Harris, Elyzee power Pines Charter boys basketball to first state final since 2021
Pembroke Pines Charter players spent extra time running during their conditioning sessions throughout the offseason.
It’s something that carried over to their regular season practices and keeps the Jaguars in top physical condition to withstand the grind of high-level basketball games.
That stamina served them well on Thursday night during a 61-34 victory over Ponte Vedra in a Class 6A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“We knew we were the more conditioned team and the more prepared,” Pines Charter guard Josh Harris said. “Our chemistry on and off the court is amazing.”
As they have for some time, the tandem of Harris and Jeremy Elyzee powered Pines Charter to its first state final since it won its first state title in 2021.
The Jaguars (24-4) will try to add a second championship on Saturday when they take on Orlando Edgewater at 3 p.m. in the 6A final.
“It’s amazing. It never gets old,” Pines Charter coach Dave Roca said. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be up here and we’re humbled. Every time we’re part of this we’re taking it all in.”
The Jaguars led wire-to-wire as Harris finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Elyzee totaled 19 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Ramez Zayed also had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Roca credited his team’s preparation, not just physically, but mentally as well. Roca said his coaching staff was able to watch film and put together a good scouting report on what Ponte Vedra’s strengths were.
The Jaguars limited the Sharks to 15 of 48 shooting including 4 of 17 from three-point range. Pines Charter also scored 19 points off 16 Sharks turnovers.
They were also able to limit the combination of Ponte Vedra guards Sam Ritchie and David Sanchez Barrera, holding them to 15 combined points on 6 of 19 combined shooting.
“I was thanking my coaches because we took a lot of time to watch game film,” Roca said. “We kind of knew what they were looking to do, their actions, their elevated screens for (Ritchie) and our job was to shut him down by taking him away and pressuring (Sanchez Barrera) and we knew they didn’t have another strong ball handler.”
The Jaguars appear to be peaking at the perfect time and it helped them through a tough region in victories over South Plantation and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Elyzee said the goal Thursday was to come out with a similar mindset and achieve the same result.
“We just talked about coming out with the same intensity we did the last two games,” Elyzee said.
The Jaguars also dominated in the paint despite the Sharks trying to crowd things near the rim on defense which slowed the game down in the second and third quarters. Pines Charter finished with a 50-20 edge on points in the paint.
“They packed in the paint once we went up, we wanted to bring them out, open up those driving lanes and get to the basket,” Roca said.
This story was originally published March 8, 2024 at 10:56 AM.
