basketball Archive

On a bright and sunny August day the sky almost seemed Laurel Hill Hobo blue. Laurel Hill basketball fans are hoping that’s a sign of positive things ahead for the once proud program that has struggled to find its footing in recent years. Last week, longtime Okaloosa County teacher, coach and administrator Jay Sanders was named the Hobo boys basketball coach.

The summer got off to a rough start for the Crestview Lady Bulldog basketball team.

Coach Connor Williams announced he was leaving for a college job in early June and the team has been in transition since.

Natalie Toney enters her third year as a starter for the Crestview Lady Bulldog basketball team as one of the team leaders. 

The soft-spoken junior lets her play doing most of her talking. But she realizes that it’s also important for her to be a leader.

Chad Martin is still waiting for the interim tag to be removed from his title as the Baker’s boys basketball coach.

The perceived uncertainty of his situation hasn’t kept him from planning and preparing as if the job is already his.

Crestview High School’s boys basketball team lost a ton of talent to graduation. Gone are Makhi Jones, the leading scorer, A.J. Johnson, who ran the point, big man Josiah Klauser and Zay Parks, who was an athletic utility player who could do damage on every level.

As a sophomore in 2022, Lorenzo Blackwell established himself as one of the best players on the Crestview High School football team. He was also in the process of becoming one of the best basketball players for the Bulldogs. And basketball is his first love.

Connor Williams is a man on the move. Williams, who turns 26 on June 15 is now the former Crestview Lady Bulldogs basketball coach. He officially starts his new job June 16 as an assistant women’s basketball coach and recruiting coordinator at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kent.

Brent Zessin, Baker’s veteran boys basketball coach, has announced his retirement. Zessin, a 40-year coaching veteran, has been at Baker for six years after a lengthy career in Alabama.

Crestview’s boys basketball team hosted Navarre in the opening round of the District 1-6A basketball tournament last Tuesday.

And Navarre had no answers for a Bulldog team that played its best game of the season.

Trent Peak hit an off-balanced 3-point shot for Gulf Breeze with 2.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And just like that the season ended for Crestview’s boys basketball team. Peak’s basket gave the host Dolphins a 53-52 lead. Two free throws by Hutson Rowe followed as Gulf Breeze won the District 1-6A semifinal game 55-52.