Raiders reach state title game after whipping Broward 95-74
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DUSTIN KENT / Jackson County Floridan
Published: March 7, 2008
Josh Hunter led five OW starters with 14 or more points with a 23-point effort as the Raiders cruised to a 95-74 win.
OW, the nation's No. 6 team and the Panhandle Conference runner-up, has won its first two games of the tournament by an average of 16.5 points per game.
The win sets up the fourth matchup of the season with Panhandle-rival Chipola, which defeated Indian River Friday night in the other semifinal.
Chipola defeated OW in two of the three regular season matchups, both at home, to win the league championship.
The Raiders looked the part of a championship team themselves Friday.
OW came out on fire in the first half, knocking down seven of its nine total 3-pointers in the game's first 20 minutes to take a 49-38 halftime lead.
However, Broward stormed back with a furious rally to start the second half, as Devon Peterson sparked an 11-2 Seahawks run by scoring seven of his game-high 33 points in the first 2:10 of the second half.
A jumper by Tony Dennison trimmed the deficit to just two at 51-49 with 16:44 to play.
The Raiders answered right back, though, getting a pair of triples from Charvez Davis, followed by a bucket and a tip-in by Johnny Lett to push the lead back to 63-52.
A bucket, a pair of free throws and a tip dunk, all by OW's Lashun Watson, gave the Raiders a 71-57 lead.
A thunderous, one-handed, tomahawk dunk by Keith Ramsey moments later brought the crowd to its feet and put the Raiders up 15 with 8:32 to play.
Two-handed dunks by Tay Waller and Watson put the exclamation point on the victory, putting OW up 90-74 in the closing minute of the game.
The championship game will tip at 5 p.m. Saturday.
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