LAKELAND — Christian Fuller transferred from Tampa Prep to Victory Christian in part because of Quinton Wilson, whom he played with in AAU. Fuller ended up being the replacement for Wilson.
Fuller ended up filling the hole left when Wilson, about a month after Fuller joined the team over the summer, left for Georgia. His arrival along with the return of Tucker Fox and the return from injury of Thok Gol and Arik Arik kept last year’s Class 1A state runner-up as a top team and a favorite to return the state tournament.
Victory Christian didn’t disappoint.
The Storm (24-6), after playing a tough regular-season schedule, steamrolled its way through the district and regional tournament — an average margin of victory of 58.8 points in five game — to return to the final four. They will play Jacksonville Impact Christian at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals of the 2026 FHSAA Class 1A Boys Basketball Championships at the University of North Florida.
As the Storm’s leading scorer last season with 21.1 points per game, Wilson’s loss left a hole. Fuller, who averaged 15.5 ppg last season at Tampa Prep, filled the void.
Victory head coach Steve Fitzgerald, however, emphasized to Fuller that he doesn’t have to be the player to score all the time and that it will be important for him to show college recruiters that he can be effective even when he’s not scoring by creating opportunities for his teammates.
Fuller, who averages a team-leading 14.6 ppg, never had the mindset that he had to replace Wilson.
“I really just came in thinking I’ve got to play my game, just keep playing the same way I played,” he said. “I thought I could fit into the system, so let me just be who I am and I think it would all work out.”
Indeed it has worked out. Victory Christian got off to a strong start, winning its first six games including five in a tournament in Illinois. Although they ended 2025 with four losses in five games, the Storm rebounded in January and have won 16 of 17 games.
“I think like as time went on we just kept getting our chemistry just got stronger and stronger as time goes on,” Fuller said. “It’s still growing. As you can see throughout the season, we’re playing better and better with each other. We’re always in the gym together all the time, so I think it’s more work we put in together, the more games we played, it’s just our bond grew stronger.”
Senior guard Tucker Fox, who averages 12.8 points, has been integral in helping that bond grow. The hero of last year’s state semifinal win over North Tampa Christian with his game-winning basket in the fourth overtime, Tucker has led the way in integrating Fuller, Gol and Arik into the the team that also had MJ McCalla returning. And it is a different team on the court than last year’s squad that finished 25-7.
“Chemistry wise we’re kind of the same,” Fox said. “We lost you obviously, but getting Christian helped a lot. We’re kind of running a different offense this year. We’re two big (men), so that took a couple of months to develop, but chemistry wise I think it’s about the same. We’ve been playing the same, if not better than last year.”
With having two big men on the court this season instead of just McCalla, the Storm had to made adjustments, adjustments they would have made even had Wilson remained. But Fox and Miles Morrell, who leads with 3.9 assists, have done the job making those adjustments.
“I’d say the guards made the biggest adjustments because in a one-big offense, we spread the court so much,” Victory Christian coach Steve Fitzgerald said. “They had so much room to get in the paint and kick it and stuff. Now we have two guys, so the way they approach the game is completely different. And so I think Tucker, he struggled with that at the beginning, partly because Quinton was so good at getting those guys easy shots, partly because playing with two big changes the spacing, but you know he’s just one of those guys. The perfect example is Auburndale. He didn’t score one point but we won by almost 20 and he didn’t let it affect the rest of the, game. Those are the kind of things that we’ve figured out as the as the years have gone by.”
With Gol in the starting lineup with McCalla, the Storm has an rebounder and inside defender. And with opposing defenses putting their best post defender on McCalla, it can provide mismatches for Gol on the offensive end. TJ Ogbeide has provided scoring off the bench.
While Wilson’s departure meant a bigger role for Fuller, it also provided a role for Ogbeide.
“I don’t think TJ may or may not have come had Quenton stayed because it gets to a point where there’s only so many minutes on the, court,” Fitzgerald said. “So I think it all just kind of worked out like we didn’t orchestrate it. It fell into place when Quenton left. It provided Christian with a bigger role and then gave the opportunity for TJ to come. And it also gave Thoc and Arik chance to kind of get back into it without feeling too much pressure.”
While the Storm are different on the court than last season, the court for the state tournament also will be different as the event has moved to Jacksonville. Unlike last season, they won’t have a homecourt advantage of sorts.
“Going up to Illinois, the fans there and where we played at, the environment was unreal,” Fox said. “I think that’s definitely prepared us for Jacksonville.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Fuller’s arrival helps keep Victory Christian on pace for return to state
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
