Jerome Clyburn and Tony Baker each scored 17 points and Orange Park's defense shut down a much taller Mandarin offense to win the District 1-6A championship, 57-48, at Gainesville Buchholz Saturday night.
Unlike their close double-overtime loss to the Mustangs last month, the Raiders were able to close this one out in regulation with some solid foul shooting. The Raiders are now 2-1 vs. Mandarin, a team they could not beat in three tries last year.
The Mustangs came out and took a 16-12 first-period lead, but Orange Park's defense asserted itself in the second period as the Raiders went into the half with a 31-24 lead.
Orange Park (25-2) will host the runner-up of District 2 in the first round of regionals at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Raiders had defeated Gainesville Buchholz, 61-42, Friday to reach the district title game.
Saturday's loss sends Mandarin (21-7) on the road to play the District 2 champion Thursday. The two teams could play each other a fourth time if both win on Thursday.
Here are the recent blog postings with the most comments.