Winter Park falls short
against Coral Springs in boys hoops 8A state title game.
LAKELAND — Not many people thought Winter Park would be in the state tournament this year.
Senior Dakotah Nicoll even had friends at school tell him the Wildcats wouldn’t make it out of districts.
“They’d say that we’re bad, we’re terrible,” Nicoll said.
Winter Park (21-10) proved them wrong, falling just short of a state championship game appearance by losing 53-49 to Coral Springs (21-7) in a boys basketball Class 8A state semifinal Friday at the Lakeland Center.
The Colts play for the title at 7 tonight against Sarasota Riverview.
“That’s sort of the paradox of being at Winter Park. People expect you to be in that championship game,” Wildcats coach Donald Blackmon said of the threetime state championship program. “But we have to hold our heads high that we were in the final four.
“There were a lot of good teams this year, and some- how we were able to find a way to get here. So, I’m awfully proud of ’em.”
The score was tied at 48 with two minutes to play after Winter Park’s Kevin Buckley hit a jumper. Buckley got the ball back and had a dunk attempt bounce off the rim, but drew a foul. One free throw swished for a one-point lead before he missed the second.
The Wildcats rebounded but were called for a foul, negating a layup by junior Wyatt Wilkes that could have extended the lead. Instead, Coral Springs scored to go up 50-49 with 56 seconds remaining.
“Momentum shifts and you’re trying to get it back, and sometimes you get so focused on the momentum and trying to regain it, that you forget to just play,” Wilkes said.
A blocked shot and Winter Park misses, followed by three Coral Springs free throws, iced the game.
Nicoll led the Wildcats in rebounds with 11 and scored six points. Wilkes had a team-high 14 points and five rebounds. Buckley had 10 points and six rebounds.
Winter Park played catchup through the first 24 minutes, and trailed 34-29 after Coral Springs’ Trevon White (17 points, eight rebounds) went on a scoring and blocked-shot rampage in the third quarter. Wilkes hit back-to-back 3s within a second of each other to tie the score at 40 entering the final quarter. For the game, Winter Park was 4-of-18 on 3-point tries.
Both teams finished with 34 rebounds and 12 turnovers.
“Winter Park likes to make it exciting,” Blackmon said. “We have to walk away from here knowing that we made it a lot further than anyone thought we would, including us.
“The growth we made this year, as young men, as a family, is something a state championship can never give us.”