Santa Fe Catholic, Discovery advance in boys hoops, Auburndale falls

LAKELAND — Trey Lane hit six three-pointers, including three it the first quarter, to finish with 22 points and lead Santa Fe Catholic to a 65-44 victory over Melbourne Holy Trinity Episcopal on Tuesday night in the Class 2A, Region 3 boys basketball semifinals at Santa Fe.

Santa Fe Catholic will play at Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian at 7 p.m. on Friday in the region finals.

Leading by six points after the first quarter, 19-13, Santa Fe grabbed a double digit lead in the second quarter, outscoring Holy Trinity by 10 points to take a 37-21 halftime lead.

Holy Trinity never challenged the rest of the game.

Alvin Tomplin scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half for the Crimson Hawks. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Johnny Torrence led Santa Fe with 10 points in the second half and finished with 12 points.

Theo Mansell led Holy Trinity with 16 points, and Buay Toang added 13 points.

Class 4A, Region 2

Discovery 60, McKeel 47

LAKELAND — Discovery fell short against district rival McKeel 10 days ago in the district championship game, but it was a different story on Tuesday night.

The Spartans used an up-tempo transition game to defeat the Wildcats, 60-47, in the Class 4A, Region 3 semifinals and advanced to the region finals for the first time in school history.

Discovery will play at Titusville Astronaut at 7 p.m. on Friday night in its bid for a berth in the Class 4A boys basketball state tournament.

Junior Willie Stallworth led Discovery with 17 points. Seniors Marquise Rue and Anderson Exactas added 16 points and 15 points respectively.

Stallworth was especially motivated.

"I didn’t play my best last game, I left a lot of plays out there on both ends," he said. "I wanted to pick up my teammates from the tip off and set the example early."

Discovery set the tone from the start with its transition game.

“We wanted to get out and run, push the pace, and get out to shooters on defense," Discovery coach Weedlens Beauvil said. "We are at our best when we attack the basket on offense and press on defense. They did a good job against our defense in the first meeting, forcing us to over help and lose track of their shooter; so we wanted to add some wrinkles and adjust our game plan.”

The Wildcats made a specific effort in stopping McKeel 3-point specialist Cooper Ellis on the outside.

McKeel post player Blake Barquin got in early foul trouble that took the Wildcats out of their rhythm.

Discovery took a nine-point lead in the second quarter and maintained the lead the rest of the game.

Class 5A, Region 2

Rockledge 46, Auburndale 44

ROCKLEDGE —  Auburndale trailed by seven points entering the fourth quarter and managed to grab a three-point lead. The Bloodhounds (17-4), however, could not hold on and saw their season end.