Titans on the court

Published July 4th, 2008

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

They’ve been together for three years, but never before did the Boca Titans have a summer like this.
The Titans, a 14-and-under USSSA team, compiled a 25-10 record, won two tournament championships and played in two other tournament finals this summer. They concluded their season with what may have been their grittiest performance.
Against a SEBA Select group from Tampa that played much of its season in the 15-and-under division, the Titans shook off an injury to their best player in the first minute of the game and nearly defeated a team that had the age and size advantages in the state semifinals.

Still, Boca ended the summer with the No. 3 ranking in the state, something new coach John Lobbe would never have thought possible if you’d asked him at the beginning of summer.
“I would’ve said there’s no chance,” he said.

After starting as an under-11 team three years ago with different parents coaching each year, team co-founder and general manger Michael Ralby thought his kids were ready to take the next step, so he looked for a true basketball coach.
Lobbe, who had built successful basketball programs at Pope John Paul II and Grandview Prep, had just finished coaching seventh and eighth-graders at Advent Lutheran School.

Saint Andrew’s coach John O’Connell recommended Lobbe to Ralby, and the two had a meeting and hit it off. It was then that Lobbe came on board for what turned out to be a dream season.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was a great experience because the kids are truly great kids. We had great parents too.”
At first, Lobbe admitted he didn’t know what he had – especially when it was decided that the Titans would play in 14U Division I, the highest division in the state.

“Every game we were outmatched at most positions,” Lobbe said. “We were never the biggest, strongest team. They definitely exceeded the expectations I had for them.”

Core group of six leads effort

Lobbe did have the core of six players who had been with the Titans since they formed three years ago: point guard Max Ralby, Aaron Scharf, Ryan Luck, Jordon Todd, Miles Nolting and Ryan Maranges.

Ralby and Todd are entering their freshman year at Saint Andrew’s, Scharf, Luck and Nolting are going to Pine Crest, and Maranges will play for Boca Raton Christian.

Surrounding that nucleus were Alex Caruso (St. Thomas), Michael Brown (Pine Crest) and Niles Mitchell, though Mitchell was unable to play for most of the summer due to a knee injury.

“Every one of these kids has a bright future in high school basketball,” Michael Ralby said.
What set these players apart from their bigger, more athletic opponents was their intelligence, Lobbe said.
“The kids had great basketball IQs,” he said. “They were skilled and talented and needed someone to put it all together.”
At first, Lobbe was simply hoping his team would be competitive in every tournament.

Then the Titans won their second tournament, the Florida Rams Hoops Classic in Fort Lauderdale. In the final, the boys defeated a Miami City Ballers team that finished the summer ranked No. 1 in the state. It was the same team that had beaten the Titans twice earlier in the season when they were still getting their bearings.

That, to Lobbe, was the turning point in the summer.
“The kids became comfortable, they believed we could win,” Lobbe said.
His team took another big step forward in that state semifinal against SEBA Select.
“The kids really went from boys to men,” Lobbe said. “We’re facing a team that had us by 2-3 inches at every position, 20 pounds at every position. These kids could have hung it up.”

Instead, Boca actually led by two at the half, and trailed by four in the closing minutes before being forced to foul. SEBA Select ended up winning 52-39.

With the season now over, Lobbe and Ralby have big plans for next year, when the boys will be more mature physically and emotionally. They plan on playing an extended schedule, and Lobbe vowed to return to coach them.
“We had a phenomenal season,” Ralby said.

.