LAKELAND – For nearly every team making their debut in the Final Four there tends to be a common thread, enjoy it while you can.
Making its first trip to the Final Four in school history, Fleming Island saw its magical run come to abrupt end with a quick exit in a 60-38 loss to Bradenton Lakewood Ranch in the Class 8A state semifinals.
Whether its the big lights, huge arena or just the nerves in general, rookie teams don’t do well in Lakeland. Two things are evident as well, shoot well and don’t dig yourself into a deep hole and expect to climb out of it.
Case in point Fleming Island. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a quick lead on a Sebastian Astor jumper for a 2-0 lead, they never led again.
Lakewood Ranch playing in its second Final Four in three years, looked comfortable and unintimidated in George Jenkins Arena.
The Mustangs quickly took the lead with a 5-0 run to take a 5-2 lead barely a minute and half into the game.
Gianfranco Grafals took advantage of a Mustangs turnover and cut the lead to 5-4 seconds later; but that was as close as the Eagles would ever get.
That’s when 6-6 junior guard Christian Shaneyfelt would take over as the Eagles had no answer for stopping him. Shaneyfelt would score four of the next six points as the Mustangs went on a 6-0 run to take a 11-4 lead.
The lead grew to 11 as the first quarter ended, making it a tough hill to climb for the Eagles.
It only got worse from there as the Mustangs went on a 21-2 run to start the second quarter to take a 31-9 lead with 4 minutes left till half.
Like every other area team playing in Lakeland, Fleming Island dug themselves a hole they couldn’t climb out of as the Mustangs took a 23 point lead into the fourth quarter.
Shaneyfelt jumper extended the lead to a game high 26 as the Mustangs led 52-26 in the closing minutes of the third quarter.
Grafals tried to spur a comeback in the second half as the Eagles tried to chip away the deficit as he scored on back-to-back shots cutting the lead to 22 a minute into the final quarter.
A Keon Buckley jumper increased the lead to 28 at 60-32 with 4:24 left in the game.
Shaneyfelt scored a game high 21 points on a near perfect night of shooting as he was 9 of 11 from the court; teammate Joshua Young chipped in 10 points and 8 rebounds on 4 of 5 shooting and Buckley added 9 points.
Grafals led the Eagles in scoring with 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field, while Astor added 8 points.
Lakewood Ranch (23-6) shot extremely well shooting 67% from the field and 45% from three-point range on 5 of 11 shooting. The Mustangs dominated the boards with a 31-18 advantage and assists with a 13-3 advantage.
It was quite opposite for Fleming Island, who shot 28% from the field and 19% from three-point range.
For head coach Traavis Chandler and Fleming Island (21-3), the result was not what they wanted but its something to build on as the Eagles set school records for wins, the longest run in school history and the first playoff appearance in school history.
Three of the five starters are back as well as the Golden Eagles say goodbye to Khalid Pogue and Grafals but welcome back Jordan Miles, Elias Martin and Astor.
