FLEMING ISLAND - Both Fleming Island and Oakleaf high school boys basketball teams roared out on to the court to impressive displays of aggresssive defense to lead in their district 4-8A semifinal …
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FLEMING ISLAND - Both Fleming Island and Oakleaf high school boys basketball teams roared out on to the court to impressive displays of aggresssive defense to lead in their district 4-8A semifinal contests, but the fast pace may have been costly as both teams lost; Oakleaf 35-29 to Bartram Trail and Fleming Island 57-44.
In other district action, Orange Park was to play Ridgeview on Wed., Feb. 14 at Wolfson in the district 4-6A semifinal while Clay was to play Ponte Vedra also on Wed., Feb. 14 at Matanzas High School in the district 5-6A semifinal. In district 3-7A, Middleburg lost to Nease 56-45 on Mon, Feb. 12 to end their season. In district 4-5A, Keystone Heights lost to Fort White 60-48 at Bradford County High School on Mon., Feb. 12. In district 2-3A. St. Johns Country Day School lost 76-63 to Christ’s Church Academy.
In the first game of the doubleheader at Fleming Island High School, Oakleaf got an impressive five blocked shots from center Chantz Williams in their opening stanza against Bartram Trail as the Knights bolted to a 9-5 first quarter lead behind a three pointer from guard Deonte Sherwood and steals to layups from Kenny Thomas.
Oakleaf kept pace to lead 17-16 at the halftime break with guard Saich Williams converting a nifty layup and a foul shot to end the half.
Bartram Trail started finding their sweet spot as the third ended at 25-25 with the momentum swing guided by the Bears who found the baseline behind Williams for layups. Bartram Trail shut down the Knights scoring at 29 points for the final 2:42 with a 5-0 run to end the game.
In the second game, Fleming Island (18-13) took district leader Creekside (22-4) with their own aggressive moving zone defense, but the Knights led 12-8 after the first period despite Josh Deleon’s opening three pointer exciting the Golden Eagle gym.
New to the Fleming Island lineup was junior varsity player Aaron Brown, a 6-3 center who manned the inside lanes admirably with key rebounds and defensive fronts. Brown also hit a layup plus a free throw with 32 seconds left to the break.
The Knights got handfuls of three-pointers from guards Noah Lippy and J’Michael Plummer to push ahead to a 23-15 halftime lead. In the third, with 1:47 left in the quarter, Fleming Island had fought back to as close as 33-25 in the low scoring contest and an anticipated fourth quarter run seemed imminent. A driving layup from Sebastian Astor closed the gap to 36-31 as the fourth quarter started, but Creekside kept the six point buffer to the five minute mark with a dunk from center DJ Dumas getting a time out from Fleming Island coach Traavis Chandler.
In the final two furious minutes, Creekside took advantage of Fleming Island ballhandling miscues to surge ahead, but Deleon shouldered on with a layup and a three pointer to end the game at 57-44.