BROOKSVILLE – Gaither and Lakeland are the 2015 Champions of the Nature Coast Christmas Tournament after winning the finals in their respective brackets on Wednesday night at Nature Coast Tech. Gaither defeated Wiregrass Ranch 65-58 in the secondary bracket championship. The Cowboys advanced by defeating Land O’Lakes on day one of the tournament, then defeating the hosts Nature Coast 71-68 in overtime on Tuesday. Lakeland defeated Shaker Heights from Cleveland 84-75 in a thrilling comeback that needed an extra four minutes of overtime to decide the outcome. Lakeland defeated Alonso in their opening round game, then defeated Medina High School from Ohio to setup their showdown with Shaker Heights.
Gaither 65, Wiregrass Ranch 58
In the first championship, it was Gaither winning the second of their third meetings this season. Gaither was paced by a trio of guards that combined for 54 of their 65 points. Senior guard Trevor Blackmon led the Cowboys with 26 points with 17 of those coming in the second half. Wiregrass Ranch led after the first quarter 17-15 and by four (28-24) as the teams headed to the locker rooms for the break.
In the second half the play succumbed to the referees’ whistle and in a decided favor for Gaither as they got the free-throw line 29 times in the second half–making 20 of those–while Wiregrass attempted just 11 shots from the charity stripe in the second half. It wasn’t all on the officials though, as senior guard Raquan Waller picked up where Blackmon had left off in the third quarter with 12 of his 17 points to help Gaither build a ten point lead with just over three minutes remaining in the final quarter.
The Cowboys stingy defense led to some cold Wiregrass shooting from the perimeter as the Bulls did not register their first points of the final quarter until three minutes exactly remained on the clock. Juniors Devin Wilson and Sean Mays led Wiregrass with 18 and 13 points respectively.
Lakeland 84, Shaker Heights (OH) 75 -OT
The finals of the main bracket provided some late-night fireworks as the Dreadnaughts–who led in the game once in the first quarter–and did not lead until just under two minutes remaining in regulation pulled away from Shaker Heights in overtime thanks to senior Shaquan McArthur’s 30 points–19 of those coming in the final quarter and overtime.
The two squads battled back-and-forth throughout the first two quarters, with Shaker Heights holding a 35-31 lead at the break. The Red Raiders boosted their lead to eight 51-43 at the end of three quarters and it looked as though the ‘Naughts were going to get put into the rearview mirror in the fourth, but that’s when McArthur took matter into his own hands and the fun began.
Junior forward Cole Brutcher hit a jumper with 3:15 remaining in the final quarter to pull Lakeland within three, and following a hurried sequence of events that saw the ‘Naughts tie the game, senior guard Taye Green hit a shot that put Lakeland up by two points with just under two minutes remaining in regulation. Trailing by three points with under thirty seconds remaining, Shaker Heights guard J’van Beasley nailed a three-pointer deep from the corner to tie the game at 68-68.
The additional four minutes gave Lakeland a chance to breathe and then they went to work as McArthur and his teammates put Shaker Heights away in the overtime period outscoring the Red Raiders 16-7. McArthur led four players in double-figures for Lakeland with 30, while Brutcher added 16 points. Green added 11 points and junior AJ Davis finished the evening with 10 points.
Jeramie Burge–the lone senior on the roster for the four-time consecutive Greater Cleveland Champions–led the Red Raiders with 21 points. Shaker Heights had ten players register points on the evening with junior point guard Amani Redus adding 13 points as the second leading scorer on the night for the visitors from Ohio.