LAKELAND – Three more Tampa Bay Area teams were in action on Friday at The Lakeland Center in the state semifinals for boys basketball. Pasco County’s shot at a ring fell short with Academy at the Lakes falling to Agape in the semis on Tuesday. Thursday was Saint Petersburg’s chance to get to the final game of the season, but the Green Devils fell short to Hagerty. The first two games of the day featured the state’s #3 and #4 teams in Tarpon Springs and Gibbs respectively with Hillsborough County’s lone representative Jefferson taking on three-time defending champions Miami Norland.
Tallahassee Rickards 65, Tarpon Springs 59
In the first semifinal of the day, Scottie James had 16 points and Daniel Davis added 11 for Tarpon Springs however it wasn’t enough to keep the dream season alive for the Regional-II Champions. Things looked great for Tarpon in the early going as the Spongers jumped to a 19-6 lead after the first quarter, then went cold from the floor shooting just 3-for-16 beyond the arc (18%) and compounded by 20 turnovers committed by their offense. Rickards used their man-to-man defense to trap and force the ball out of Tarpon’s guards in the half-court causing frustration all game for Daniel Davis.
Head Coach Jerry Woodka said that Davis had injured his right ankle after the very first shot taken in the regional finals versus Eastside limiting his ability to cut or drive to the basket. Neither Woodka nor Davis were using that as an excuse, though.
In stoical yet somewhat annoyed fashion, Woodka described the reasoning for their loss in one word. “Turnovers. That’s the reason we lost today. We also hit our free-throws down the stretch in previous games and we didn’t do that either (today). I hadn’t had a chance to look at the box score, but I know there were a lot of turnovers and it wasn’t pretty.”
Tarpon shot 28-times from the free-throw line, but only managed to make sixteen of those leaving double-digit points on the board in addition to the aforementioned turnovers. Those turnovers led to 21 points for Rickards as well. The Raiders also enjoyed a 19-10 margin in bench scoring. Tarpon Springs finishes their season at 30-2 while Rickards (19-13) goes on to face #1-ranked Cardinal Gibbons at 10:30am tomorrow for the Class 5A title.
“It had to end at some point, and unfortunately that was today.” said Woodka. Senior Captain Scottie James best summarized his feelings as the Spongers prepared to depart the media room. “We’re just happy we could play as a team, grow as a team and become a family the past four years.”
Cardinal Gibbons 73, Gibbs 38
The consensus #1 team in 5A Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs led by just four points after the first quarter of play then proceeded to pound the Gladiators into submission outscoring Gibbs by a 34-point margin. Junior sensation Maverick Rowan nearly outscored Gibbs by himself lighting up the nets for 34 points. Gibbs led by three points with 4:11 remaining in the opening quarter, but things began to change quickly as Kansas State Signee and leading scorer for the Gladiators picked up his second foul.
Brown, accustomed to playing all-32 minutes and carrying the heavy load picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter with just nine points and five rebounds at the time. Brown was then disqualified after receiving a technical foul immediately following the call on the floor and finished the game and his career at Gibbs having played just over 16 minutes of the contest.
Gibbons’ three quarter 1-2-2 trap forced 22 Gibbs turnovers leading to 16 points for Cardinal Gibbons. The Gladiators managed just two points and created just nine turnovers in comparison. Gibbs was also unable to slow the Chiefs penetration giving up an 18-8 margin in the paint as well. The day from beyond the arc for Gibbs could not have gone any worse either as the Gladiators managed just a 5-for-23 performance from 3-pt range.
The Gladiators finish their season at 21-10 and as Region-III Champions. Cardinal Gibbons advances to the final game of the season with a 33-1 record.
Norland 67, Jefferson 43
The three-time defending state champions Norland Vikings used their experience and their size to pull away from the Dragons behind 2016 5-star prospect Dewan Huell’s behemoth performance of 23 points and 17 rebounds. Norland’s David Jean-Baptiste was one of three players in double-figures with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the three-point line. Jefferson was led by Maurice Moore’s 19 points in the losing effort.
Jefferson shot just 35% from the field while Norland lit The Lakeland Center’s nets on fire with a team tournament high of 59% on 26-of-44 shooting. The Vikings led by just a point after the first eight minutes were complete, but went on a 17-4 run to close out the half with a 14-point lead at 31-17. The Vikings also out-rebounded Jefferson by a 37-21 margin, with a commanding 26-10 difference on the defensive side of the glass.
“We are honored to have made it to this point and to represent the community. Would we have like to do better? Of course,” said Dragons Head Coach Eric Hayes. “We didn’t make it as hard on them as we obviously wanted to; especially on the defensive side. They played a matchup zone and didn’t really trap us like we expected. We got the looks we wanted on the offensive end, the bottom line is we didn’t shoot very well and didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves.”
Jefferson ends their season at 27-5 and as Region-III Champions for the first time in over forty years. Norland continues to the finals seeking their fourth-consecutive state championship with a 22-8 record and will take on Gainesville (28-3) in the Class 6A State Championship. The Purple Hurricanes were victorious against Orlando Edgewater 83-71 in Overtime.
– Doug Pugh