LAKELAND – Paxon dug themselves deep into a hole and nearly climbed out it but wasn’t able to falling 61-49 to St. Pete Lakewood in the Class 6A state semifinals.
“In the second quarter we were just pressing to much, we were rushing things and I told them at the half, lets start chipping this thing away, there is no 13 point shot,” Paxon head coach Toby Frazier said. “The biggest issue was on defense, they were on pace for 100 points, lets get some stops and start chipping away and get this into single digits.”
Trailing by 12 at the half, junior Isaiah Adams took it upon himself to get Paxon back in the game.
Adams single handedly brought Paxon back scoring 11 straight points to cut the deficit to 35-32 forcing Lakewood to call a timeout with 5:12 left in the third.
Oteman Delancy converted one of two free throws to give Lakewood a 36-32 lead with 4:54 left in the quarter.
Adams picked up his fourth foul with 3:26 left in the quarter forcing him to go to the bench.
“I didn’t like the call at all, but I believe in my teammates and it made me a leader off the court as I was trying to encourage them and to still play hard,” Adams said.
Quinnton Jackson nailed a jumper cutting the lead to 36-34 with 2:51 left in the quarter as suddenly the Eagles were back in it.
However, they would need somebody else to step up and take over with their leading scorer Adams on the bench for a while.
“When Isaiah went out that was rough, he’s our leading blocker and scorer,” Frazier said. “We went to zone and we knew we needed multiple stops and weather the storm. Isaiah wasn’t there to knock down the shots and Maurice (Willie) who can shoot didn’t have an opportunity to shoot.”
A 6-0 run by the Spartans asserted itself back in the lead and seize back the momentum swing as well.
With Adams on the bench in foul trouble, all he could do was watch and try to lead the team from the bench as best as he could.
Just like that Lakewood had seized control of the game again taking a eight point lead into the fourth.
With an eight point lead at 44-36, Lakewood was in no hurry and began to run clock on each possession.
Frazier knew Adams had to go back in and put him back in with 6:28 left in the game.
However, the five minutes of sitting on the bench had took its toll as the hot shooting of Adams had gone cold as he missed his first two shots.
Phillips jumper put the Spartans back up by ten as they maintained a 8-10 point lead the rest of the game.
Paxon was able to cut the deficit down to 8 a couple of times only to see Lakewood answer and bring it back up ten quickly.
“Our main focus and concern was on stopping 3 (Adams), he’s a heck of a player,” Lakewood coach Anthony Lawrence said. ” Fortunately he made it a lot easier by getting into foul trouble which helped us out.
“Our guys are tough, we didn’t panic at all, although I started to panic a bit when we started getting into foul trouble. We just needed to settle down, we knew we had the size advantage and we had to use our advantages.”
“We’ve been in that situation before most recently in the Lake Wales game, we just had to stay calm and level headed,” Lakewood player Jalen White stated.
Things started off well for Paxon as the Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a quick jumper from Adams just 24 seconds into the game.
However, Lakewood answered with a 6-0 run taking a 6-2 lead thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Jermaine Phillips and Delancy.
Maurice Willie Jr. buried a three-pointer for the Eagles cutting the lead to 6-5 as Paxon went back and forth with the Spartans early on.
That’s when things began to unravel as the Spartans went on a 11-0 run to take a 17-5 lead thanks to well balanced scoring from TJ Tampa, Jamille Reynolds and Phillips. Delancy, scored five during the run, including a key three-pointer which gave the Spartans the 17-5 lead with 3 minutes left in the opening quarter.
A three-pointer from Jose Rivera temporarily stopped the bleeding only to see Delancy and Reynolds extend it back to a 22-8 lead.
Lakewood (26-3), which led by a game high 16 points towards the end of the first quarter, carried a 25-11 lead into the second quarter and maintained the double digit lead at 33-19 with 3 minutes left till half.
JD Kennedy turned a Spartans turnover into a layup as Paxon went into the locker room down 33-21 needing a miracle to get back into it.
Lakewood was led in scoring by the foursome of Reynolds (16 points), Delancy (16 points), Phillips (13 points) and Jackson (9 points), who scored 54 of the Spartans 61 points.
Adams led Paxon with 26 points and 5 rebounds, with Willie chipping in 5 points, Kennedy 4 points and Jakobe Williams 4 points.
While they came up short in their quest for the schools second state championship, Frazier and his team know this is just the start of something special.
Setting a school record with 25 wins, winning its first district title in 20 years, its first regional championship in 54 years and its first Final Four in 54 years, the Eagles have plenty to build on for next year.
Making its first Final Four since 1965, Paxon (25-4) will return all 13 players from its roster, as the Eagles had no seniors.
“We just have to keep working hard, we wont have to make many changes this team has great chemistry and work really well together,” Willie said. “It meant a lot be here, we just fell a little bit short.”
“Coach told us take everything in, appreciate the run and appreciate the fact we got here,” Adams said.
“This was beyond my expectations to get here, of course our goal was to win districts, regionals and get to the Final Four,” Frazier said. “One thing I have seen in this run is a hope in our alumni as they can stick their chest out high and can wear Paxon again.”
