South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Miramar, Western set for Big 8 title clash
POMPANO BEACH — For the first time ever, Western will play for a Broward County Athletic Association Big 8 championship.
The Wildcats rolled to a 70-33 victory over Blanche Ely in the in the Big 8 semifinals at Pompano Beach High on Friday, displaying a dominating defense for the second straight game. Western will face Miramar in the Big 8 title game on Saturday.
“I’m a Dillard guy,” Western coach Mike Hardy said. “So when I hear Ely, that’s a rival for me. So I let my boys know it’s a rivalry game, so we’ve got to play like it. And they brought it, so I’m nothing but proud. ... We’ve still got one more game to go.”
Western was automatic from behind the arc in the first half of Friday’s game. The Wildcats drilled 11 first-half threes and finished the game with 12 3-pointers total. Senior Matthew Robinson Jr. hit three from behind the arc, senior Jack Anderson scored three and junior Landon Boggus had two. Senior Gary Adams led Western with 17 points, while Robinson finished with 13 points (and nine rebounds) and Anderson had 13 points.
“I watched [Ely’s] game against Boyd Anderson and I saw they were going to be in a zone,” Hardy said. “So I told my kids at workout yesterday the game plan: I said we’ve got to be able to shoot. We’ve got to come in confident, and when you’re open, be ready to shoot. Hands ready, feet ready and shoot it. We’ve got to let it fly.
Western’s defense kept Ely from mounting any comeback attempt after the Wildcats built a doubledigit lead in the first quarter. Western held Cardinal Gibbons to 35 points in the first round of the Big 8 and has allowed an average of 8.5 points per quarter in two Big 8 games.
Hardy said after the Cardinal Gibbons win on Wednesday that his team had focused exclusively on defense for two weeks. But even he didn’t expect his defense to hold two of Broward County’s top teams to 68 points combined.
“Honestly, I didn’t [think that],” Hardy said. “But I know people don’t work on defense too often, so I knew once we do it, people wouldn’t be used to a hard-playing defensive team.”
Miramar did not have an easy path to the Big 8 title game.
The Patriots, who are the reigning Class 7A state champions, battled to a 47-44 win over Hallandale on Friday night, holding on to a narrow lead in the game’s final seconds.
Miramar and Hallandale were neck-and-neck throughout the game, but the Patriots got out to a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. It was not much cushion, but it was enough to keep the Chargers at bay. Hallandale got within two points in the game’s final 12 seconds but could not knock down two free throws that would have tied the game.
Miramar’s Deshawn Jean-Charles extended the lead to three on a fee throw with 9.7 seconds left, sealing the game.
“Every year, it ’s free throws,” Miramar coach Tramaine Stevens said. “In big games, you’ve got to make free throws.”
Although Friday’s second semifinal was a low-scoring game, it featured six lead changes. Miramar went into halftime down a point but seized the lead early in the second half. The Patriots never gave the lead back.
Junior Faheim Meran led Miramar with 14 points, while Jean-Charles had 13. Senior Jonathon Pierre led the Chargers with 11 points, and senior David Valcourt had 10.
“We started a tradition here when I got here,” Stevens said. “I told these guys we were going to build something, and that’s what we’re doing.”