By Gary Curreri
Melvin Randall believes his Blanche Ely High School boys basketball team could be the most talented he has ever had at the school.
“They can be better than last year’s team,” said Randall, whose team is the defending Class 7A champions after defeating Oak Ridge, 78-46, in last year’s state championship game. “They show little spurts of it. They have to be consistent. On paper, we have five Division 1 players on this team, but they have to play like it night in and night out. They can run the table and they can be better than last year’s team. I have to keep pushing them and motivating them.”
The host Tigers (15-1) got a game-high 27 points from senior guard Darrion Allen as it defeated Deerfield Beach, 72-60, at home before a standing-room only crowd.
Deerfield Beach (21-3) was led by forward Marcus Owens, who scored 18 points, including 10 in the first quarter as the Bucks stormed out to a 15-5 lead to start the game. Khalil Thomas scored 18 points for the Tigers and Richard Lee added nine points. Vanderbilt Carpenter tallied 16 points for the Bucks.
Getting off to slow starts in games this year has been a problem for Randall and his Tigers.
“We work so hard and they are taught and they know against any team, whether it is a strong team or the less fortunate teams, we are going to have a target on our backs, that teams are going to get up to play Ely because of the success we had last year,” said Randall, who graduated five from last year’s team. “Two were off and on starters, and we added a couple of guys (Lee, transfer from Northeast, and Lance Tejada, a Miramar transfer) who are pretty good.”
Randall said it has been a work in progress. He said he’s been trying to get everyone on the same page because of the pressing style that they like to play.
“It’s different,” Randall said. “It is like another country to them and they are beginning to understand and it is going to take some time. I gave them an expiration date in the middle of January where everybody should be on the same page. They come from a different style and a different philosophy on playing defense. We play an uptempo pressing defense rather than sitting back in a 2-3 zone.”
Senior Dallas Cameron, who committed to American University one week after his 18th birthday in September, said it has been a difficult transition.
“It is really tough to put everything together,” said the 6’ 3”, 175 lb. guard. “The team we had last year had been together for 2 to 3 years, so everyone was committed. That’s why we had so much success last year. This year, with new people coming in, they have to learn the system and defense. They have to learn the system quicker.
“We are getting there,” Cameron said. “We still have a long ways to go. We have come out flat in a lot of games. We have to pick it up because that is going to catch up to us.”
Cameron said it would be huge to win another state title.
“Nobody in Ely history has ever won back-to-back championships,” Cameron said. “There have only been three state championships in Ely history. To go back-to-back would be huge.”
