FLEMING ISLAND - With one of the strongest fields in recent history, Fleming Island High basketball coach Traavis Chandler took his lumps over the weekend but relished the competition that his tournament put on the courts of both Fleming Island and Orange Park high schools.

"We knew coming in that this was going to be a very competitive group of teams with Creekside, Ribault, Andrew Jackson and teams from Louisiana and Tennessee," said Chandler, who won his first game; a 54-39 win over 5A-Auburndale, a region semifinalist last year, before a thrilling loss to eventual tournament runnerup 7A-Creekside; 60-58, and a loss to 3A-Santa Fe Catholic, a 9-2 squad from Lakeland, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A and No. 1 in Tampa. Santa Fe Catholic lost in the region finals in 2020 to eventual 3A champion Saint Andrews who beat Andrew Jackson for the title. Andrew Jackson, one of the strongest programs in Florida, lost to Calvary Christian in the 3A Final in 2022. "I wanted to see how the boys reacted to the competition that was going to be here. Then, me and the coaches could figure a way to be ready for the districts and regions and another Final Four run."

Against Creekside, Fleming Island battled to a 58-57 lead with a Carson Crawford free throw set before the Knights canned a final toss to win the game with 0.6 seconds on the clock.

Against Auburndale, Crawford, a freshman, controlled the pain with 13 points and 10 rebounds with senior guard George Hamm dishing four assists.

"We had such a tough game with Creekside and the guys were kind of moping for the first part of the Santa Fe game," said Chandler. "We have to learn to move on to the next game because the playoffs are win or go home. You can't have a bad game and play worse the next game."