TALLAHASSEE-Creekside and Palatka both went on the road and pulled stunners enroute to punching their ticket to Lakeland next week, while Bolles came up short on the road as well.
With back-to-back buzzer-beater losses to Lincoln the last two years still fresh on their minds and seeing a ten-point lead evaporate in the fourth quarter; Creekside wasn’t about to blow another lead to Lincoln.
Lincoln went on the road back-to-back years and stunned Creekside 62-61 in overtime last year and 57-54 two years ago both on buzzer beaters.
Despite the late Lincoln rally, this time the last second shot clanked off the rim finally sending Creekside to Lakeland.
Creekside led 48-38 with 2:17 left well on its way to Lakeland, as Lincoln was held scoreless for the first six minutes of the final quarter; however Lincoln began chipping away thanks to an 8-2 run which cut the lead to 50-46 with 29 seconds left.
Trailing 51-49 with seconds remaining, Lincoln had one final chance to stun Creekside for a third consecutive year on a last second shot. However Lincoln air balled a potential game winning three and the ensuing put back couldn’t get off before the horn sounded allowing the Knights to escape with the two point win.
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Leading the Knights in scoring were J’Michael Plummer with 19, Noah Lippy with 10, D.J Dumas with 8, Michael Phillips 6, Bobby Kasprzak 4, Jakeem Fulks 3 and Mekhi Parker with 1.
Creekside (26-4) will play Winter Haven (23-9) Friday at 2 p.m. in the Class 7A semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Palatka 64, Ridgewood 51
NEW PORT RICHEY – For the second straight year, fourth time in eight years and ninth time overall the Palatka Panthers are going back to the Final Four
It wasn’t easy though as Ridgewood (27-4) playing its final basketball game in the school’s 40 year history thanks to consolidating into a technical school, gave the visiting Panthers everything they had and more in front of emotional home crowd.
After going back an forth in a see-saw game which saw the Rams take a 25-24 lead into the half, tied at 33-all late in the third, Palatka began to pull away.
Palatka used their suffocating half court trap defense to create turnovers and easy transition baskets to take the lead for good at 41-37 heading into the final quarter.
Horrible shooting by the Rams led to easy quick layups as the gap widened.
The Panthers, who made school history with their 27th win of the season in a 48-45 win over Eastside on Tuesday to surpass both the 2010 and 2011 Final Four teams, will try to become the first Palatka team to bring home a state title.
Palatka (28-2) will meet Rickards (22-7) Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Class 6A semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Pensacola Catholic 66, Bolles 41
PENSACOLA – For two quarters, Bolles went toe-to-toe with host Pensacola Catholic before running out gas in the second half.
Bolles (23-8) was able to slow down the Crusaders holding them a season low 14 first half points.
Thats when the flood gates opened as the Crusaders outscored Bolles 20-10 in the third and 32-17 in the final quarter to pull away.
Mackey Garwood led the Bulldogs in scoring with 12 points, Bobby Crouch added 9, Justin O’Leary had 6, Josiah Johnson had 6, Aman Doolabh 2, Jaxson Cosby 2, Will Shepard 2 and Jacob Glassman 2.
