Edgewater topples top seed to win district crown
The visiting Edgewater Eagles rolled to a 59-45 win against top seed Wekiva on Saturday morning in the Class 6A District 6 boys basketball championship game.
Edgewater (16-10) had four players score in double-digits in the upset of Wekiva (23-4), which was missing senior standout Malachi Hampton. Junior guard Erik Taylor led the Eagles with 15 points and sophomore guard Darius Washington had 14.
“He’s a very talented offensive player,” Edgewater coach Jason Atherton said of Taylor. “We’ve got a couple guys that are very talented offensively. When our guys that are our players on offense decide to really lock in on the defensive end, we become a complete team and I thought we did that.”
Hampton, a 6-foot-6 forward, injured his ankle Wednesday in the fourth quarter of an 81-54 semifinal win against South Lake. Wekiva senior guard Abiah Charles also was out.
Both teams are assured of Region 2 quarterfinal berths and it’s possible both could be at home on Thursday. The FHSAA will unveil its playoff brackets on Sunday at 2 p.m. on its YouTube channel. Wekiva coach Gersino Lubin said Hampton should be able to play.
Senior guard KJ Robinson led Wekiva with 13 points. The Mustangs were averaging 68 points per game heading into Saturday.
In their previous meeting on Jan. 6, the Mustangs won 75-58.
“When we went back and watched film, we felt like we missed some shots that we normally make on offense in the first half against them,” Atherton said. “Defensively, we had a couple of miscues.”
A 7-0 run in the first quarter gave Edgewater a 10-point lead. The Eagles went into the second quarter up by nine and a 3-pointer from senior guard Tanares Jefferson gave them a 26-14 lead.
The Eagles led by double digits for the rest of the game.