Miramar edges Western in regional

In a tight, defensive game where every possession was a grind, Miramar prevailed over Western 37-35 in a Class 7A Regional final Friday at Miramar.

The deciding bucket for the Patriots (22-6) came with 18 seconds to play on Michael Lott’s putback of a missed free throw that gave Miramar the lead for good, punching its ticket to the state semifinals Friday in Lakeland.

Game time and opponent are to be determined based upon reseeding.

In a game where the largest lead was five points, Miramar held a 34-31 edge on a Deshawn Jean-Charles’ putback with 3 minutes, 1 second left. But the Wildcats (18-8) would rally to forge ahead after layups by Kamdyn Ayres and one by Garrett Anderson with 46 seconds left to give Western a one-point lead.

After forcing a Miramar miss, the Wildcats were whistled for an offensive foul, then took a second while defending to send Faheim Meran to the line to shoot a pair. Meran missed both but Lott came off the left block to score the crucial basket.

Western nearly turned the ball over on the potential go-ahead possession and was then hampered bringing the ball up by Miramar, who had two fouls to give. But with seven seconds left, the Wildcats got the ball inbounds and into the hands Anderson, who led all scorers with 21 points. His running shot under the hoop drew iron and was claimed by Meran, who was then fouled with less than one second left.

Meran, who finished with 11 points, hit the back end of his two free-throws to ice the game.

Jean-Charles also had 11 points for the Patriots. — Tim Dwyer

Forest Hill reaches final four for first time: The Forest Hill boys basketball team is heading to the final four for the first time in school history. The host Falcons had five scorers in double figures and used a 12-0 run late in the first half to help pull away for a 71-61 victory against Park Vista in a boys basketball Class 7A regional final.

Forest Hill (28-2) advanced to the state semifinal and will play Friday in Lakeland.

Forest Hill junior forward Donovan Draper scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the first half. Senior point guard D’Ante Daniels and sophomore guard Mike Cooper each scored 12 points. Junior guard Jalen Jeter added 11 and senior forward Jonathan Mogbo had 10.

With the game tied at 23-23 with nearly four minutes left in the second quarter, Forest Hill went on a 12-0 spurt late in the first half to take control. Cooper scored seven points in the second, which included a 3-pointer and layup in transition after a steal to spark the Falcons. Mogbo also had a slam dunk during the run. Forest Hill had a 35-25 advantage at halftime.

“We try to concentrate on playing solid defense and during that run, our zone did a good job limiting them to one shot,” Forest Hill coach Tony Watson said. “We played team basketball and were able to spread the defense and that contributed to our success on offense with different players.”

Forest Hill led by as many as 16 points during the third quarter. Cooper had a three-point play to give the Falcons a 15-point advantage with 1:40 left in the third. Park Vista (21-7) closed the quarter with an impressive 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 54-46 entering the fourth. — Alex Kushel

Dillard’s Haynes dominates Mater: Friday’s Class 6A-Region 4 final was billed as a showdown between Dillard’s Jalen Haynes and Mater Academy’s Malik Reneau.

Mater, however, had no answers for Haynes.

The 6-foot-8 Dillard senior dominated the paint, scoring 28 points in the Panthers’ 71-58 victory. Reneau, among the top sophomores in the state, was held to just 1 point.

Dillard (24-7) advances to the boys state basketball tournament for the 11th time under coach Darryl Burrows and will meet a to-bedetermined opponent in the 6A state semifinals on Thursday.

“Coach Burrows stated they had no answers for us inside, so we took it to them early and kept our foot on the gas,” said Haynes, who connected on 13 of 17 shots from the field and had more than a handful of rebounds.

“It feels great, man,” said Haynes, a high-major

Division I prospect. “We came with one goal and a mission to make it back to Lakeland and win it this year.”

Kirt Bromley added 11 points for Dillard. The younger Darryl Burrows contributed 10 and Ivan Reynolds had 8 points, 8 rebounds and played well defensively versus Reneau.

Dillard has won seven state championships under Burrows. —Pat Lammer

Chaminade football star Franklin two wins from state-title double: Thaddius Franklin, Johnny O’Neil and Andre Weir combined for 53 points and 22 rebounds to lead the Chaminade-Madonna Lions (23-8) to a 65-47 win over the visiting Riviera Prep Bulldogs (24-7) in a Class 3A regional final in Hollywood.

In fact, Franklin, O’Neil, and Weir scored every point for the Lions in the second half.

“Thaddius Franklin was what we needed tonight as he got to the rim, grabbed some big rebounds and defended well,” said Chaminade-Madonna coach Andre Torres.

Franklin — who set a Florida high school rushing record of 333 yards in the Lions’ state-championship football win in December — had a game-high 22 points.

The game was close for three quarters as the Bulldogs led by two after the first quarter, 15-13. The Lions responded with a strong second quarter as they outscored the Bulldogs by six to take a four-point lead at halftime, 32-28. And, each team scored 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Chaminade will play Wednesday in a state semifinal in Lakeland.

One of the key points of the game took place within the first 90 seconds of the second half, as the 6-10 Weir picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench for the rest of the third quarter. The Bulldogs were unable to use their tallest player, 6-7 Osmar Garcia, to cut into the Lions’ lead.

The game began to change in favor of Chaminade-Madonna when Weir re-entered the game with 4:47 to go in the fourth quarter, with his team leading by six. At the 4:07 mark, Franklin made a huge 3-pointer which gave the Lions a nine-point lead. Riviera Prep could not mount a comeback. O’Neil came to life in the fourth quarter as he scored 10 of his 17 points in the final eight minutes of the game. Weir added four of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. — Mike May