Fleurizard, Coral Springs rally from behind to win
CORAL SPRINGS — Coral Springs trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before senior guard Wilvens Fleurizard rallied the Colts back to defeat two-time defending state champion Dillard, 58-56, at home on Tuesday night.
Fleurizard, who finished with 31 points, scored the winning layup with 27 seconds left. He also had the block that led to the defensive stop on the ensuing Dillard possession and went to the free-throw line to make one of two. Dillard fired up a half-court shot as time expired and missed.
A defensive struggle in the first half, the game developed into a battle between Fleurizard and Dillard guard Bryce Oliver, who is signed to Kentucky to play football as a wide receiver, with the two going back and forth. Oliver finished with 24.
“Me and Bryce have known each other since the sixth grade when we played together back on little league,” Fleurizard said. “It was kind of personal. We’ve always set [out] to see who’s better and what not, but I think the battle’s kind of clear now that I’m way ahead.”
Coral Springs (17-4), which won a state title in 2016 and leads District 11-9A, has won five consecutive games.
Fleurizard hit a couple of 3-pointers late in the third quarter to start bringing Coral Springs back as it outscored Dillard, 34-16, in the final quarter and a half.
“He’s playing great. He’s a leader on our team. He had to score the basketball. He brings a lot of emotion,” Coral Springs coach Devin Barta said. “We’re never going to go down without a fight. I preach that to these guys. Let the scoreboard take care of itself, and they just fought back, played hard for me and got back into the game.”
Deante Moore had 14 for the Colts and Jelani Heard added 9.
Oliver started the second half on a 10-1 run of his own against Coral Springs to open up a 36-22 lead. Dillard ended up leading by as many as 16 at 40-24.
Dillard went into the half with a 26-21 lead. Oliver went to the line for four consecutive free throws after Barta was called for a technical foul for arguing with an official after Oliver was fouled. The Panthers led by six at that point.
With both teams getting after it defensively in the first quarter, they played to a 10-10 tie in the opening period. Fleurizard scored on a put-back and later a fastbreak layup that was set up by a chase-down block in transition. Oliver and Deshawn Bartley, who finished with 10, hit 3-pointers for Dillard.
dfurones@ sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_