Zessin can’t say enough good things about Nixon and what he has brought to the team.

“He’s just a great kid,” Zessin said. “He comes in and put in time (practicing) after school.

“His mom and dad raised him right. He’s a ‘yes sir, no sir’ kind of guy.”

Zessin has seen Nixon’s hard work pay off on the floor.

“This is his fifth year in the program and his shooting ability has increased every year,” Zessin said. “He’s shooting over 40%, 41, 42% from the 3-point line. When he sets his feet, he’s as good a sharpshooter as anybody’s got.

“His vertical jump is probably higher than anybody we’ve got. As small as he is, he can jump. He’s quick. He just does a great job.”

Zessin believes if Nixon were 6 inches taller, he’d already have an offer to play college basketball.

Nixon’s statistics back that up. Through nine games Nixon has scored a team-best 121 points and has made more than half of his 3-point shots. Nixon is second on the team in rebounds and assists.

He is also tied for the team lead with 22 steals.

Nixon dropped in five 3-point baskets in the recent home game with Laurel Hill. It’s hard for him to describe what it feels like to be in such a groove.

“It doesn’t feel like anything,” Nixon said. “It just comes to me all the time.”

It’s easier for Nixon to describe what being a Gator means to him.

“It means everything to me,” he said. “It means playing the game with the guys I’ve built relationships with, and they want to come and help me improve my game.”

Nixon would like the opportunity to play college basketball no matter the level.

Zessin said Nixon will put in the work on the court and make the grades in the classroom.

Nixon would tell a coach considering offering him a scholarship that he would be the first one at practice and the last one to leave and nobody would outwork him.

Perhaps the best endorsement comes from Zessin.

“Effort, attitude, class and character, that’s what a Baker kid is,” Zessin said. “That’s Dustin Nixon.”

“Vince is just a great kid,” Watson said. “I think he won Homecoming King. He’s in the band in the drumline.

“He’s just very involved and the kids love him. He’s a hard worker in academics and then even in basketball even though he doesn’t get to play a lot.”

It would be easy for some players to shrug things off because they don’t see a lot of playing time, but not Lancaster.

“I want to get better,” he said. “I enjoy sharing time with my teammates. I love the camaraderie of the game.

“I can come to the basketball court and not think about anything else,” Lancaster added. “I can’t let my teammates down. Even though I’m not getting much playing time, my time will come.”

Watson said Lancaster is an example to the other Bulldogs of what it means to put in the time on the practice floor.

“You just want to keep your kids like that around your program,” Watson said. “He’s a fighter, he’s a competitor. He works hard even if he doesn’t get to play a whole lot. Other people see him working hard in practice, so it makes them want to go hard. 

“He’s just a kid that I wanted to reward by having him on the team,” he added. “It’s good to have him around. I’m proud of him.”

Lancaster admits that he is built for basketball being tall and rangy. But there’s something more important that he brings to the Bulldogs.

“I’d say the best thing I bring is heart and passion,” Lancaster said.

“She’s the heartbeat of what we do offensively and defensively,” Lady Bulldogs coach Connor Williams said. “Her energy and intensity makes us better on the floor and I think her teammates feed off of it. She’s everything for us.”

Casey fills a stat sheet all by herself. She leads the Lady Bulldogs in scoring averaging 15 points a game, steals at 3.6 a contest and assist with 4.4 per game.

It’s the assists that Casey is most proud of.

“I think having multiple assists just gives my teammates confidence that they can also score,” she said. “And that it’s not just me trying to score.”

Williams said Casey still has moments when her passes aren’t on point.

“She still makes mistakes,” he said. “She’ll make her pass that, if it would work out, would have been flashy and cool. Sometimes we have to have the talk of, ‘Let’s make a simple pass first and work from there.’

“But she makes some huge plays when we have to have one,” Williams said.

Casey doesn’t let mistakes define her on the floor. Nor does she pay attention to the score.

“I just feel like you have to push and not give up when we make mistakes,” she said. “We have to keep going even if we’re down. We’re always (saying) the score is 0-0 no matter if you are up or down and keep pushing like this.”

Game after game, play after play, it’s Casey’s fire that stands out to Williams.

“She finds a way to get it done for us,” he said. “Her willpower to get it done and for us to win is remarkable.”

“I think that they’ve had a very similar road to us of playing a very tough schedule,” Lady Bulldog coach Connor Williams said. “Their record does not reflect how good they are necessarily, just as ours doesn’t. I don’t think necessarily reflect how good we can be.

“But I thought it was two evenly matched teams,” he added.

Washington led 10-6 with 1:40 left in the first quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Madyson Boydstun put the Bulldogs in front 12-10. Natalie Toney and Katiya Casey scored baskets before and after a Washington score to end the first quarter. 

Boydstun hit her final 3-pointer of the game to start the second quarter as Crestview took control of the game.

Casey ended the first half with 10 of her Crestview game-high 16 points. When the senior point guard wasn’t scoring herself, she was spreading the wealth getting the ball into the hands of Lauren Cox, Boydstun and other teammates.

Cox joined Casey in double figures with 13 points. Elise Simmons had her typical game in the paint for Crestview with 12 points, six coming in the second quarter.

And while the Lady Bulldogs only had three players in double figures, they spread the wealth.

Madyson Boydstun was just shy of double digits with her nine points. Toney added eight points and Gracie Boydstun six points. A fourth-quarter basket by Allison Fordyce with was the other Crestview score.  The game became sloppy in the fourth quarter as fouls began to mount for both teams. By that time, the game had all but been decided with Crestview taking the win

Bulldog basketball coach Greg Watson said the football mentality is just one thing that makes Blackwell a valuable member of the basketball team.

“I think (playing football) helps a lot,” Watson said. “He’s a competitor and he’s physical. He’s been in the weight room. 

“You can tell by looking at his body,” he added. “He’s a tougher guy that can take contact coming into traffic when they get physical with you.”

The coaches in the different sports at Crestview are a close-knit group of friends who share a common goal of wanting all the CHS teams to do well.

“We encourage all of our guys to play multiple sports,” Watson said. “We have a good coaching staff in all of our sports. We just want each other to be successful and win and for our kids to be competitive year long.

“They are competing year-round and trying to win games,” he added. “That builds that (competitive fire) in them. And in different sports, they develop different muscles, so they are developing different muscles when they play different sports and I think that helps.” 

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Blackwell is a young man of few words, but he agrees with Watson that playing football helps him in basketball.

“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Playing football helps me a lot. It gives me confidence taking on a bigger guy.”

Blackwell said working hard every day and concentrating on his jump stop has helped him as he battles taller players in the paint.

Watson can’t say enough good things about Blackwell.

“He’s an awesome, awesome kid,” Watson said. “He comes from a great family. He’s just one of those kids you love to coach because he’s absolutely going to do whatever you tell him to do, no matter what it is. 

“Him and A.J. (Johnson) are very similar in the way they play,” the coach added.

The similarities between Blackwell and Johnson gives Watson several options. One of those options, playing both at the same time, spells double trouble for the opposition.

“If you have those two on the floor at the same time it’s a plus for us, especially at the end of a game, if it’s a close game,” Watson said. “They are both strong with the ball and make good decisions. 

“They are both floor generals and can make free throws, so it’s a big plus.”

While Blackwell prefers to let his play speak for him, he admits to having a favorite part of basketball. “Whenever you get on a run (scoring several baskets in a row), it’s fun out there,” he said.

“He never misses a practice. He loves basketball. He’s got a chance to really, really help us this year and next year,” he added. 

Watson has longed preached suffocating defense and Johnson has bought in 100%.  

“Defense is a key role in our scheme,” Johnson said. “Defense really coordinates everything we do. We play off our defense to get turnovers and easy baskets.” 

That mentality and willingness to do whatever is needed is another reason Watson is so high on Johnson. 

“He is just one of those kids that you love because he does everything that you ask him to do, no matter what it is,” Watson said.  “Whether it’s guarding the other team’s best (offensive player) or anything else. He’s just one of those guys that will do whatever it takes for his team.” 

Watson said Johnson is an ideal point guard with good instincts and vision on the floor.  

“He handles the ball really well,” the coach said. “He’s strong with the ball. He’s not like some of these guards that are soft and you can take the ball away from.  

“He’s kind of one of those floor generals,” Watson added. “He makes good decisions. And he’s going to continue to work on his jump shot, which he has, he and he’s not a bad shooter.” 

The Bulldogs have played several close games this year and that only make the team stronger as far as Johnson is concerned. 

“We had a lot of close games,” Johnson said. “We are going to keep pushing through one game at a time.” 

“I talk about teamwork,” he said. “I talk about spirit. Great teammates make great teams.

“We preach believing in God, believing in yourself,” Zessin added.

As for the schemes Zessin might use, that depends on the players he has on his team.

He has four seniors that have played for him since they were in the eighth grade: Zack Myrick, Dustin Nixson, Aiden Morrison and Kayleb Wagner. Zessin believes the team will always be competitive if he can get four or five players in every class to stick it out through their senior year.

“We’re not saying we are going to win a championship every year (if they retain four or five players in each class),” he said. “But you are going to be solid. And that’s what’s happening here.”

When Zessin preaches teamwork, it goes beyond the players wearing the jerseys on the floor.

“It takes everybody to be together,” he said. “It takes practice to give their energy and their effort. It takes some coaches, it takes the managers, it takes everybody together.

“That’s what we’re building here,” Zessin added. “It’s a great community and a great school.”

As is the case with many schools, several boys on the basketball team also are football players. That being the case, the early part of the season is spent getting the football players into basketball shape and experimenting with different groups of players to discover who plays best together.

Football players getting into shape is only one of the challenges Zessin has with the boys basketball team.

“It’s hard to come off the football field (and be in basketball shape),” Zessin said. “And then practice times are limited here. We’ve got one gym and with the middle school and high school there are eight basketball teams trying to practice. And volleyball went deep into the playoffs and needed the gym to practice.”

Currently Zessin is using most of the players on the bench. As the season progresses, he will begin to shrink his bench and give the most productive players the appropriate amount of playing time. When all is said and done the rotation could be as few as seven or eight players.

If early season success is any indication who will see significant playing time, the four seniors have been leaders on the team. Sophomore center Joshua Prows is one of the leading rebounders on the team and leads the Gators in blocked shots. Junior guard Noah Cobb is among the team leaders in blocks, assists and steals.

Levi Hunter, Andrea Jackson, Caleb Rainey and Stephen McCosker are some of the other Gators that could be go-to guys as the season progresses.

Zessin said from principal Mike Martello on down to athletic director Matt Brunson, the other coaches, faculty and staff support the program and make it easy to do his job. The support Zessin receives from those within the school and community are part of that teamwork that is so important to him.

In the end teamwork and faith or the ability to believe are the building blocks of success, according to Zessin. “The downfall of a team, the downfall of the church, the downfall of a marriage, the downfall of a company is unbelief,” Zessin said. “When you don’t have that belief that you can do it as an individual, ‘I can. I can accomplish this skill and as a team we can,’ obviously, it’s going to fail from the start.”

“We are definitely going to lean on those two kids as an integral part of the team,” Medley said. “It’s going to be more of an offensive presence for Mac and then defense from Addison.

Barnhill is going to play hard,” Medley continued. “She may not have the biggest frame, but she’s got a big heart. And she’s got the ability to knock that long ball down.”

Medley and the Gators received an unexpected boost to the program when junior Leah Caro arrived on campus.

“I was really pleased to see how well Leah has done,” Medley said. “She transferred from PDL (Ponce de Leon). It’s actually going to work out well for us.

“She comes in with a lot of (basketball) I Q and that’s something we haven’t had. It’s really just her basketball (IQ) that helps her get a feel for our offense.”

Medley sings the same song every basketball coach sings about having more consistency with the offense.

“I think we are going to have to be a little more consistent with our guard play,” she said. “We have to better in the paint. But we are still getting our legs under us and that should come. We need to take a few more steps in and knock down the mid-range shot.”

Medley likes her defense, but she knows there is more the team can do to be even better in disrupting the opposition.  

“We’ve just got to make sure that we’re staying in communication,” she said. “We’ve got a few girls that talk and talk the whole time. And then a few girls that are staying quiet. “For us to be cohesive and have a successful defense we’ve all got to talk and communicate as a team,” Medley continued. And then to be successful offensively we’ve just got to be able to knock down the shot.”