By Mike Ridaught
Twitter & Facebook – @ThePrepZone
Saturday, Dec. 10
Hoops season is here.
It’s actually been here. I just finally got an opportunity to experience it after broadcasting football state semifinal games through the first of December.
Our first radio broadcast of the year was a doozy. It was a sustaining wave of emotions.
On the night that Vanguard (Ocala) named its floor after Hall of Fame coach Jim Haley prior to a key district showdown, the visiting Gainesville Hurricanes and host Knights put on a show in a match-up of unbeaten teams.
The Purple Hurricanes entered the game at 5-0, including 2-0 in 7A-District 4, while Vanguard entered at 3-0 & 1-0.
GHS won the previous meeting in Gainesville, ending the Knights’ 2016 season in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs on a basket by then-senior Rudy Bibb-Boyd with five seconds to play in overtime.
On Friday night, Gainesville led 34-31 at the half, and extended the lead to eight at the end of the third quarter, 50-42. It appeared the ‘Canes were heading to another victory against the Knights.
But seniors Phil Ortiz, who led the Knights in scoring last year, and Quez Clayton, who surpassed 1,000 points in his career this season, played pivotal roles in rallying the Knights to a 67-60 win in overtime in front of a capacity home crowd.
Ortiz was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the extra period, and Clayton hit a shot with just over 30 seconds to play in regulation to force overtime. Ortiz had a game-high 23 points, while Clayton scored all 10 of his points in the 2nd half and overtime.
Gainesville had taken a brief lead on a three right in front of the GHS bench by junior Christian Miller-Cardwell with 42 seconds to play, finishing with 20 points on the night. But Clayton answered.
Radio call of Miller-Cardwell and Clayton’s shots (Ridaught & Ryan Urquhart)
Listen to the entire broadcast here
Vanguard outscored Gainesville, 25-10, after the third quarter in breaking a two-game losing streak to their neighboring county rival.
“We played a quality team tonight,” GHS coach Kelly Beckham told the Ocala Star-Banner. “Coach Small does a great job and we had everybody ready but they out-performed us down the stretch.”
The two teams will face each other again at the Purple Palace in Gainesville on Thursday, January 26. It’s one of six games that will make air on local radio in the month of January. 
A total of 11 boys’ basketball games will appear on Florida Sports Talk in Gainesville (92.1 FM & 1230 AM) and Ocala (100.1 FM & 900 AM). We’ll also have a district championship game and the first two rounds of the state playoffs coming up in February.
Our next broadcast of high school basketball is coming up on Tuesday as The Rock (Gainesville) hosts Faith Baptist (Ga.). We’ll have ‘live’ video with Marty Pallman and Anthony Williams on the call.
Familiar football champions
The high school football season in Florida is officially over now following all eight state championship games this past weekend at Camping Wolrd Stadium in Orlando.
All eight teams that won a state title were ranked – 8A (#7 Miami Southridge), 7A (#1 Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas), 6A (#6 Miami Carol City), 5A (#1 Plantation American Heritage), 4A (#1 Cocoa), 3A (#2 Jacksonville Trinity Christian), 2A (#4 Jacksonville University Christian), and 1A (#2 Pahokee). They all have won a state title before.
The longest wait for a title was in 8A, where Miami Southridge won for the first time since 1993. Meanwhile, University Christian repeated and Trinity Christian tied a state record with its fourth straight title.
Pahokee certainly earned their state title in Class 1A by beating No. 4 Newberry, #3 Trenton, the defending 1A state champions, and #1 Madison County in the state playoffs. They beat unranked Baker, 34-21, in the title game.
But the team that defeated the most ranked opponents on the way to the title was Miami Carol City in Class 6A. The Chiefs won their fifth state title and first since 2003 following wins against No. 2 Miami Northwestern, top-ranked Mainland (Daytona Beach), #7 Charlotte (Punta Gorda) – all on the road, followed by a 14-6 win against #5 Lake Gibson (Lakeland) in the 6A championship game on Saturday.
