Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Panthers manage to withstand Lions
FORT LAUDERDALE — Dillard had a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against visiting Olympic Heights on Thursday night, but the Lions kept chipping away until the game’s final moments.
Heights came within three points of tying the game, but the Panthers held off the Lions and hung on for a 66-58 victory in the Class 6A regional quarterfinals in Fort Lauderdale.
“We got stagnant,” Dillard coach Darryl Burrows said. “We went up by 10, got a little stagnant. Guys missed assignments. Obviously, we had a little foul trouble with two key guys, as well. I’m just lucky we kind of held on because they’re a really good team.”
Olympic Heights opened the game with some prolific shooting, hitting three three-pointers in the first quarter. The Lions led by seven points at the end of the first quarter, but Dillard made adjustments in the second that helped quiet Heights’ shooting prowess.
Dillard outscored Olympic Heights 20-8 in the second quarter, starting the period with a 16-2 run.
“We knew they were going to shoot the ball,” Burrows said. “They shoot the ball extremely well. We just told them be patient. Defensively, we kind of made some little adjustments. We went from a regular two-three up to a one-two-two. I don’t know if that bothered them or not, but they missed a couple of shots ... and then we went on a little run that second quarter.”
After struggling to keep pace with the Panthers in the third and early fourth quarter, the Lions turned it back on in the fourth. They went on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to four points and trailed by as few as three points with 53 seconds left. But Dillard knocked down seven of eight late free throws to keep Olympic Heights at bay.
“You either win or you pack it in,” Burrows said. “So we’re just looking forward to getting to the next practice, which is tomorrow, and try to work out some of those things that we had an issue with this season.”
Senior Marc Steig led the Lions, who finish the season 13-2, with 18 points. Caleb Mackrey added 16 points, and Micah Octave scored 11 points. For
Dillard, senior Brennen Whyte and senior Marcus Watson finished the game with 18 points each, and senior Kyle Brown added 13 points.
“We’ve got several guys that can score, and that makes us a little ... more difficult to try to play because we can go to different guys to get us points,” Burrows said.
Monarch’s big OT leads to first regional win: Senior Mazih Chehade scored a game-high 27 points, including eight points in overtime to rally host Monarch to its first regional boys basketball victory in the school’s 17-year history with a 70-63 win over Santaluces on Thursday night in Coconut Creek.
“We just keep making history,” Chehade said. “We trust coach [Lorenzo Williams] to put us in the right places and we just do what we have to do. We just believed and I believe we can go all of the way.”
“This whole thing has been a process,” said Williams. “In this year of COVID, I just wanted to give these kids something bright. It has been a magical run and hopefully we keep it going.”
While Chehade was the leading scorer for the 13-3 Knights, winner of five straight games, it was senior Vincent Cardelli who also was the king of overtime with eight points of his own, nailing two 3-pointers and a registering a key block to preserve a 59-54 lead with 1:31 left.
Cardelli opened the overtime period with a 3-pointer and hit a short jumper to put the Knights up for good. After losing its first two games of the season, Monarch has won 10 of its past 11. They will host the winner of the Coral Springs on Tuesday.
“It was a hard overtime, and we made some clutch shots,” Cardelli said. “Everyone had to come through. It wasn’t just one person. I could not have done it without my teammates.”
Visiting Santaluces broke open a tight game in the second quarter as they went 9 of 11 from the charity stripe to take a 31-22 halftime lead. The Chiefs led by as many as 11 points at 31-20 following a 3-play play by Jonathan Dor with 20.1 seconds left in the half.
Monarch’s Kellen Cashman scored on a driving layup with six seconds remaining to cut the lead to single digits.
Monarch, which won its first district title in school history, held a 9-8 advantage after the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Cardelli with 1:21 remaining in the period. He finished with 17 points, including four 3-pointers.
Santaluces (12-4) outscored Monarch 23-13 in the second quarter to take early command of the game, however Monarch kept chipping away, eventually taking its first lead of the game at 48-47 with 4:36 left in regulation on a free throw by Marcus Lanaut.
The Knights extended the lead to 52-47 on a basket by Cody Dinnall with 3:18 left before Santaluces went on a 7-0 run to grab a 54-52 lead with 58.4 seconds remaining on a driving layup by Justine Roseme.
Christian Henriques knotted the game for Monarch at 54-54 with 21.3 seconds remaining, and after a Santaluces timeout, Roseme missed a 20-footer off the rim that would have won it. Roseme and Roshny Estime each had 16 points, while Josh Cange added 13 in a losing effort.
Monarch never trailed in the overtime and outscored Santaluces 16-9 to close out the game. Chehade was 6 for 6 from the foul line in the final two minutes of the extra period. Kellen Cashman also chipped in with 11 points for the Knights. Thursday Regional quarterfinals 7A Monarch 70, Santaluces 63OT Western 68, Everglades 41 Miramar 53, Cypress Bay 52 Wellington 57, Vero Beach 49 Dwyer 68, Forest Hill 63 Coral Springs 54, Lake Worth 53 6A Dillard 66, Olympic Heights 58 Martin County 53, St. Thomas Aquinas 32 Mater Academy 55, McArthur 51 5A Boyd Anderson 59, Suncoast 51 Pembroke Pines Charter 69, Jensen Beach 42 4A Pine Crest 82, Hallandale 51 North Broward Prep 64, Somerset Academy 40 Discovery 57, Glades Central 31 3A Chaminade-Madonna 71, SLAM 52 Miami Country Day 81, Somerset Academy 29 St. Andrew’s 63, Westminster Academy 56 Calvary Christian 78, Jupiter Christian 63 2A Atlantic Christian 52, Highlands Christian 49 Miami Christian 65, Sheridan Hills Christian 45 Grandview Prep 71, Berean Christian 48 Regional semifinals Tuesday 7A Wellington at Dwyer Coral Springs at Monarch Western at Miramar 6A Martin County at Dillard 5A Boyd Anderson vs. Pembroke Pines Charter at Flanagan 4A North Broward Prep at Pine Crest 3A St. Andrew’s at Calvary Christian Chaminade-Madonna at Miami Country Day