FLEMING ISLAND - Fleming Island sophomore center Carson Crawford snagged a lofted cross court pass by Oakleaf with under a minute left in the first of two overtime period in their Friday night clash and raced untouched to a slam dunk that tied the fast-moving contest at 57-57 en route to a double overtime 69-63 win for the Golden Eagles.
"No one was expecting that steal and dunk, but I just saw the pass, got it and ran and it pumped up our team," said Crawford. "Two overtimes games in a row, but it showed that we are the better conditioned team on court. We start our conditioning in August and just keep running to the end of the season."
A second key play for Fleming Island was a final blocked shot of a three point corner shot by Trace Burney on Oakleaf guard Jelani Wright.
"That was big, but that's what Trace does," said Crawford. "He is getting his basketball legs under him after a tough football season and you can see the difference in our team when he is on the court. He juices up the line up."
For Burney, who has been a key sixth man for Chandler, his role has been a key phase of the team.
"I gambled on the half court play for a steal and I just had to hustle to get to him in the corner," said Burney, one of the fastest wide receivers in football this past season. "We got a whole bunch of skillful guys on the floor, my job is to turn it up a notch."
Both teams entered the game at 11-3 with Fleming Island losing a buzzer beater game to Creekside the night before 61-60.
"That was a 15 round heavyweight championship fight," said an emotional spent Traavis Chandler, Fleming Island head coach. "After last night, this was a good test to see how we would respond. I think we found out a little about the boys character tonight. Carson is just a great athlete that can run for four quarters."
Funny thing about the game is that Fleming Island will travel to Oakleaf for a second game on Friday, January 17.
"A great game with two great teams, regional finals level basketball out there," said Oakleaf coach Jason Price, who also had a comeback game the following Saturday night with a 59-38 mashing of Atlantic Coast High. "This is something that the county has missed the past few years because games like this have not been on the schedules. This was good for both teams and for the basketball community. They were the better team in the final quarter."
With Crawford hitting for 27 points off three dunks for the night and 65 percent shooting in the paint, both teams utilized their front line attack; Tyler Owens for Oakleaf and Bryce Robinson for Fleming Island, in creating half court mayhem and producing steals to layups by the dozens.
For Oakleaf, senior guard Tyler Owens, with 26 points and eight assists with six steals, answered Crawford's challenge, but Price wanted more offensive penetration to put Crawford in a foul situation.
"Tyler had a bunch of points, almost a quadruple double for a 5'-8" guy, but we were unable to get that penetration guy against their guy in the middle," said Price, noting just a 38 percent shooting range and 16 missed free throws. "We did not have that drive to the basketball guy tonight."
One of the other key matchups for the night was Oakleaf center Daniel Footman taking on Crawford under the boards.
"For Dan to step in and defend like he did, I think he did a good job against a very good player," said Price. "They got the free throw line a little more than us. It'll be different in our place on Friday."
Chandler pointed out the first quarter effort of sophomore forward Ayden Greenidge who blasted the Oakleaf defense early for a quick Fleming Island surge en route to 16 points on the night with eight rebounds and three big steals in the first quarter plus four blocked shots on the night.
"We told our guys that we would have to come out faster than they do and Ayden was on his A game," said Chandler. "With a team like ours, sometimes a quiet guy can get his shot because everyone is watching the other guys. Ayden stepped up big to give us the first punch."
Fleming Island, ranked fourth in 5A, will play University Christian, ranked sixth in 2A, and Ridgeview before the Oakleaf game while Oakleaf, ranked 12th in 6A, has a road trip to Bartram Trail on Thursday and a Saturday game against Bradford (10-2, 31st in 3A).
Around the county, Orange Park (7-10) turned around a 65-52 loss to Orange Park last week with a 62-49 win over Sandalwood, but lost 50-37 to Buchholz. The Raiders have Westside on Tuesday, January 14 and a road trip to Flagler Palm Coast on Wednesday.
Clay, also in 5A at 2-11, is on a four game losing streak with games to Faith Christian, Flagler Palm Coast, Nease and Fletcher with a Monday, January 13 game against Matanzas and a road game to Baker County on Thursday, January 16. Clay hosts Fleming Island in their season finale on January 30.
Middleburg, with first year coach Burt Cannon, has turned up with wins to a 7-8 record with a recent win over Crescent City, 71-44, with four road trips in a row; Yulee, Baldwin, Fort White and Fernandina Beach. Junior Floyd Reed leads the Broncos with 17.8 points per game with a 27 point best game against Keystone Heights.
Keystone Heights, 2-10, is on a nine game losing streak with Ridgeview on Monday, Union County on Tuesday and Duval Charter on Wednesday. The Indians are led by junior Dereon Tochterman's 12.6 points per game.
Ridgeview first year coach Isaiah Jackson is at 4-12 with a January 11 win over Orange Park Classic, 64-29, with Keystone Heights, Yulee than Fleming Island coming to the Panther Den.
St. Johns Country Day School returned home from a fruitful visit to Arizona and got wins over Beaches Chapel and Ridgeview before St. Joseph Academy halted the streak with a 61-53 loss. Top scorer Camden Cooper is at 17.0 points per game to lead the Spartans.