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BOYS' BASKETBALL

Blanche Ely wins thriller against Dillard; Boyd Anderson next

Blanche Ely won a thriller 81-79 over Dillard and will face Boyd Anderson for the BCAA Big 8 boys' basketball title.

flyon@MiamiHerald.com

Blanche Ely guard Fredrick Conner scored 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, and Marckenley Isaac made the game-winning free throws with two seconds left to lift the Tigers past Dillard 81-79 in the BCAA Big 8 Boys' Basketball semifinals Friday at Fort Lauderdale High School.

The win sends the Tigers into the finals on Saturday night against long-time rival and two-time reigning Big 8 champion Boyd Anderson, a 62-44 winner over Douglas in the first semifinal.

''I just wanted to come out and help my teammates,'' Conner said. ``We had to show the crowd we could win and be one of the top teams. We had to win a big game so we have Boyd Anderson tomorrow. We have to be aggressive like we did tonight.''

Trailing 79-76, Dillard got the ball back after the Tigers were called for a five-second violation and tied it on a three-pointer by Courtney Ojeda with five seconds left.

The Tigers immediately rushed the ball up the court and found Isaac, who was fouled by Ojeda. Isaac calmly sank both free throws, and Robert Burger's desperation half-court heave at the buzzer glanced off the corner of the backboard, sending the Tigers' faithful into a frenzy.

Jonathan Randolph scored 16 points, and Bryce Clark and David Jean-Jacques added 12 points each for the Tigers. Dillard got a team-high 18 points from Burger and Sherman Gammage. Fred Landers added 15 points.

• Boyd Anderson 62, Douglas 44: Trying to stop Boyd Anderson's Big Three of Martavious Irving, Bryan Bynes and Cedric Flood-Smith is difficult.

The moment teams get a handle on Flood-Smith spotting up from the corners, Bynes breaks free for an open court dunk or Irving is whirling around a path of defenders for a layup.

After a relatively slow start, Irving, Bynes and Flood-Smith turned it on in the second half for the win.

Irving scored a team-high 18 points, Flood-Smith added 16 and Bynes added 12 points, including four high-wire dunks for the Cobras (23-1, No. 13 in the ESPN Rise poll).

''We came out kind of sluggish,'' Flood-Smith said. ``We knew what Douglas was going to do -- we watched them on film. We picked it up in the fourth quarter, played defense and won the game.''

Boyd Anderson looked to make a big push when Douglas' leading scorer, Darrell Jonassaint went to the bench with two quick fouls midway through the first quarter.

Boyd Anderson led 8-3 at the time but scored only six points for the rest of the quarter, and Douglas tied the score at 16 with 5:24 left in the second quarter.

Bynes provided the spark Boyd Anderson needed with back-to-back tomahawk dunks to open the third quarter. Then it was Irving's turn, stealing the ball from Jonassaint, tip-toeing the sideline and converting a driving layup to push the lead to 40-32 with 2:28 left in the period.

Ely (20-4): Green 9, Jean-Jacques 12, Isaac 4, Clark 12, Conner 28, Randolph 16.

Dill (21-4): Burger 18, Ojeda 7, Gammage 18, Burrows 10, Landers 15, Eason 10.

Half: Dill 38-37. Three-pointers: Burger 1, Ojeda 1, Gammage 1, Green 3, Conner 2, Randolph 1.

Doug (21-5): Jonassaint 20, Haas 2, Moskowitz 2, Swarzak 6, Asuncion 8, Champey 6.

BA (23-1): Elliott 6, Walters 2, Flood-Smith 16, Irving 18, Bynes 12, Davis 2, Ferguson 6. Half: BA 30-21. Three-pointers: Champey 2, Flood-Smith 2, Irving 3, Ferguson 2.

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