Schools
Chargers Defeat Sentinels to Make School History
On Saturday night, Shorecrest boys' basketball team fought its way to an 86-68 win over Evangelical Christian. The team advances to the state final four tournament.
Crisp Gym was a full house at Saturday night's regional final match between the Shorecrest Chargers and the Evangelical Christian Sentinels. The crowd was decked out in green and yellow attire, in support of the home team.
, because in the history of Shorecrest, not one boys' basketball team has ever advanced to the state final four.
Saturday night was one for the history books.
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A solid defense and aggressive offense combined to guide the boys to regional success. Three-pointers were the Chargers weapon of choice, giving them a 20 point lead for most of the game.
With a final score of 86-68,
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Shorecrest Head Coach, Daryl Blume was all smiles after the win. "This is just awesome," said Blume. "This win was our dream."
Blume has had the group of now-seniors since they were in the 7th grade.
The state semi-final will be held in Lakeland at 9 p.m. Tuesday night. Blume says they are anxious to play again.
"We only have one day to practice before the next game, so we are going to just go out there and do what we do," Blume said.
St. Petersburg used a late rally to defeat Stuart Martin County, 77-76, Saturday at St. Petersburg (18-6) for the Class 7A region title. The win sends St. Petersburg to the state final four in Lakeland for the first time since 1972.
Demontrae Adams sank a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to give the Green Devils the winning margin. St. Petersburg, which was struggling to stop Martin County all night, had a defensive stop that will be remembered for years.
The Green Devils trailed by as much as six points with less than five minutes left and struggled to keep Martin County off the boards. Though the difference proved not to be insurmountable, it was sort of a strategy by coach Chris Blackwell to stay close if the Green Devils couldn't hold a lead.
"I didn't think (Martin County) played the schedule of basketball that we played," Blackwell said. "So I thought if we could just hang around and hang around that near the end, we would win."
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