Edgewater slams Lehigh
LAKELAND — A concern often expressed by coaches at the state boys basketball tournament is how difficult it is for high school teams to adjust to all the space beyond the backboards at The Lakeland Center and shoot well.
That was no problem for Edgewater (23-8) on Thursday night. The Eagles shot lights out while Lehigh (21-10) was misfiring, and they romped to an 83-53 victory in a Class 7A state semifinal.
The Eagles shot the Lightning down by making a scorching 54-percent of their 3-point shot attempts (14-of-26).
Edgewater gets a day off before facing defending state champion Fort Lauderdale Dillard (27-4) in Saturday’s 3 p.m. final.
Anfernee Simons, Edgewater’s stellar senior guard, was 4-of-8 from 3-point land and 11-of-18 from the field to total 26 points before exiting the game with his team’s other starters midway through the fourth quarter. He bumped his season scoring average to 23.9 ppg.
Edgewater coach Jason Atherton took his team to Orlando’s Amway Center on Tuesday to get acclimated to play in a a big building, but he said Thursday’s biggest factor was his team’s attention to defense.
“Our defense got us going with some easy baskets early,” Atherton said. “We’re a good shooting ballclub. And it’s a lot easier to shoot when you’re up 10 than when you’re down 10.”
The Eagles had 11 of their 12 players get in on the scoring. Elijah Williams had 12 points and Frank Foreman 11. Robert Allen contributed 7 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
The Eagles’ defense forced 28 turnovers. Foreman had eight steals.
Simons, a 6-foot-3 senior guard who missed 10 games after suffering a broken bone in his left hand, put his entire repertoire on display in the blowout. That included a stickback dunk off a missed shot and another slam from a fastbreak pass off the backboard by Williams.
The Eagles led by 20 just before halftime and boosted that to 56-27 late in the third period when they scored 11 points on four trips downcourt.
Simons started the spree with a 3-point shot, a fastbreak finish on a no-look pass from Foreman, then another rainbow 3-pointer. Ninth grader Michael Eads, who scored 8 points off the bench, completed the run with his own trey.
Leesburg reaches 6A final
In a game where tenacious defenses and a frenetic tempo produced an avalanche of takeaways, Leesburg found the pace it needed in its 6A semifinal against Jacksonville Ribault.
The Yellow Jackets (22-6) turned what coach Sean Campbell called “a really crazy game” its way by resisting the urge to rush. Patience paid dividends as Leesburg finished strong to win 70-64 in a mid-day game that was a roller-coaster ride of runs by both teams.
Leesburg turned the ball over 26 times and trailed 7-0 and 27-19 in the early going. But it forced Ribault (22-7) into 38 turnovers to prevail.
Keon Ellis, a 6-foot-5 junior wing, finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and five of Leesburg’s 19 steals.
Sophomore Lance Erving added 20 points and four steals. Cordrayius Graham, another junior, had 17 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
“We had to slow down a little and be under control,” Campbell said. “We’re going to bring our defense even when our shots are not fouling. As coaches, that’s what we preach.”
The Yellow Jackets (22-6), state champs in 2011 and runner-up in 2012, will play for their third overall state championship on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Cape Coral Mariner (23-7), which crushed Palatka 64-28 in the second semifinal. Leesburg is on a 16-game win streak. Leesburg surged ahead vs. Ribault with a flurry of fastbreak baskets early in the fourth quarter.
The spree started with Jackets junior Keon Ellis turning a Ribault turnover into a dunk at the other end for a 54-50 lead. A blocked shot by Quentin Peeples triggered another Leesburg runout score for sophomore Lance Erving . Erving finished the run with a breakaway dunk for a 60-52 lead with five minutes and 34 seconds to go. bcollings@orlandosentinel.com