Deerfield Beach coach Kenny Brown shouts instructions to his team during the regional quarterfinal victory over Miramar. Photo By Gary Curreri
By Gary Curreri
Melvin Randall is hoping to add another milestone to an already successful season following Blanche Ely’s 75-58 victory over host Atlantic in the Class 7A regional final on Saturday.
Reserves Kahlil Thomas and Dallas Cameron filled in for three starters in foul trouble and helped the state’s top-ranked Tigers (28-2) advance to Lakeland for the first time since winning it all with (now Florida guard) Kenny Boynton Jr. in the 2006-07 season.
“Our bench was a big help [Saturday night],” said Randall, who has won three state championships (two with Deerfield Beach and one with Ely) and earlier this season won his 400th career game. “They stepped up to the plate. My starters were in foul trouble. Kahlil made some key steals and dunks and turned the momentum around. After that, we never looked back.”
With Tigers’ 6-6 forward Clide Geffrard and two other starters mired in foul trouble, Thomas provided a spark off the bench with 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Cameron added 10 points and six assists for the Tigers, who are ranked 19th in the country by ESPN FAB 50.
Ely advanced to the Class 7A state semifinals in Lakeland on Friday against St. Petersburg, which upset No. 4 Martin County 77-76.
Anterio Smith led Ely with 18 points. Benji Bell had 12 points and Geffrard finished with seven points and 10 rebounds in limited minutes.
Randall, a 1981 South Plantation High School grad, who went to Mercer University, said he knew his team was going to be a force this season.
“We have a pretty good group of young men,” Randall said. “I have had them for a couple of years. Over the summer, we played the AAU circuit. A lot of the coaches were surprised when I told them this was my high school team and not from different high schools. They were very impressed that we were extremely competitive. We went out to Dallas and finished eighth out of 64 teams in July.”
Randall believes his team has a chance to win state. Losing in the first round of Districts last year has galvanized the team.
“It is going to take some hard work,” Randall said.
“It is not easy when they get between those black lines on the court. I think losing last year helped us. It wasn’t a great feeling. I didn’t like it. I personally didn’t know how to react to it because it had never happened to me, but I know what it did to me — motivate me to work that much harder in preparing them to get a great experience.”
Bucks fall in regional final
Deerfield Beach High School came up short in its bid for a Class 8A state final four berth when it dropped a 67-61 decision to visiting Spanish River on Saturday.
“It was a lack of execution,” said Deerfield Beach coach Kenny Brown. “We just missed a lot of easy shots in the first and second half, but you had two really good teams playing a well-played game. We just came up short.”
