Hagerty and DeLand advance to the Class 8A, District 2 final at Lake Mary.

(Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando…)

February 8, 2013

Schuyler Rimmer hammered down a rebound dunk off a fast-break miss with seven seconds to go, and B.J. Taylor added a game-sealing steal as Boone (21-6) rallied to beat Dr. Phillips (19-8) 61-58 for the Class 8A, District 4 boys basketball title Friday night at Cypress Creek.

Taylor had 19 points, three assists, three rebounds and three steals for the Braves, district champs for the first time since 2002.

Rimmer added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Jeremy Bouton made three second-half 3-point shots as the Braves erased a 10-point deficit. Area scoring leader RaShawn Powell scored 29 points to set a DP single-season record (755) and triggered a dominant third quarter in which the Panthers erased an eight-point halftime deficit.

"Two great teams and a great battle," Boone coach Greg Shirley said. "My assistant coaches gave me some great ideas on things that made a difference in that fourth quarter."

Buddy Collings

Top seeds advance

Top-seeded Hagerty and second-seeded DeLand utilized superior team depth to carve out semifinal wins in the 8A, District 2 tournament at Lake Mary.

Hagerty (22-4) jumped out to an 11-point, first-quarter lead against Port Orange Spruce Creek (11-14) before escaping with a 50-43 victory. The Hawks crept to within six points, 48-42, with less than four minutes left before going cold.

Four players scored in double figures for Hagerty, led by Eric Castaneda and Luke Doyle with 13 points each. Henry Torres and Nick Nunkarch each added 10 points for the Huskies.

Malcolm Fletcher and Keyshawn Johnson had 10 points each for Spruce Creek.

DeLand (20-7) used a 14-0 run spanning the end of the second quarter and the start of the third quarter to blow out Lake Mary 56-40. Monolito Hamilton scored 24 points, and Jason Burnell had 12 for the Bulldogs. The final will be at 7 tonight.

Jeff Gardenour

Evans tops Oviedo

Courtney Williamson sank two free throws with less than a second left in overtime to give visiting Evans, ranked No. 13 in the Super 16, a 71-69 win over No. 14 Oviedo in the 7A-4 final. Oviedo's Matt Milon hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds of OT to tie the score at 69.

R.J. June fouled Williamson to give Evans (15-8) a chance to win. Williamson played just three games this season after being academically ineligible during the regular season.

"It couldn't have happened for a better guy, for someone who has had to sit and watch us play all year, because he is ineligible and now he has his chance at the end of the year when it counts the most," Evans coach Chucky Atkins said. "For him to step up says a lot about his character."

Evans' Deion James scored as time expired in regulation to tie the score at 60, just five seconds after Oviedo's Aaron Bennett gave the Lions the lead. James finished with 21 points. June led Oviedo (19-8) with 21 points.

Nicole Saavedra

Elsewhere:

•Windermere Prep (18-9) made 16 3-pointers and shot No. 9 3A First Academy (19-7) out of the playoffs with an 88-82 3A-5 semifinal win. The Lakers made six treys in the first quarter, three by Barry Babbitt. He hit another from NBA range to close the third period and Windermere's lead grew to 69-56 a minute into the fourth. "I think our system and our style took over," said Lakers coach Ben Wilson. "We spread them out and shared the ball really well." Host Trinity Prep (17-9), the fifth seed, upset top seed Mount Dora Bible 49-46 and meets Windermere in Saturday night's final.

•Joe Chealey and Haleem Brown both hit two crucial free throws down the stretch and Apopka (23-3) won 47-43 over Wekiva (14-12) in 8A-3 for its first district title in 34 years. The Blue Darters host Thursday's region quarterfinal vs. Dr. Phillips.

•Clermont East Ridge (22-6) prevailed 62-56 over Lake Minneola (18-7) in three overtimes and Kissimee Gateway (13-11) won 76-75 in double-OT over top seed Kissimmee Osceola (13-11) in the 7A-5 semifinals. Gateway's Justin Peters came off the bench to shoot two free throws for injured starter Felix Gonzalez (28 points) and made both for the victory with two seconds to go. Austin Mills made 6-of-7 free throws in the third OT as East Ridge tied its school record for wins in a season.

•Saturday's Faith Christian (23-1) at OCP (17-7) rematch is set after both cruised to 2A-5 semifinal wins. Faith edged defending state champ OCP 54-52 last month to end a six-year winning streak by the Warriors against district foes.