MONDAY
Boys Basketball
Class 1A-Region 3
Seacrest Country Day 64, Donahue Catholic 45: The rubber match between two district rivals saw Seacrest overcome a district title loss 10 days earlier, which also happened to be on their home court.
The Stingrays (17-8) nearly blew a 12-point halftime lead Monday night, but went on a 21-1 fourth quarter run to eliminate Donahue Catholic (21-5) from the state tournament in a 64-45 decision.
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“I think we stuck to the gameplan,” Houlihan said. “We called a timeout to settle the guys down a little bit. I think they really stuck together when the other team made a run. We weren’t rattled. We knew our time would come. Basketball is a game of runs. They stuck to the gameplan, got some defensive stops, and got some transition buckets.”
A slow first quarter resulted in jitters from both sides, with the Stingrays only leading 8-4 after eight minutes. Seacrest turned it on in the second, outscoring Donahue 18-10 thanks to Fedor Vuksanovic, who scored 8 points in the frame.
The Shamrocks came out of the second half firing from deep, carving up Seacrest’s 2-3 zone with ball movement and moving around into open spots on the floor. Donahue hit five treys in the third quarter, including a pair from middle schooler Corban Copeland, who was animated after getting his team within striking distance.
After Donahue got within one at 43-42, Houlihan switched over to an aggressive man-to-man, which the Shamrocks didn’t have an answer for. Seacrest generated turnovers, transition baskets, and converted at the free throw line in what was a 21-1 run.
“I think we held them to a pretty low shooting percentage in the first half,” Houlihan said. “They got hot there in the second half. We needed to change things and switch things up defensively. They were hitting more threes in the second half. We had to make an adjustment. They’ve got some good shooters on their team, and at that point in the game, switching to man-to-man would give us a defensive spark.”
Vuksanovic, who was often doubled and tripled in the district title contest a week and a half ago, found his footing after a scoreless first quarter. He posted 20 points and at least 15 rebounds, controlling both ends of the glass with his 6-foot-7 frame. The Serbian also generated plenty of opportunities for Brady Barnaby, Isaac Leon, and company, as Barnaby and Leon combined for 29 points, with Leon scoring 20.
Isaac Loboda got his, scoring 22 points in his final game of the season, while Copeland finished with 11 for the Shamrocks.
Seacrest will aim to advance to a Final Four in Houlihan’s first season leading the program, taking on Victory Christian in Lakeland for the right to return to the RP Funding Center next week.
“We always talk about wanting to play your best basketball at the end of the season and during the playoffs,” Houlihan said. “We had a really great practice which propelled us into this game. We had a really great game last week. We’re ready for any opponent. We’re going to get back into the gym tomorrow and continue to work hard to be prepared and ready to go.”
— Alex Martin
Class 2A-Region 3
First Baptist 70, Bell Creek 51: First Baptist’s defense has been lights-out in the playoffs, and the Lions didn’t ease up in their 70-51 win over Bell Creek in the Class 2A-Region 3 semifinal.
First Baptist (27-2) has allowed their opponents to score more than 50 points just twice in their last 11 games, and the Panthers found out why early on.
The Lions started in a 2-3 zone defense, and offered a lot of good looks from behind the arc to Bell Creek (17-11). The Panthers obliged, but struggled to knock down the open three-point tries. First Baptist hammered it inside on the other end to start, and jumped out to an 8-2 lead three minutes after tip-off after getting easy looks in the paint.
Bell Creak’s defense woke up five minutes into the regional semifinal, and evened things out with a mini-run to close the frame. The Lions held a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
First Baptist’s zone defense, combined with intermittent full court pressure, helped keep a lid on the basket for the Panthers into the second quarter while forcing turnovers. The Lions forced five Panther giveaways through the first four minutes of the second quarter, and Bell Creek didn’t hit their first triple until almost 15 minutes of game time had passed.
“I liked the fact that our team defense played with good intensity,” said First Baptist head coach Scott Stewart. “We rebounded well. I thought as an offensive unit they are starting to really play together. They’re sharing the ball and trusting one another. So they’re peaking at the right time, and it’s fun to watch as a coach… I just love seeing good basketball.”
Despite the nightmarish start shooting the ball, Bell Creek’s Jaylon Johnson’s triple evened things up at 18-18 with just over three minutes left until halftime.
As the Panthers’ offensive woes continued, the Lions used Bell Creek misses to open up their offense in transition. Jayden Petit hammered in back-to-back putback jams once First Baptist started running, and the Lions lead ballooned to 24-18 with just under two minutes left in the half.
But the Panthers got a couple of nice post scores from Josiah Payne before the end of the frame, and cut the deficit to 26-22 by the end of the second quarter. After Payne carried the load for Bell Creek’s offense in the first half and scored eight points, First Baptist held him to just two points in the second half.
The Panthers (who entered the game averaging over 14 three-pointers attempted per game) continued to let it fly from downtown despite making just one triple in the first half.
They improved slightly, but still went 2-for-7 as a team from behind the arc in the third quarter. They struggled finishing open layups as well while First Baptist diced up the Panthers on the other side of the floor.
With about two minutes left in the frame and the Lions leading 37-29, Andrew Loveall buried a triple, and Jayden Petit drove uncontested from the top of the key into a double-clutch dunk. That mini-run all but sealed the deal for Bell Creek, which began to heave more desperation threes in the fourth quarter.
After going 2-of-11 from deep (4-of-19 in the second half), Bell Creek’s deficit had grown insurmountable midway through the frame. Conversely, Andrew Azunque stepped out and knocked down a triple for First Baptist in their first play of the frame.
“They’re a good team for a reason,” Stewart said. “That point guard is a very good point guard, and the big man’s tough. And we had to take our chances. Are the other guys going to step up and beat us, or are we going to let two guys beat us? So we said alright, let’s limit those guys and see what the other guys can do.”
While they missed threes and layups on one end, the Panthers struggled to defend without fouling on the other during crunch time. First Baptist shot 12 free throws in the fourth quarter after getting 11 attempts through the first three quarters. The Lions went 8-of-12 from the charity stripe through the final eight minutes, and secured a bid to their first regional championship since 2020.
Petit led all scorers with 21 points, most of which came from the paint or the free throw line. Azuque tacked on 13 points, while Darin Donalds poured on 12 points.
“When Jayden wants to play, he’s one of the top 50 players in the state,” Stewart said. “He’s really good. He has all the tools. And I only get him half of the year, so the fact that he can only practice half of the year and still plays like this – it’s incredible.”
After being held to just three points through the first half, Lyrique Sartin finished the loss with 17 points for Bell Creek including eight of the Panthers’ 11 third quarter points.
— Nick Wilson
Class 3A-Region 3
St. Andrew’s 70, Gateway Charter 59: Senior Trey Fogle notched his 1,000th career point in the final play of his final varsity game for the Griffins.
Baseball
First Baptist 8, Village School 1: The Lions improved to 4-0 with Johnny Klevanosky picking up the win with six scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits with 12 strikeouts. He also had 2 hits, scored 3 runs, and stole 3 bases. Easton Hicksalso had 2 hits with a walk, 3 RBI, a run, and 2 steals, and Tyler Wells had 2 hits and an RBI.
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