Cypress Bay, Piper reach final

WESTON — Tyler Krivitzkin was one of the smallest and youngest players on the court Tuesday night. But Cypress Bay’s 5-foot-8 sophomore guard sure played big.

Krivitzkin nailed three 3-pointers and scored 24 points to lead the Lightning past rival Western, 52-44, in the District 12-9A boys basketball semifinals.

Cypress Bay (18-7) advances to play Piper (21-5) — the 48-39 winner over South Plantation in Tuesday’s late game — in the district championship Friday.

“Last time we played them, we lost [to Western],” Krivitzkin said of splitting with the Wildcats in the regular season. “Unfortunately, we had a 15-point lead at the half. Same thing this time — we had a 16-point lead [30-14]. And we didn’t give up this time.”

The Lightning were able to advance without the services of starting freshman guard Brandon Garcia. Garcia hurt his ankle in practice this week and is scheduled to have an MRI today. He is questionable for Friday.

Another freshman Isaiah Quinteros was also in double figures for Cypress Bay with 11 points and sophomore Kenny Anderson had 8 points.

“We expect to make a run in a couple years for a state championship,” Krivitzkin said of the young Lightning squad.

Cypress Bay was in command from the start. The Lightning jumped out to a 17-8 first-quarter lead and upped it to double-digits in the second period.

Western was able to cut into Cypress Bay’s 30-14 halftime lead by outscoring the Lightning 16-7 in the third period. But the Wildcats were never able to get the deficit down under six.

“I really thought our defense was effective when we played with discipline,” Lightning coach Jason Looky said. “I thought the kids showed a lot more maturity and didn’t get rattled, which is nice because they are young.”

Western’s season closes out at 13-12. Eman Toribio led the Wildcats with 15 points and both Jeremy Louis and Kevin Rodriguez had 11.

In the nightcap, South Plantation (10-12) took a surprising 15-3 lead to open the game. However, Piper rallied by halftime to grab a 22-20 advantage.

Piper built a nine-point lead, 34-25, after three quarters. But the Paladins fought back to close within 36-35 with 3:44 to play in the game. Piper closed the game out, however, on a 12-4 run.

Chris Eluett led Piper with 15 points.

Piper won both regularseason meetings with Cypress Bay, 55-44 and 51-34.