Twelve hours, six games. Day four is in the books at the Lakeland Center. Hard to say there were many surprises in terms of the results. In the first 6A Semifinal, it was the defending 4A Champions Leesburg squeaking by Jacksonville Wolfson by the slimmest of margins 57-56. Game #2 in the 6A Classification was taken by Norland over Winter Haven by a 46-37 score.
The Yellow Jackets (23-9) were able to survive with their best player Joe Toolie in foul trouble for most of the 2nd half. Toolie was held to just 9 points, four below his average of 13 points. Leesburg was led Junior Guard Undra Mitchem’s 18 points while 6-5 Sophomore Troy Willis added 11. The Jackets were up by 7 at the half, but Wolfson made it a little tougher to breathe by holding the perimeter shooting to just 31% on 4-of-13.
Wolfson (25-6) only had one player in double-figures with 10 and that was 6-2 Jr. Guard Jasper Sasser. He also added 8 rebounds, as well as helping Wolfson win the battle within the paint 36-32. It wasn’t enough though as the Wolfpack only shot 38% from the field and an even more dismal 23% from three-point range. Leesburg marches on to face Norland (28-3) who were victorious over Polk County locals Winter Haven 46-37.
Both teams in the second semifinal contributed to perhaps one of the worst shooting performances by any team this season in the playoffs with Norland shooting 30% while Winter Haven managed only a 28% clip from the floor. The Vikings were led by Mr. Everything Cleon Roberts who racked-up 22 points, 5 more than his average. The 6-5 Senior F/G is the only player on Norland’s Roster averaging in double-figures this season. Norland forced 17 Winter Haven turnovers as well and held the Blue Devils leading scorer on the season (24 ppg) Devon Walker to only 13.
The 7A Semifinals were quite anti-climatic save for the last 2:30 of the Oak Ridge vs. Oviedo game. In the end, it was the Pioneers beating their Seminole County neighbors by a 62-61 score. Marquel Willis, just a sophomore led Oak Ridge with 14, however you could make the case that 6-4 Senior Brandon Barber was the MVP with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Barber came into the contest only averaging 5 per game this season.
Oviedo (22-10) had 3 guys hitting the double-figure mark led by Matt Milon’s 19 points and 7 rebounds. Jurrel Green and Seti June added 13 and 12 respectively. Both teams shot 47% from the field, however the biggest differences in the game boiled down to 2 stats. The Pioneers led the points in the paint by a 42-25 margin while outscoring the Lions 23-15 in the 3rd Quarter.
Oak Ridge (19-10) now faces the best team to show up in Lakeland (sorry Lake Wales). Blanche Ely were run away winners over St. Petersburg 62-29. Ely (28-2) led 19-8 after one quarter, but used a 24-6 2nd Quarter to absolutely kill the spirit of the Green Devils. Ely was led by leading scorer Clide Geffrard’s 22 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Benji Bell put up 11 points, 5 rebounds and added 5 steals to his credit. Krishaun Myers rounded out the leading scorers with 12.
St. Petersburg was led by David Jones’ 12 points. They only managed a 23% FG performance and were dominated in virtually every statistical category. The most glaring were a 17-5 steals margin, a 16-2 second chance point differential. The only stat they led unfortunately was the turnovers piling up 26 to Ely’s 11. The one positive is that St. Pete did hold Ely to 38% from the field, but many of the buckets were scored off turnovers from the relentless pace of play that Ely established from literally the first seconds of the game.
In the final session of the evening it was Hagerty and Hialeah Gardens advancing to the finals tomorrow night in the 8A Classification. Hagerty (26-7) from Oviedo held off a furious charge from Vero Beach (23-6) to hold on for the 63-60 victory. The Huskies used a hot streak from beyond the arc in the 3rd Quarter to convert a 2-pt deficit into a 6-pt lead, a lead that they would not relinquish. The Huskies finished the 2nd half shooting 58%.
Hagerty was led by Ira Smith’s 22 points and 5 steals while University of North Florida commit Aaron Bodager added 12. Vero Beach won the battle in the paint though 36-24. It was their 30% clip from 3-pt range along with some very questionable officiating that seemed to rattle the Indians. They were led by Jamario Lambert’s 19 points, with Cedric Mayes and Charlie Miller putting 13 up on the board a piece.
Hagerty faces Hialeah Gardens (27-5) in the finals that roughed up Spanish River from Boca Raton 55-36. It boiled down to a couple of solid individual performances on both sides. Gardens’ Alvaro Simosa led the Gladiators with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. River (22-4) was led by 6-5 Sr. Evan Kupferberg’s 16 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. Gardens owned the paint by a 42-18 margin as well holding the Sharks to a 25% FG performance for the entire game.
5A-8A Championship Schedule:
10:00a.m. Lake Wales vs. Terry Parker
1:30p.m. Leesburg vs. Norland
5:00p.m. Blanche Ely vs. Oak Ridge
8:30p.m. Hagerty vs. Hialeah Gardens