SEMINOLE — In the final home game of the regular season, Seminole paid homage to its seven seniors who helped resurrect the boys basketball program with a playoff appearance and the school’s first postseason win last season.
The Warhawks and their seniors also had a chance for another rarity Tuesday night: a berth in the Pinellas County Athletic Conference championship game.
That didn’t happen.
Largo denied Seminole by administering a 64-45 thrashing in front of a packed and boisterous crowd.
Instead, the Packers will host St. Petersburg in Friday’s conference championship game.
Largo won not by executing picture-perfect passes or by making a high percentage of shots. The Packers did it by grabbing nearly every errant shot and making the most of their second chances.
“That’s our game,” Largo coach Phil Price said. “We’re going to miss a ton of shots. But we’re going to crash the boards and get every rebound we can. We did a good job of that in this game.”
In the first quarter, the Packers jumped out to a 15-7 lead as Reggie Moore hit a 3-pointer as time expired. Ahead 28-20 at the half, Largo used its athleticism to go ahead 41-29 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Donavan Hale scored a team-high 20 for the Packers.
“It seemed like Donavan didn’t do a whole lot,” Price said. “Then you look up and he has 20 points. That’s the kind of athlete he is.”
Noah Weller had 18 points and was the only Warhawk to reach double figures.
Gibbs 53, Boca Ciega 43: Despite playing with a depleted lineup, the Gladiators knocked the Pirates out of contention for the conference championship game.
Boca Ciega, plagued by slow starts, got off to another one, falling behind 15-4 at the end of the first quarter. Darrel Fuller led the Gladiators with 17 points.