JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On February 28, 2020, the #1 seed Paxon School For Advanced Studies Golden Eagles (25-5) took on the #2 seed Bishop Kenny Crusaders (24-5) in a 4A Regional Finals game.
Paxon won the first quarter 20-13 thanks to a 9 point first quarter from Isaiah Adams. Adams electrified the crowd with his high flying dunks and great defense. But Gary Anderson kept the Crusaders in the game by notching 5 of the Crusaders 13 first quarter points.
The second quarter was more of a defensive quarter for both sides. Although he didn’t show up a lot in the stat book, Josue Rivera took a charge for the Golden Eagles that was the catalyst for their momentum. Paxon ended up winning the second quarter 10-7. Adams and Derrick Johnson Jr. combined for 6 of the Golden Eagles 10 points.
The third quarter was very offensive minded from both sides. The Crusaders came alive in the third and were down by as many as 5. Garrett Beagle and Ross Candelino each put up 6 points to combine for 12 of the Crusaders 16 third quarter points. But Paxon still managed to win the third quarter 18-16.
The final quarter, saw the Crusaders put up one final fight. Daniel Buckley was perfect from the charity stripe going 8/8 for the night with 6 of those coming in the fourth quarter alone. Candelino contributed 8 points in the 8 minute frame for him and Buckley to combine for 14 of the Crusaders 20 points. But Adams went off for 12 points in the final 8 minutes. 3 of those points came just under a minute to play and Air Adams was back electrifying the crowd.
The final score was 69-56. Adams finished the night with a game high and team high 25 points and Johnson finished with 17 points. For the Crusaders the high scoring man was Candelino with 16 and Beagle finished behind him with 12.
While Bishop Kenny’s season has come to a close, Paxon will continue their season down to Lakeland, Florida where they will face the #3 seed Stranahan (22-9) on March 5th. Tip-off is set for 10 am. Paxon and Head Coach Toby Frazier defeated Rickards last year 62-59 to make it to the state semifinals, where they were defeated by Lakewood 61-49. The Eagles return this year looking to complete unfinished business.
