St. Joe downs Seahawks for district title

Franklin County hung around long enough to have a shot, but Port St. Joe held off the pressure for a 60-51 win Saturday night and the right to claim the District 3-2A boys basketball crown.

The Tiger Sharks padded an 8-0 regular-season district record by winning their 17th consecutive district tournament title. They easily brushed aside Liberty County on the Bulldogs’ home floor Friday night.

By finishing as runner-up, the Seahawks (17-9) made the state playoffs for the third consecutive year, setting up a regional showdown tonight, Feb. 18 in Tallahassee at 7 p.m. against the Maclay Marauders (20-4).

The Seahawks came out in a halfcourt 1-3-1 trap, which at times kept Port St. Joe (23-4) off balance Saturday night. But the Tigers Sharks lived up to their No. 1 seed.

“Just a good hard-fought win,” was how Port St. Joe coach Derek Kurnitsky described the outcome. “One of those playoff kind of gut-check games.”

Raheem Clemons scored eight of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter for Port St. Joe. Calvin Pryor added 17 points and eight rebounds, Roman Quinn had 10 points and Darrell Smith eight rebounds.

Clemons’ 3-pointer at the buzzer extended the Tiger Sharks’ lead to 12-8 after one quarter. With Pryor and Clemons leading the way, that expanded to 35-22 at halftime.

Even with Seahawks’ leading scorer Austin O’Neal on the bench with three fouls throughout much of the third quarter, the Seahawks rallied. They continued their trapping pressure, and surged behind O’Neal and Arron Prince to get within 45-35 after three quarters.

A basket by Trekale Turrell on O’Neal’s assist drew Franklin County as close as 45-40 with five minutes to go. But Clemons made four consecutive free throws down the stretch to keep the Tiger Sharks in charge.

“That was our chance,” said Seahawks Coach Fred Drake. “We just didn’t capitalize on it.”

O’Neal finished with 19 points and Prince had 13 for Franklin County.

“We had a game plan defensively to take away the three-point shot, but we missed some key rebounds, and key free throws,” said Drake. “We missed too many offensive rebounds on missed shots.”

The Seahawks earned their right to advance by downing West Gadsden 58-44 Friday night, fighting back after West Gadsden took a four-point lead in the third quarter.

“We switched to a different trap, switched to a 1-2-2 and that got us a good spark,” he said. “There were a couple of our kids looked a little nervous and a little jittery because they knew what was on the line. They made a few mistakes out there but it was first-time, playoff jitters. It all worked out.”

Thursday’s regional opener will be the eighth time Drake’s Seahawks have gone up again Mike McGrotha’s Marauders in a three-year span.

Drake is wary of Maclay’s top shooter, Seth Roberts, who averages around 30 points per game. “We know we got to stop him,” he said. “We just got to stop and contain him and don’t let anyone else have a good game. Maclay has one of the best matchup zone defenses and they force you to shoot the jump shot.

“The biggest thing is worrying about that crowd. We have to get the crowd out of the game,” said Drake. We all know refs make calls depending on how the crowd goes.”

The coach said he plans to shelve his trademark stall, which has been known to infuriate Maclay fans. “That is a one-time thing,” he said. “It would be an option if we get a nice lead.”

Drake said he is delighted with the play of his team over the last seven games, of which they’ve won five, even with losing star sophomore Carlos Morris.

“Everyone thought we would have folded,” he said. We really stepped up defensively. We just have to work out some kinks on offense. We got to get a little better on the rebounding part.”

Drake said he is looking forward to returning next year to coach a bumper crop of juniors, and some up-and-coming stars.

“I believe in loyalty and I proved I can coach and win without talent,” he said, noting that the team lost four of last season’s top players. “We’re happy to make the state playoffs three years in a row. That says a lot about the coaching staff and the kids. They responded well to adversity.

“We’re just going to try to shock the world on Thursday. We’re trying to go steal a game,” he said.

Feb. 12 vs. West Gadsden @ Bristol

West Gadsden   8   18   11   7 – 44

Franklin Co.      12  15   16  15 – 58

SEAHAWKS: Arron Prince 7/13 2s, 1/4 3s, 2/4 FTs, 19 pts.; Dalin Modican 1/5 2s, 2 pts.; James Winfield 1/3 2s, 1/3 FTs, 3 pts. Adam Joseph 4/4 2s, 8 pts.; Austin O’Neal 10/24 2s, 0/2 3s, 6/9 FTs, 26 pts.

Totals: 23/52 2s, 1/6 3s, 9/16 (56%) FTs

Rebounds: O’Neal 12, Joseph 11; Modican 10, Winfield 9; Prince 7, Michael Turner, Tre’kale Turrell

Steals: Winfield 5, Modican 4, O’Neal 2

Assists: O’Neal 4; Joseph, Prince, Modican 2; Turrell, Winfield,

Blocks: Joseph

Feb. 13 vs. Port St. Joe @ Bristol

Franklin Co.     8   14    13   16 – 51

Port St. Joe     12   23  10  15 – 60

SEAHAWKS: Prince 6/11 2s, 0/2 3s 1/4 FTs, 13 pts.; Modican 2/5 2s, 5/6 FTs, 9 pts.; Winfield 1/2 2s, 2 pts.; O’Neal 5/16 2s, 0/4 3s, 9/14 FTs, 19 pts.; Zachary Jones 0/3 2s, 2/4 FTs, 2 pts.; Tre’kale Turrell 2/5 2s, 2/2 FTs, 6 pts.

Totals: 16/42 2s, 0/6 3s, 19/30 (63%) FTs

Rebounds: Jones 4; O’Neal 10; Winfield 4; Prince 5; Joseph 10; Modican 6, Turrell

Steals: Prince 2; O’Neal; Joseph, Winfield

Assists: O’Neal 3; Prince, Joseph, Modican, Turrell

Blocks: O’Neal, Modican

TIGER SHARKS: Trubias Hill 1/2 3s 3 pts.; Roman Quinn 3 2s, 0/5 3s, 4/8 FTs, 10 pts.; Raheem Clemons 3 2s, 3/6 3s, 5/6 FTs, 20 pts.; Darrell Smith 1 2s, 1/2 FTs, 3 pts.; Rakeem Quinn 1 2s, 3/6 FTs, 5 pts.; Willie Quinn 2/4 FTs, 2 pts.; Calvin Pryor 5 2s, 1/3 3s, 4/6 FTs, 17 pts.