FLEMING ISLAND - After a single-point separation through each of the first three-quarters of play, a break-neck paced fourth quarter forced the visiting Orange Park Raiders into several mistakes that were just too costly. The Fleming Island Golden Eagles had late-game three-pointers from Trace Burney, George Hamm, and Luke Frisbee to finally seal the tug-of-war match with Fleming Island breaking a five-game December loss streak and Orange Park going home disappointed with a 69-62 road loss to stop their win streak at four games.

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Note: Orange Park (8-6) regrouped to get a 53-51 win over 6A-Lake Gibson (5-7) on Saturday at the MLK Invitational at Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville. Oakleaf (10-4) also won a thriller, a 62-60 win over St. Petersburg Gibbs High (11-3) later in the afternoon at Andrew Jackson.

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“Energy and effort were the difference,” said Fleming Island Head Coach Traavis Chandler. “I think our guys decided they wanted this game a little more, they kicked it up, and our effort on the back end was better than the front end, so we were able to kick into high gear at the right time.”

The Raiders opened it up early with speed and scoring, getting ahead 7-2 before the Golden Eagles could find the keys to picking up the pace. At the buzzer of the first quarter, they shaved the Orange Park lead to one basket, 14-12.

The defense was simple with both teams sticking with very tight, almost glued to each other man-to-man. With each minute burned off the clock, the speed and physicality cranked up a notch. At the half, it was Fleming Island with the razor-thin single-point lead, 27-26.

Out from the locker room, the intensity did not pause as both teams looked shot out of a cannon quickly. At the end of three quarters, the Golden Eagles stayed out front by only a single basket, 42-40.

Then the fourth quarter kicked in and the Golden Eagles went into overdrive, forcing Raider mistakes.

“You can’t turn the ball over that many times and win,” said Raider Head Coach Derek Kurnitsky. “That’s the bottom line, you just can’t do it. I wish we were better at that, but right now we’re not.”

What Kurnitsky referred to were the mistakes of passes out of bounds, missing rebounds, and just turning the ball over after three-quarters of hard-fought play.

Fleming Island started the fourth by banging a three-pointer off the corner, then just kept pouring on the gas, getting ahead by 11 points, 55-44 with 4:24 remaining. With a time-out and some players swapping off the bench, Orange Park found their way and began chipping away at the lead. Fleming Island never slowed down, just missed a few shots that Orange Park came down with and cashed in.

With 1:05 remaining, the Raiders shaved it down to 62-58. Then, another costly mistake with a double technical called on the Raiders which the Golden Eagles drained, 66-58. The Raiders again closed the lead, 66-60, but the clock was their enemy with 35.7 remaining.

On the rebound, Fleming Island played keep away, allowing Orange Park one more basket after hitting a last Fleming Island foul shot for the 69-62 final.

Less than 24 hours later, Orange Park righted the ship beating the Lake Gibson Braves 53-51. Fleming Island looks forward to Tuesday evening taking on the Baker County Wildcats in the Eagles Nest.