Parker leads from start to finish, cruises into boys hoops state title game

LAKELAND - Lamar Seymore figured the best way to celebrate his birthday was for the Parker boys basketball team to go out and make history.

Overlooked, undersized and as of late, unstoppable, the Braves are bound for their first state championship game in 45 years following Thursday's 74-49 rout of Brooksville Nature Coast Technical at the Lakeland Center.

The Braves blew open a one-point game with a dominant close to the third quarter and stormed into the Class 5A state championship game for the first time since 1967. They'll face Lake Wales at 10:05 a.m. Saturday.

The Braves are vying to become the First Coast's first public school state champion since Raines won back-to-back titles in 2003-04. And who'd have thought that this Parker team, which lost leading scorer Solomon Poole midway through the season and wasn't given much of a chance to succeed without him, would be on the verge of making history?

"It hasn't sunk in yet," said Seymore, who celebrated his 17th birthday with a game-high 23 points. "It will soon, though."

Parker (25-5) never trailed in the game, but needed a blistering second half to pull away from a much bigger Sharks team that had height advantages over Parker at nearly every position.

"We got off to a hot start and they couldn't catch up," said Parker guard Keith Williams, whose four consecutive 3-pointers in the game's first four minutes gave the Braves a lead they never lost.

Having watched a lead that was as high as 12 points in the first half fade into a 36-35 game midway through the third, Parker didn't bend.

When Nature Coast(29-2) heated up, the Braves managed to get even hotter.

"It seemed like we always persevered," said Parker coach Elijah Wells.

As it had done throughout the game when the Sharks went on a run, the Braves countered in bunches. A Michael Hoy 3-pointer from the left corner ignited the decisive burst in the third, and Williams kept it going with five points in the final two minutes of the quarter.

The 10-2 run, combined with a physical defense that allowed just two field goals in the quarter, turned a razor-thin lead into a 46-37 edge entering the fourth. The Sharks cut Parker's lead to 46-41 with a pair of quick baskets in the final quarter, but the Braves hit the gas pedal and crushed Nature Coast. Seymore was unstoppable in the quarter, at one point scoring 10 consecutive points.

"Once we got back within a certain distance, Terry Parker made a run," Nature Coast coach David Pisarcik said.

Parker's quick guards and efficiency from the field neutralized the Sharks' heavy size advantage. Center Tyler Bergantino, a 6-foot-9 player who has signed with Massachusetts, finished one block short of a triple-double, but was essentially a nonfactor when the Braves turned up their pressure. He had 18 points and 11 rebounds, but had just four points in the second half.

Justin Barney: (904) 359-4248