Legacy High hoops having success under first-year coach | Observer Preps

Ahead of the 2017-18 season, Caio Santos was promoted to head coach. The Eagles have rewarded their new coach with a program-best 13 wins.

By Steven Ryzewski
| 2:45 a.m. February 1, 2018

Sports

The Legacy High boys basketball team has won 10 of its past 13 games entering this week, as the team continues to improve under first-year coach Caio Santos.

Santos, who played his own high-school ball at nearby Ocoee High before playing collegiately and then professionally in Brazil, took over this season.

The Eagles had been led the past four seasons by Matthew Post, under whom Santos was a varsity assistant the last three seasons. Post, who also teaches at Legacy, has moved into an assistant athletic director role.

“They told me they saw a lot of energy out of me when it came to helping these kids,” Santos said. “They decided to give me a chance.”

Legacy went 10-12 in the 2016-17 season and already has eclipsed that win total this winter. The Eagles are 13-7 as of Jan. 31, with three games to play before the Class 3A, District 3 Tournament.

Win No. 12 — which came Jan. 23 against Trinity Christian Academy — set a new regular-season high mark for the Eagles, whose previous best had been 11 wins in 2013-14.

Santos may be in a new role for the program, but his familiarity from working as an assistant under Post, along with Legacy’s veteran roster, have boded well. Ten of Legacy’s 14 varsity players are either juniors or seniors.

Legacy has played particularly well recently, suggesting the team may be hitting its stride.

“We’re starting to figure it out and we’re starting to better deal with when things don’t go right in the game,” Santos said.

Even with its success, though, Legacy has had a rough time within its district. The Eagles are 0-4 in 3A-3, with their only close loss coming in the form of an 81-80 overtime defeat at Foundation Academy.

As the district’s bottom seed, the Eagles will get another shot at the rival Lions — the No. 4 seed — in the first game of the district tournament. It is a game Legacy will need to win if it hopes to add an improbable first playoff appearance for the program to its other accomplishments this season.