It’s been a historic season for the Newberry Panthers boys basketball, with Newberry enjoying a perfect regular season and its first district title since 2004.
But on Monday night at Barry Gymnasium, the host Panthers came up just short in their region semifinal matchup against Florida State University High (Tallahassee).
Florida High pulled away from a tie late in the fourth quarter to eliminate host Newberry 56-51 in the Region 1-3A Semifinals.
The Seminoles (21-5) move on to the region final on Thursday at top-seed Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville). The winner advances to the 3A state semifinals next week at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Newberry (24-1) had won 24 games in a row coming into Monday’s matchup. The second-seeded Panthers traded the lead with Florida High on many occasions throughout the game.
The game was played before a packed gym and was pretty intense and physical throughout.
“I got a chance to scout Florida High when they played Jackson and I started to wonder if we could compete with them,” Newberry coach Patrick Green said. “They [Florida High] had all that size and athleticism, but we challenged our guys and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The Seminoles and Panthers see-sawed back-and-forth in the opening quarter, with Florida High holding a 13-12 edge.
Florida High took the biggest lead of the contest at 18-12 halfway through the second period, but Newberry scored seven straight points to re-take the lead. The Seminoles rallied to go ahead 24-21 at halftime.
Junior Juwan Scippio had eight of his 12 points in the opening half for Newberry.
In the second half, senior Collin Dunmore took over inside for Newberry. He scored six quick points as the Panthers again moved ahead, 31-30.
“Funny story about him [Dunmore] was he originally declined to play basketball this year,” Green said. “All of a sudden he changed his mind, and I thank God he did. He was huge tonight, especially with his size and athleticism.”
But senior guard Amare Robinson answered with five quick points, including a 3-pointer, and Florida High moved back ahead 40-36 heading into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, the two teams were tied at 40-40 and 44-44. Junior Henry Matthias knocked down a 3-pointer for Newberry to tie the game again at 49-49 with two minutes left.
But the Seminoles got back-to-back baskets and held on with three free throws in the final minute. Matthias missed a possible game-tying 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds.
Senior Trey Card led Florida High with 12 points, with Robinson adding 11 and Eli Dickey and Iyran Francis chipping in 9 points apiece.
Dunmore led Newberry with 14 points and Scippio added 12 points.
Newberry loses seven seniors, including Dunmore and Logan McCloud. Green says this group will always be remembered fondly.
“Our community has gone through a whole lot in the past year and a couple of months,” Green said. “What these guys were able to do for this community, they pulled everybody together and gave them something to cheer for. It was a very special season.”
Boys Basketball
Monday, Feb. 17
FHSAA Regional Semifinals
(area teams in bold)
Class 5A-Region 12 Ponte Vedra 60, 3 Gainesville (21-7) 57
Class 4A-Region 21 Eustis 67, 4 Santa Fe (Alachua) 52
Class 3A-Region 1
3 Florida High (Tallahassee) 56, 2 Newberry 51
Region Finals
Rural Class-Region 4
1 Hawthorne 45, 2 Williston 43
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Rural Class-Region 3
2 Fort White (14-9) at 1 Hilliard (15-5), 7 p.m.
