INVERNESS – When Central won its boys basketball district semifinal over Citrus on Wednesday night, head coach Matt Zandecki guaranteed one thing for Friday night’s final: his Bears would not be intimidated.
At that moment, it may have sounded like blind optimism. But by the end of the Class 6A, District 7 championship game at Citrus High, those words proved prophetic.
Top-seeded Nature Coast came in a perfect 25-0, had won five straight district titles, had beaten Central 17 times in a row dating back almost eight years to the day. Yet 20 years since winning the only district crown in team history, it was the second-seeded Bears enjoying a jubilant postgame celebration following their stunning 67-59 victory.
“I’m just so proud of my boys. That’s why I coach, because of kids like this,” Zandecki said. “Things weren’t going our way in the beginning (of the season). Same kids that were with me three or four years, and we just stuck through it all year.
“People think I’m crazy. I came in expecting to win this game. I don’t care if we never beat them before. This was a good team. This ain’t like a team like we had before. We got great players, we’ve got winners and we’ve got kids that refuse to lose. And when it comes down to it, I think we’re a family. And I think when it came down it, you could see that we’ve been together a little bit longer than Nature Coast has. We’ve got kids three or four years together.
“We dictated tempo. We executed the game plan perfectly, and I’m so proud of these boys. I feel like they really believed in their coaching staff and each other. We weren’t winning that game if we didn’t execute the game plan. Nature Coast is a great team. They’re one of the best teams in the state.”
The numbers coming in certainly didn’t favor the Bears (20-9). Their last win against the Sharks was Feb. 6, 2009. Since the 2009-10 campaign, when Nature Coast began a run of now eight straight regional trips featuring six district championships, it had gone a combined 62-1 against its county brethren.
Also in two previous meetings with the Bears this season, the Sharks had won 76-64 on Dec. 9 and 70-57 on Jan. 20.
But Central, having already locked up its first regional berth since 2004, didn’t back down from the start. After trailing 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, the Bears quickly grabbed the lead in the second and took a 27-26 edge into halftime thanks to a 3-pointer by Brian Eck with a minute and a half left before the intermission.
Andrew Krienes converted a 3-point play with 5:17 to go in the third quarter to make it 37-33 in Central’s favor. Then Nature Coast appeared to take control, responding with a 12-1 run capped by Jordan Baxter’s lay-in with under two minutes remaining in the period, opening up a 45-38 advantage.
Sam Garner’s 3-point play cut the deficit to 45-44 with 50.2 seconds showing in the third, and that score would carry into the fourth.
Krienes scored after De’Vonta Smith hauled in an offensive rebound to put the Bears in front, and back-to-back baskets by Caleb Johnson gave Central a 50-45 edge.
Much like Citrus against the Bears two nights earlier, the Sharks went ice cold from the field down the stretch and found themselves constantly sending Central to the foul line. By the time Smith knocked down a shot from the charity stripe with 22.5 seconds to play, the lead had grown to double figures, 64-54.
“We won this game because of defense. We played great defense,” Zandecki said. “They’re a good team, and to hold them to 59, I feel like we held them under 40.”
One major difference for the Bears from the previous games against Nature Coast this season was a unique change to the starting lineup. Zandecki inserted Smith in place of point guard Kaylyl Headen, with Smith being nearly half a foot taller and having a significant size advantage over the Sharks’ point guard, Austin Rivera.
The senior Smith, who in football led the state in rushing and was named a Parade All-American prior to signing with Division I Appalachian State last week, only scored six points but was a major rebounding presence, particularly on the offensive glass.
“We were trying to isolate whoever Rivera had,” Zandecki said. “What can you say about (Smith)? He’s a Division I athlete, he’s been with us half the year. They were worried about him posting up Rivera and I think it opened up everybody else.
“He does the things that don’t show up in the stat book. He was the person we asked when Andrew helped on (Kaine) McColley, to go down and jam Baxter. And Baxter is a hell of an offensive rebounder. So De’Vonta, he’s a great athlete, too. I think he out-athleted him a couple times on those rebounds and that’s the difference in the game.”
“My coach, he said, ‘We need you to get boards. We need you to play lockdown defense.’ And I stepped up. My teammates helped out,” said Smith, who had only started one other time. “I knew he was expecting a lot out of me. I went out there and played my best, and we got the ‘W.’”
McColley finished with 24 points for Nature Coast, while Baxter had 17 points and 17 rebounds. Though Johnson, Central’s leading scorer this season, ended up with 14 points, it was Garner who paced the Bears with 19 points. Krienes chipped in 15 points and Eck had 10.
“They told us we couldn’t do it. We were underdogs coming into this game, but coach gave us a game plan and we executed. And that’s all we could do,” Garner said. “We came out number one.”
In Thursday’s regional quarterfinals, Nature Coast will travel to Zephyrhills and Central will host Ridgewood. Both games start at 7 p.m. But for now, the Bears can bask in the glow of their first district championship since 1997. Zandecki was a sophomore on that team, and his assistant John Sedlack was the head coach.
“These kids brought it today. They stepped up. It was a big-time game and they played like champions, and we are,” Zandecki said. “And no matter what they can say, (the Sharks) got that asterisk. They’re not district champs. We are.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.