Niceville to square off with Sickles in 5A final four
NICEVILLE — The Niceville boys basketball team hasn’t suited up and emerged from the locker room to compete on the grand stage of the final four in over four decades.
But that ends today.
When Niceville tips off with Tampa Sickles at 3 p.m. at The Lakeland Center in the Class 5A state semifinals, the Eagles will do so in a final four game for the first time since 1966. For a boys athletic program that’s more commonly associated with football and baseball success, it will be a monumental moment for the hoops squad.
“It’s been a long road, but it’s been a fun road with these guys,” senior Steve Dyson said. “I’m really excited, especially to do it for the Niceville alumni, all the great guys I’ve known the past couple years.”
Standing between the Eagles (27-3) and a trip to the state finals is Sickles (28-2), which is riding an 11-game winning streak. The Gryphons dropped down a classification from Class 6A this season.
Both teams punched their ticket to the final four with victories on Saturday. Today’s matchup will present a quick turnaround, and each team had to hastily gather information on the other.
Niceville coach Jerome Strutchen doesn’t seem too bothered by facing an opponent that’s such an unknown.
“I’m a firm believer that the game is not going to change,” he said. “Yeah, the personnel is going to be different, but you’ve still got to play defense and you’ve still got to play offense.”
His players have embraced the same approach. Niceville has rattled off 10 straight wins and is a confident crew despite entering unfamiliar territory.
“All we can do is go into it saying they’re going to have to beat us,” Dyson said. “We don’t know a lot about them, but they don’t know a lot about us. We just have to play our game. We can’t get caught up watching and seeing how good they are. They’re going to have to see how good we are.”
Niceville is hoping to have that mentality from the start. But the Eagles can’t be sure how they’re going to react in such a pressure-packed environment.
“I really don’t know. It’s definitely a new experience,” senior Hunter Curtis said. “We just have to go and play our game, not really get into the whole big stage. But then again, you play off the emotions and it’s definitely the biggest game any of us have ever played.”
Strutchen believes it’s nothing his squad can’t handle. The Eagles can go 10 deep, so nearly every player on the team is battle-tested and used to minutes in crunch-time.
“I didn’t want kids to be thrown into a situation where they weren’t comfortable,” Strutchen said. “I think one of the things that helps us in practice is that the guys play hard knowing that they’re going to go in the game when it counts and not when it’s a blowout situation and doesn’t matter. A lot of times I’ll (substitute) guys when the game is on the line for the simple fact that I trust them and they trust me.”
That trust helped build a district and regional championship-winning team. The Eagles are hoping it also leads to a state title.
“Everybody’s asking, ‘Are we going to win state,’ ” senior Kirk Perry said, “and of course we’re telling them, ‘Yeah.’ Everybody’s real excited for the team.”
