Jaguars nearing shot at history

LAKELAND — If you told Pembroke Pines Charter coach Dave Roca that his team would go only 1 for 16 from 3-point range, he would’ve expected his Jaguars to be packing up to head back to Broward after their state semifinal game against Naples.

“The stage got a little bit bigger, and no, I did not,” Roca said. “I couldn’t imagine going 1 for 16 from the 3-point line.”

Instead, Pembroke Pines Charter advanced to its first state championship game with an 81-71 win over Naples at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Thursday. The Jaguars are seeking the school’s first title in a sport other than softball.

“Our school has been in it to win it year in and year out,” Roca said. “We’ve just been [in a] district and our region with a team that would come in, year in and year out, to win a state title. So, for us, we felt like the state championship was down in South Florida. So we’re looking forward to this year, really having this opportunity and making the best of it.

Both teams got off to slow starts in the first quarter, with neither team scoring in the game’s first two minutes and 42 seconds.

Pembroke Pines Charter benefited from numerous Naples fouls, getting into the double bonus in the second quarter and knocking down 11 of 12 first-half free throws. Bizarrely, Naples’ first 11 fouls were by 11 different players. The Jaguars built an 11-point lead in the second quarter, but Naples came back to cut the lead to seven by the end of the half.

Although the Golden Eagles got within three points in the third quarter, they never took the lead from the Jaguars. Senior Fab Five pick Dallas Graziani led all scorers with 29 points, including 15 points on free throws. As a team, Pines Charter went 26 of 29 from the free-throw line.

“I think that was the difference,” Roca said. “We understand we’ve got to make free throws in the playoffs.”