Zion Collins scored 26 points, and the West Orange Warriors withstood Seminole’s press to grab a 96-81 victory in the Class 9A, Region 1 championship game.
West Orange (17-13) will play Oak Ridge, a 57-54 winner over Osceola on Friday in 9A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland in Lakeland. The Warriors are headed to state for the first time since a 2005 semifinal loss.
The Warriors gutted Seminole (26-4), getting most of their points inside. While the Seminoles were trying to slow down K.J. Simon, Collins and Elijah Jackson were finding nooks and crannies in Seminole’s defense.
“We tried to switch the ball,” Simon said. “Nigel Brown came in. Jamarcus Clark took it to the basket. They focused on me on the drive, so we had other guards.”
Simon scored 21 points, and contributed nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals and three blocks. D.J. Harding added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors.
O’Shae Baker led Seminole’s charge early, scoring 14 of his 26 points in the first half. Marquis Drummond scored 16 for the ‘Noles but left with 6:43 to go in the fourth quarter with a right-ankle sprain. At that point, the Seminoles trailed 73-67.
Brooks added 15 points, eight rebounds.
Most teams would have caved after Seminole put 31 points on West Orange in the second quarter for a 51-38 halftime lead.
“I told them to keep our composure,” West Orange coach Eric Jones said. “I knew they had to run out of energy sometime. They’re one of the fastest teams we played.”
Collins led the Warriors back, scoring eight points during a 19-0 run that turned a 57-47 deficit into a 66-57 lead.
“I just tried to go at them,” Collins said. “They’re too small in the middle. We’ve been studying (their press), watching film. We were practicing really hard, trying to get it to the middle. It make things really easy.”
West Orange clinched the game at the free-throw line, going 10 of 10 in the fourth quarter. Jamarcus Clark went 6 of 6 and scored eight points for the Warriors. Seminole went 7 of 19 from the free-throw line in the second half.
“They took care of business on the glass and free-throw-wise,” Seminole coach Sylvester Wynn said. “They made theirs, and we missed ours. That’s the turning point right there.”
Seminole, which was trying to return to its first Final Four since 1980, loses only three seniors from the team. Wynn hopes that they can build on a district championship.
“We got a young crew, seven sophomores,” Wynn said. “We had a good season, 26-4 and district championship and region finals. With a young crew, no one expected us to get this far.”