streak. The Bulldogs are the top seed for this week’s Class 7A District 6 tournament going into a Thursday night semifinal at Lake Nona High School (pairings below).
“I’m very proud of these kids. They didn’t let anything get in the way of our goals,” Billiterri said Monday.
Two seniors in particular stepped up to lead. Diomar Ortiz, a 6-1 four-year starter at guard, leads St. Cloud in points (15.8 per game), rebounds (10.2), assists (5.2), steals (3.3) and blocked shots (1.2).
Elias Torres, who started only a few times last season, averages 13.4 points.
The Bulldogs added a key junior transfer, Nate Thompson (11.7 ppg.), who previously played for City of Life Christian.
St. Cloud is No. 23 in the FHSAA 7A power rankings — which suggests they are in position to advance to the 32-team region playoff bracket. But that is far from guaranteed because the Bulldogs are in what is by far the toughest 7A region — topped by Orlando powers Oak Ridge, Olympia and Dr. Phillips. St. Cloud is No. 9 in the regional rankings and only eight qualify.
“It looks like we’ve got to win our district to get in,” Billiterri said. “That’s always been our goal. Hopefully, this is the year we finally get it done.”
St. Cloud hasn’t won a boys basketball district title since 1971.
St. Cloud basketball coach Tommy Billiteri has a 63-17 record over three seasons and hopes his Bulldogs can add their first district title since 1971 to that resume. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Montverde reunion
Fresh off winning its own MAIT invitational in front of a sellout home crowd, Montverde Academy (14-5) travels for another big game this week. The Eagles face former coach Kevin Boyle in a Friday night matchup against Spire Academy (19-1) of Ohio as part of the Dr. Pepper Classic in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Boyle took Montverde to the top of the high school basketball world with eight national titles in 12 seasons and an NBA pipeline that included rookie sensation Cooper Flagg and Cade Cunningham.
He took the Spire job last March and again has his team ranked No. 1 nationally.
CHECK VARSITY SCORES POSTS FOR GIRLS BASKETBALL, SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Boys basketball
Lake Highland Prep (24-1), the area’s top-rated team, maintained momentum by beating Bartow (20-5) on its home court, 66-43. The Highlanders take a 20-game winning streak into its Thursday 3A district semifinal. A Saturday final vs. Windermere Prep (20-5) is likely.
Other area top seeds include 7A teams Oak Ridge (15-9), Winter Park (18-7), Lake Mary (19-6), Lake Brantley (13-12), and Kissimmee Osceola (19-5), which has won 13 of its past 14.
Favorites in 6A are Mainland (21-2) and Evans (18-6). Eustis (16-6) and Bishop Moore (13-12) are the 4A No. 1s.
Small-school top seeds are The First Academy (15-10) in 2A; and Central Florida Christian Academy (19-5) and Mount Dora Christian Academy (19-6) in 1A.
Lake Highland Prep basketball coach Ben Fratrik engages with reserves in a regular season basketball win. The Highlanders have state championship aspirations. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Here are semifinal pairings, which are Thursday with finals Saturday unless noted otherwise. All games are played at the higher seed unless you see a host school noted.
(* final played at higher seed)
7A District 2
(At Spruce Creek High School)
Spruce Creek vs. Lake Mary, 6 p.m.
Seminole vs. DeLand 7:30
Saturday final, 7 p.m.
7A District 3
(At Apopka High School)
Wednesday:
West Port at Ocoee
Thursday:
Wed. winner vs. Lake Brantley, 6 p.m.
East Ridge vs. Apopka, 7:30
Saturday final, 7
7A District 4
University (Orlando) at Winter Park, 6 p.m.
Timber Creek at Hagerty, 6
Saturday final, 6 *
7A District 5
(at Windermere High)
Olympia vs. Dr. Phillips, 5:30 p.m.
Oak Ridge vs. Windermere, 7
Saturday final, 2 p.m.
7A District 6
(at Lake Nona High)
Tohopekaliga vs. St. Cloud, 5:30 p.m.
Harmony vs. Lake Nona, 7
Saturday final, 6 p.m.
7A District 9
Poinciana at Osceola, 7
TBD at Ridge Community
Saturday final, 7 p.m. *
6A District 4
(At Oviedo High School)
Wednesday:
Oviedo vs. Lake Howell, 5:30 p.m.
Winter Springs vs. Mainland, 7
Final, Friday, 6 p.m.
6A District 5
South Lake at Evans, 6 p.m.
Wekiva at Edgewater, 7
Saturday final, 6 *
6A District 7
Wednesday:
Horizon/Lake Buena Vista
Thursday:
Wed. winner at Bartow
Lake Gibson at Lakeland
Saturday final *
5A District 5
Leesburg at Ocala Vanguard, 7 p.m.
Belleview at Lecanto
Saturday final *
5A District 7
Pine Ridge at New Smyrna Beach
Jones at Seabreeze
Saturday final *
4A District 6
Hernando vs. No. 1 Eustis
Tavares vs. No. 2 Central (Brooksville)
Saturday final
4A District 7
Wednesday:
Tenoroc/Lake Region
Mulberry at Hardee
Thursday:
TBD at Bishop Moore, 6 p.m.
TBD at Kissimmee Liberty
Saturday final, 3 p.m. *
3A District 5
Crescent City at Villages, 6 p.m.
Umatilla at South Sumter
Saturday final *
3A District 6
McKeel at LHP, 6 p.m.
Discovery at Windermere Prep, 7
Saturday final, noon *
2A District 4
Master’s at TFA
Father Lopez at Orangewood
Saturday final *
2A District 5
TBD at Santa Fe Catholic
TBD at Foundation Academy
Saturday final *
1A District 6
(At Deltona Trinity Christian)
Halifax vs. Trinity, 5:30
TBD vs. MDCA, 7 p.m.
Saturday final
1A District 7
Lake Mary Prep at CFCA
Legacy at Orlando Christian Prep, 5:30
Friday final, 7 *
1A District 9
All Saints at City of Life, 6 p.m.
TBD at Victory Christian
Saturday final *
Girls weightlifting
Leesburg won the 2A Region 2 Olympic style competition in a close call. The Yellow Jackets scored 45 points to edge Eustis (43) and New Smyrna Beach (42). Eustis won the Traditional style title.
East Ridge won the traditional style, and Timber Creek took the Olympic style title in the 3A Region 4 meet.
Oviedo was the traditional and Olympic winner in 3A-5.
Windermere Prep topped Foundation Academy 37-34 for the 1A-5 traditional title. Foundation was first in the Olympic style.
State meets are Feb. 11 (3A), 12 (2A) and 13 (1A) in Lakeland.
Wrestling
Freedom’s girls, rated No. 1 in Florida by kabrawrestling.com, are the Metro Conference champs for the fifth consecutive season. The Patriots, who have won the Metro every year since the FHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling, had 10 of the 14 individual weight class winners.
Host Harmony won the Orange Belt Conference boys and girls titles by big margins.
In boys tourneys, Hagerty continued its winning ways as the champ in the 40th Annual Flagler Rotary Tournament. And Freedom placed first at Timber Creek’s Wildcats Invitational.
Spring forward
Spring sport regular seasons got started this week with tennis teams braving the chilly weather.
Baseball, lacrosse and water polo open regular season play Monday, along with boys weightlifting. Track & field teams can start racing Friday.
Flag football and softball regular seasons begin Feb. 16, and beach volleyball and boys volleyball start Feb. 23.
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
