Lakeland – Winter Park and their do-everything star Austin Rivers have successfully defended their 6A State Title with a 52-44 victory over Dr. Phillips at The Lakeland Center on Saturday Night. It was their 3rd trip to the Finals in the last 4 years.

The son of the Boston Celtics Head Coach and former NBA Point Guard Doc Rivers poured in 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in what was one of the most dominating performances of this years finals.

Dr. Phillips did themselves no favors however as they shot a meager 34% from the field, 15% from behind the 3-pt line, and 33% from the Free-Throw stripe. The Wildcats struggled at the beginning with the guard play of Dr. Phillips and DePaul Commit Shane Larkin who was 3 assists from a triple-double on the night.

The story of the night though pointed back to Dr. Phillips’ inability to put the ball into the basket.  They were effective inside winning the points in the paint battle by a 28-22 margin, but simply could not find the rhythm from the perimeter. “You need to be able to shoot better than that in State Championship games. There’s no debating that.” said Panthers Head Coach Anthony Long. “You’ve got to give credit though to Winter Park though. We got beat by the better team tonight.”

What some are calling the best player in Orange County Basketball History did in the final two quarters was exoected by the Winter Park faithful and from the man himself. Austin Rivers started putting the game on his back in the 2nd Half. Something that was more or less his plan. “It was my responsibility to put this team on my shoulders and carry them to a repeat of last year putting on the Championship Medal.” said the Duke Commit.

Dr. Phillips finishes their season at 27-6 while the Panthers cap a 28-5 season.