Eagles Get Hot Late to Win at Osbourn Park

The Osbourn High School boys basketball team has a lot to live up to this year after returning all but two players from a team that made it to the state quarterfinals last season.

They pulled out a close victory against Hylton last week and traveled to Osbourn Park Friday night to take on cross-town rivals, the Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets. The Eagles understand that after the amount of success they had last year, every game is going to be a dog fight as opponents are going to bring their "A-game" when they take on Osbourn.

Osbourn Park did just that on Friday night. The Yellow Jackets are a team that has some solid young talent while Osbourn is loaded with experienced seniors. Many fans thought Osbourn, who starts five seniors, would blow out Osbourn Park.

But Osbourn Park jumped out to an early first quarter lead and held onto a slim lead for most of the first half. Both teams were able to put points on the board early, but neither team was playing great on the defensive end. Osbourn Park was clinging to a three-point lead in the final seconds of the first half, when Osbourn's Cedric Delaney knocked down a big three-pointer to tie the game at 35 going into the half.

When the two teams came out for the second half, it was evident that the experienced Eagles of Osbourn had gotten a fire lit under them by Head Coach, Mike Dufrene. The Eagles came out and looked like a different team in the second half as they turned up the intensity on the defensive end, allowing them to get some transition baskets which swung the momentum in their favor. By the end of the third quarter, Osbourn had a double digit lead. 

The lead continued to build in the fourth quarter as Osbourn did a good job of forcing the Yellow Jackets to play their game. The Yellow Jackets simply could not handle the pressure that the Eagles were applying on defense and that ultimately allowed Osbourn to run away with an 82-66 victory. 

Osbourn showed in the game that they are an extremely tough matchup. The team has so many weapons that can take over the game at any given moment. Four Eagle players scored in double figures as the offensive attack was very balanced.

Osbourn was led by Corey Bedford with 20 points and also got 17 points from Jay Lane, and 15 points each from Cedric Delaney and Robert Carter. The fifth starter for the Eagles, Raphael Edwards tallied eight points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the victory. Osbourn Park was led by Cameron Smith who wracked up 27 points in a losing effort.