March 13, 2003
Edgewater Soars to Class 6A Title Over South Miami
By Rudy Rodriguez-Chomat
 

South Miami wanted No. 1 Orlando Edgewater. Sometimes it's better to keep feelings like that to one's self.

The Cobras found out quickly why the Eagles were the top-ranked team in the state and ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Behind a stellar performance by McDonald's All-American Darius Washington, who scored 29 points on 9 of 17 shooting earning Final Four MVP honors, Edgewater soared to a 23-point halftime lead en route to a 72-51 rout of South Miami in front of a crowd of 4.687 in the Class 6A state championship game at The Lakeland Center.

It was a great end to Washington's spectacular career that saw him score nearly 3,000 points while in high school and finish with the state championship he and his teammates have been unable to attain over the past four years.

After dropping 38 points on Northwestern in Edgewater's 65-63 win in the state semifinals Thursday, Washington exploded early on South Miami (21-9) with an array of fast break opportunities, scoring nine points in the first quarter as the Eagles opened a 25-15 lead at the end of one.

South Miami's plan to slow it down and pound it inside ended early when the Eagles opened up a 12-2 lead in the first two minutes of the game. Edgewater's constant pressure forced numerous turnovers that led to lay up after lay up for the Eagles.

And the Cobras completely had to alter its game plan when Abdul Herrera, their 6-11 junior center was injured on a dunk that South Miami coach Fred Jones said was possibly a torn muscle in his leg.

"Losing Abdul surely hurt us," South Miami forward Brian Asbury said. "We missed him a lot cause he's a big presence inside."

But Herrera's presence or absence in this game made very little difference as Edgewater (30-2) was simply too fast for South Miami.

"That was the best half of basketball we played all season," Edgewater coach Travis Jones said. "I felt like the greatest coach in the world."

While Washington was the only offensive weapon that showed up in Edgewater's win over Northwestern, the rest of the squad joined him, including Jeremie McClendon who drained two 3-pointers in the first half, and Kenny Ingram who slammed two thunderous alley-oops down that made the pro-Edgewater crowd go bezerk.

But as good as Edgewater was in the first half, things changed in the second half as South Miami's Xavier Dawson started to play well.

Dawson opened the third with back-to-back three pointers that cut the lead to 44-27. After a McClendon three that pushed the lead back to 20, Asbury and Herbie Muro responded with buckets that cut the lead to 47-31 with 6:16 to play in the third.

South Miami's run continued behind Dawson who scored the final eight points in the quarter as they closed the lead to 52-39 at the end of the third.

"I felt we had a chance to come back and win it," Dawson said. "But we just couldn't get it done."

Dawson had 22 points on the night, but he went 6 for 26 from the field.

Washington responded in the fourth, showing why he will more than likely earn Mr. Basketball this season.

After South Miami cut the lead to 53-41 on a lay up by Asbury, who finished the game 20 points, Washington took over scoring 15 points in the quarter to put the game away, including knocking down 6 of 7 free throws.

"The first three years, I was trying to score a lot," Washington said. "I was thinking Darius, Darius, Darius. Someone whispered in my ear that you can't do it yourself. Just like Batman needs Robin and Michael Jordan needed Scottie (Pippen), everyone needs help."

He had help on this night with McClendon scoring 9 points, Ingram adding 12 points, and point guard Brandon Johnson scoring 7 points and dishing 9 assists.

Having competed and won numerous tournaments across the country during the Christmas holidays, the season would not have been complete without the state championship that had eluded the Eagles, including a heart-breaking 61-59 loss to Dillard in last year's state championship game when Kevin Thomas drained two free throws with one second to play.

"In a way, the season would have been a complete failure if we wouldn't have won tonight,"McClendon said. "Our main goal when the season started was to win state. All the work would have been for nothing if we didn't pull out the win tonight."

But the key to this game as well as the key to Edgewater's championship season was the improvement of Washington.

He was the star last year, and while it is hard to believe a player of his caliber could improve so much, Washington did just that.

"He started as a freshman and thought the only way was to score all the time," Travis Jones said. "Fortunately for the team, he realized that he scored 30 points a game and the team didn't win the state championship. He realized he had to take better shots, defend better and get his teammates involved. And he has done that all year."

Edgewater's win ended South Florida's dominance in the large school championship games. It was the first championship won by a team outside of South Florida since Vince Carter led Daytona Beach Mainland to the state championship in 1995.

"It feels real good," Washington said. "All the hype was about the teams in South Florida...Dillard this...Miami this...Dade County that...We have been on the bottom for a while and with this win, we put Orlando on the map. We're going to McDonald's tonight and I am going to supersize it."

GAME SUMMARY

Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
South Miami 15 6 18 12 51
Edgewater 25 19 8 20 72

Individual Stats

South Miami (21-9) FG-FGA 3Pts. Rebounds (O-T) FT-FTA Assists Points
Robert Herrera 1-3 0-0 2-7 0-0 1 2
Abdul Herrera 1-1 0-0 2-3 0-0 0 2
Xavier Dawson 6-26 3-14 1-2 7-7 0 22
Brian Asbury 7-11 0-2 1-1 6-9 0 20
Herbie Muro 2-7 0-3 2-3 0-0 1 4
James Charles 0-1 0-0 4-4 1-2 0 1
Edgewater (30-2) FG-FGA 3Pts. Rebounds (O-T) FT-FTA Assists Points
Quintin Thorton 1-1 0-0 2-2 1-2 0 3
Josiah Perkins 1-2 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 2
Brandon Johnson 3-9 1-1 1-6 0-0 9 7
Jeremie McClendon 3-3 3-3 2-5 0-0 1 9
Darius Washington 9-17 1-5 1-4 10-13 3 29
Chris King 2-4 0-0 4-5 4-4 0 8
Omar Qazi 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2
Kenny Ingram 4-5 0-1 0-6 4-5 1 12