- November 27, 2024
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Every so often in sports comes a great talent, who demands a packed house that is eager to watch a great performance night after night. The Seabreeze Sandcrabs basketball team has that special talent in sophomore Riley Oldham.
In the first two games of the season, Oldham sent shockwaves through social media with back-to-back 30-point games. I first saw him against Flagler Palm Coast, where he only put up nine points, one of his worst offensive performances of the season, but I still saw something in him that I don’t see too often in even the best players, toughness.
Oldham uses his entire short but muscular frame to attack players who may sky over and outweigh him by a hefty margin and half a foot. Against a long FPC team, he fearlessly drove to the basketball, sometimes getting fouled, blocked or nailing an acrobatic layup. Nevertheless, he kept driving.
“I've been the smallest player my whole life, whether basketball or football, so I just learned to not be scared of anyone and be as aggressive as possible,” he said. “
Oldham laughed about the years he was too small to play Pop Warner football, so he would put weights in his shoes to make the necessary weight limit. One game he and his team played a larger team and beat them, and, after the game, he says his coach told him he had the heart of a lion. “That gave me confidence to not be afraid,” he said.
Players like Oldham don’t come a dime-a-dozen. He shoots the three-ball just as well as anyone in the area, and he drives through the lane as if he’s LeBron James’ size. Players usually lean on one or the other. Not Riley, and that’s what makes him unique and worth a packed house.
I first saw him on the field against Mainland. While the Sandcrabs were heavily overmatched, Oldham seemed not to care. He launched a bomb that hit his receiver in stride, and he went toe-to-toe with the Bucs’ best defenders.
All I’m saying is, when Seabreeze basketball is in town, and Oldham, who’s averaging 21 points per contest, is dressed to play, buy a ticket! I’m confident it will be money well spent, if you’re looking for a show.
