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Weird season for Fleming Island ends

By Ray DiMonda Correspondent
Posted 3/2/22

PONTE VEDRA - As the Fleming Island High School Golden Eagles boys’ basketball team; shocked from a 9-0 season start to a 12-12 finish due to a controversial illegal player situation, powered …

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Weird season for Fleming Island ends


Posted

PONTE VEDRA - As the Fleming Island High School Golden Eagles boys’ basketball team; shocked from a 9-0 season start to a 12-12 finish due to a controversial illegal player situation, powered through the district and region playoffs with exciting come-from-behind wins over Buchholz High’s Bobcats, Tallahassee’s Lincoln High Trojans, and the Fletcher High Senators all in the comfortable confines of The Nest at Fleming Island High School, it was time to pack up the bags and head over to Ponte Vedra as the number two seeded Golden Eagles would take on the number one seeded Sharks inside the Shark Tank for the opportunity to travel to the Class 6A Final Four.

After a grueling pace, with 22.5 left in the first half, off a Sharks time out, Ponte Vedra had the throw in, worked the ball around to drain the clock, and nailed a three pointer at the buzzer to deflate the Fleming Island morale and go into the locker room up 31-30. The Golden Eagles had an error filled third quarter that was simply too much to recover from as Ponte Vedra won 60-49 to advance to the Class 6A Final Four.

“The third quarter was key,” said Fleming Island Head Coach Traavis Chandler. “We came out a little flat, we let them hit some shots, and we kind of lost our rhythm on offense.”

Now number two seeded, the Sharks move into the state semi-finals, to take on number three seeded Winter Haven. For the north Florida area, Ponte Vedra is joined by Andrew Jackson in 4A, North Florida Education in 2A and Bradford County in 1A as Final Four teams. Bradford was to play Hawthorne in the Class 1A final on March 2. Andrew Jackson is in its fourth straight Final Four under coach James Collins with Collins owning five state titles including a 1993 championship ring as a player. Jackson beat both Fleming Island and Orange Park this year. Ponte Vedra is in their first-ever Final Four. Also from the area, 5A-Riverside and 3A-Providence both lost their region finals.

The very physical game was at breakneck speed all evening and both teams had minor issues early as two minutes came off the board before the Sharks finally broke the ice with a two point basket, only to have Fleming Island come right back with a Gavin Rayes three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles an early 3-2 lead. The entire first half looked like everyone would be in for a last second shootout. That was until the teams went into the locker room.

The momentum train boarded by the Sharks before the half just seemed to gain speed when the teams reemerged from the locker rooms. Meanwhile- the Golden Eagles chose the wrong night to come out flat from the break.

“The third quarter was definitely the difference,” said Chandler.

The Sharks (26-3) smelled blood in the water and quickly took advantage. The Golden Eagles were missing typical layups and inside the arc field goals. The Sharks always had a “garbage man” stationed under the net to come away with the rebounds and used lightening quick passes to rocket the ball down court and score.

“We had to make a decision to stop their drive or stop their three,” said Chandler.

The Shark’s shuffle and cut offense in the third was another issue Fleming Island had a hard time getting a handle on.

“That shuffle cut offense is tough to guard,” said Chandler. “You have to make rapid decisions. At times we just didn’t make the right decision.”

When the Golden Eagles did come up with a stop, 11 times the Sharks came up with a steal and nearly all resulted in points. Even after timeouts and dialing it back in, Chandler could not find the secret sauce to slow down the Sharks in the third.

“I thought guys got a little fatigue and they stopped crashing the glass,” said Chandler.

Out by 14 points at the end of the third, the Shark domination only needed to roll on for eight more short minutes.

With the double-digit lead, and Fleming Island going cold in three-point land, the Sharks went into passing and clock killing mode in the fourth, seemingly able to score at will any time Fleming Island would get the ball and put two more on the board. With 3:18 to play, when Fleming Island drew to only nine points back, 54-45, the Sharks simply turned up the wick and went to work. “As Coaches, maybe we could have made more adjustments, but... PV played one heck of a game.”