Five days, 24 games, over 60 hours of “scheduled” basketball, over 600 miles driven, 16 counties represented, 8 title holders, one goal; to be the very best in the state of Florida by the time Saturday comes to an end. Actually make it two goals; the second one being to be courtside to witness it all. So what if the closest game in the 5A-8A classifications was 16 points?! So what if more than half of the 16 teams that came to Lakeland this week shot less than 30% for the entire game?! So what if it wasn’t attended like the state series in Indiana or some Midwestern territory that’s absolutely batty for basketball. The City of Lakeland puts on a phenomenal product by the way so let’s put the finishing touches on another first class end to the basketball season.
5A Championship – Lake Wales 66 Terry Parker 30
In the first game of the day, Lake Wales put the rest of the 5A classification out of their misery demolishing Jacksonville-Terry Parker 66-30. The Highlanders were led by Marcel White’s 15 points and 11 rebounds. White was one of four players in double-figures for Lake Wales. Joining him were 6-3 Jr. Guard Douglas Brooks with 13, along with Seniors Alante Fenner and Russell Wilson contributing 12 points and 11 points respectively.
As the score would indicate, the Highlanders dominated several statistical categories including a 36-6 points in the paint advantage, their bench outscoring Parker’s 24-11, a 53-22 rebound differential as well as causing 19 turnovers with an 11-3 margin in steals. Parker had nobody in double-figures while shooting a pitiful 25% from the field, 23% from 3-pt range and only 36% from the charity stripe.
White and Brooks were also the statistical leaders for Lake Wales in the semis and championship games. White averaged 18ppg and 7 rebounds while Brooks added 15 and 6 to the equation in their matchups versus Plantation-American Heritage and Terry Parker.
The game also had a bit of drama with 5-star Jr. Solomon Poole, Brother of Stacey Poole who recently decided to transfer from the University of Kentucky returned from a 6-week suspension just in time to be ejected from the game after a 2-pt, 4 rebound performance. Poole also needed to be escorted out of the Lakeland Center by police and was barred from participating in the postgame press conference.
Lake Wales finishes the season at 28-4. They’ll graduate 7 seniors on the 15-man roster, while Parker wraps up their 2011-12 campaign with a record of 25-6. They also graduate 7 players from their 14-man roster.
6A Championship – Norland 64 Leesburg 36
In your best James Bond voice, say it with me; Roberts…Cleon…Roberts. Not too much you can do when the other team (in this case Norland) looks like the prep equivalent of FSU with the smallest starter standing at 6-4 and their best player is a 6-5 guy that can play either Guard or Forward. Did I mention he also averaged 25 points per game during his time here in Lakeland this week? Even if you are the defending 4A State Champions as in the case of Leesburg, you would have to play a perfect game to defeat this Norland team.
Well, perfect isn’t exactly the right word. How does debacle sound? The Yellow Jackets shot 23% from the field, their 3-pt shooting was 3-for-20 coming in at a whopping 15 percent. Not a good sign either when 64% from the Free-Throw line is considered to be a raging success. Even worse of a sign is when a single player from the opposing team makes more FG’s than your entire squad. Roberts was 12-of-17, while Leesburg as a team was 11-for-47 finishing with 27 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.
Norland becomes the first team (amazingly enough) from Dade County to win a football title and basketball title in the same academic season. This also brings the total title count between football, and boys & girls basketball to 7 in the last 10 years for the school representing the Liberty City Neighborhood of Miami. Their 24-9 run in the 3rd Quarter is what solidified the outcome putting the Vikings up 43-22 heading to the final period. Norland owned the boards by a 43-23 margin, as well as racking up a 48-12 points in the paint differential by virtue of the countless layups and dunks in transition. The Vikings used their aggressive half-court trap to keep Leesburg out of sorts the entire contest.
In the postgame press conference, Leesburg Head Coach Marcel Thomas was more than willing to acknowledge that it was not their day. “They [Norland] were simply better at what they do than what we do. We ran into a buzzsaw today. Anything can happen when you get to this point in the season. We just didn’t get it done. We’ve been challenging giants all season so we weren’t intimidated, we fought. I’m proud of these guys regardless.”
Norland’s season comes to an end with a 29-3 record while Leesburg completes the year at 23-10. The title is the 3rd for Norland in Boys hoops since 2006. Cleon Roberts is committed to Georgia Southern for the upcoming season.
7A Championship – Blanche Ely 78 Oak Ridge 46
Much like the 5A classification, the 7A teams needed to be put down like the family pet after 15 good years of service. That description might be a little graphic to some, but what Ely did to teams this season and in Lakeland this weekend was downright NC-17. The Tigers won their games by 32 (vs. St. Petersburg) and 33 (vs. Oak Ridge) aided by Sr. PF Clide Geffrard’s tournament average of 28 points and 12 rebounds. Geffrard poured in 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in today’s contest.
The Tigers dominated every aspect of the box score with a 46-24 points in the paint advantage, along with their bench outscoring the Pioneers 21-7. Ely also held a 22-4 margin in the 2nd chance point’s category and forced 24 turnovers from the squad out of Orlando. The boys from Broward County (Pompano Beach to be exact) used the first and last quarters to assert their dominance. In those two frames, the Tigers outscored Oak Ridge by 13 in each.
Oak Ridge did themselves no favors either keeping in congruency with the recurring theme of the entire finals (which was abysmal shooting by all) by shooting 22% from 3-pt range (4-18) and 31% from the floor making just 16 of their 51 attempts. They did however see two guys get into double-figures with Dwayne McCarter and Brandon Barber hitting for 17 and 12 points respectively.
Ely ends up 30-2 on the season and earns an invite from ESPN to their national invitational tournament in Washington D.C. along with Montverde Academy. Oak Ridge completes their schedule with 20 wins and 11 losses.
8A Championship – Hialeah Gardens 63 Hagerty 46
The Gardens Gladiators helped Dade County collect their 2nd title of the week and in one day on the strength of 4 players in double-figures while capitalizing on Hagerty’s woeful night (once again with the reoccurring theme) from the field and the foul line. The Huskies shot 31% on 21-of-66 while making a grand total of 3 shots out of 20 from beyond the arc. They were also 1-of-7 from the free throw line.
Gardens won the battle of the boards 42-33 while shooting 55% from the field thanks in large part to post play from Sr. Alvaro Simoza’s 19 points and 11 rebounds. Simoza averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds for the tournament. His teammates Ramon Rodriguez, Yunio Barrueta and Adrian Gonzalez all hit for double-figures with 14, 13 and 17 respectively. Hagerty was paced by their two leading scorers on the season Ira Smith with 10 and University of North Florida commit Aaron Bodager with 12. The Gladiators finish with a record of 28-5 while Hagerty ends up 26-8 for their 2011-12 Season.
Counties represented and number of teams from each (teams with titles in parenthesis)
Broward Co. [6] (Blanche Ely 7A, Pine Crest 4A)
Dade Co. [3] (Norland 6A, Hialeah Gardens 8A)
Duval Co. [3]
Orange Co. [3] (Orlando Christian Prep 2A)
Leon Co. [2]
Pinellas Co. [2]
Seminole Co. [2]
Hillsborough Co. [2] (Tampa Prep 3A)
Polk Co. [2] (Lake Wales 5A)
Alachua Co. [1]
Gadsden Co. [1]
Hernando Co. [1]
Lake Co. [1]
Indian River Co. [1]
Union Co. [1]
Washington Co. [1] (Chipley 1A)
***Make sure you check on Wednesday for the 1A-4A All-Tournament Teams and Friday for the 5A-8A Classification standouts***