Choctawhatchee holds off Leesburg in 5A semis
LAKELAND — Choctawhatchee led for all but 18 seconds Thursday against Leesburg, but the Indians’ victory wasn’t secured until there were no seconds left on the clock.
The Indians stopped two Leesburg shots in the final 10 seconds to secure a 59-58 win in the Class 5A semifinals of the FHSAA boys basketball tournament at the RP Funding Center.
Choctawhatchee advances to the Class 5A championship game Saturday at 3 p.m.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games throughout the season and our guys always pull through,” Choctawhatchee coach Andrew Thigpen said. “I knew they (Leesburg) would make something happen there at the very end, but we got the stop that was needed.”
Choctawhatchee (26-2) took a 9-0 lead to start the game, led by as many as 13 points in the first half, and held that lead until Leesburg took its only lead of the game, 55-54, with 1:06 left in the game.
The Indians regained the lead, 56-55, on a basket by Jamil Bowles with 48 seconds to play. They eventually pushed it to 59-55 only to see Leesburg cut it to 59-58 on a shot by Justice Robinson with 9 seconds to play.
That’s when it got really interesting. The Indians threw the ball away on the in-bounds pass giving Leesburg a shot at the game-winner.
The Yellow Jackets (16-5) actually got two shots at it. After a miss with 3.8 seconds left, Choctawhatchee knocked the ball out of bounds giving Leesburg another shot at the buzzer, which also did not fall.
“You can’t beat that. You can’t ask for anything more than an opportunity (to win the game),” said Leesburg coach Sean Campbell. “We got clean shots off. If we’d made one, we’d be sitting here crying. We missed and we’re sitting here crying. But we had a shots at it, so I’ll take it.”
Choctawhatchee senior guard Amarion Pettis said it was a matter of everyone setting their minds on getting the stops.
“As a team, we just had to come out with the win,” Pettis said. “I knew we all were going to pull together and get the stops and come out with the win.”
For most of the first 20 minutes of the game, it looked like the Indians might not be challenged in the fourth quarter. An 11-1 run gave them a 29-16 lead in the second quarter. That lead was 34-26 at the half and grew to 40-28 in the third quarter before Leesburg mounted a comeback.
“They started pressing us a little bit, and my guys kind of panicked a little bit but that’s part of the game,” Thigpen said. “We settled down and handled the situation better, but my hat’s off to them. You get this far, you know they’re definitely going to fight the whole time.”
Leesburg cut it to one by the end of the third quarter and actually tied the game, 53-53, with 1:21 to play setting up the frantic final minute.
Javaris Young led a balanced Choctawhatchee offense with 15 points. Isaiah Bledsoe had 13, Pettis 12 and Bowles 11.
Andre Carter led Leesburg with 17. Justice Robinson had 15 and Camerin James 12.
CHOCTAWHATCHEE (59) – Jayce Brown 1-3 0-0 3, Isaiah Bledsoe 6-9 1-4 13, Tariq Pitts 1-1 0-0 2, Ezra McKenna 0-2 1-2 1, Javaris Young 4-7 6-7 15, Jamil Bowles 3-12 5-7 11, Elijah Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Asa Newell 0-0 0-0 0, Amarion Pettis 5-10 0-0 12, Brian Grant 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 13-20 59
LEESBURG (58) – Justice Robinson 4-13 5-7 13, Camerin James 4-14 3-8 12, Debin Graham 3-5 0-1 6, Andre Carter 6-14 0-0 17, Clifton Johnson 0-3 1-2 1, Charles Hill 4-6 1-2 9, Brandon Barry 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 10-20 58
Choctawhatchee 16 18 9 16 – 59
Leesburg 13 13 16 16 – 58
FG%: Choctawhatchee .420, Leesburg .368. 3-pt FG: Choctawhatchee 4-10 (Brown 1-2, Bledsoe 0-1, Young 1-1, Bowles 0-3, Pettis 2-3), Leesburg 6-17 (James 1-4, Carter 5-12, Johnson 0-1). Rebounds: Choctawhatchee 37 (Bowles 8), Leesburg 38 (James 10). Fouls Choctawhatchee 18, Leesburg 15. Fouled out: James . Technical: none. Assists: Choctawhatchee 12 (Bowles 5), Leesburg 9 (Robinson 4). Steals: Choctawhatchee 7 (Bledsoe 2, Bowles 2, Pettis 2), Leesburg 10 (James 3). Blocked shots: Choctawhatchee 7 (Young 3), Leesburg 4 (James 2). Turnovers: Choctawhatchee 20, Leesburg 17.