High School

FHSAA Class 5A State Semifinal

 St. Petersburg vs. Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach)

Bill Kemp

FHSAA Finals at the RP Funding Center
FHSAA Finals at the RP Funding Center / Bill Kemp

1

2

3

4

Final

St. Petersburg

10

11

12

Blanche Ely

20

10

20

 St. Petersburg faces Pompano Beach Blanche Ely in a Class 5A state semifinal beginning at 7 p.m. The winner will square off against Ponte Vedra for the 5A state championship at 7 p.m. Friday.

Ponte Vedra advanced after knocking off Leesburg 54-47 in three overtime sessions earlier today.

The St. Petersburg Green Devils (18-11) are led by freshman point guard Nijuan Harris, who is averaging 27 points and six rebounds. Additionally, junior guard Emir Gainer is averaging 14 points.

Blanche Ely (18-9) is led by senior guard Dylan Hanna, who is averaging 16 points and senior guard Jayelen Jona with 11.5.

FIRST QUARTER

With 2:38 left in the first quarter, Ely leads St. Pete 10-9. Ely looks super-athletic out there.

Jordan Corbitt cans a 3-pointer from way out and Ely takes an 18-9 lead with 49 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Dylon Hanna with a steal and dunk on the other end to give Ely a 20-9 lead with 5 seconds left in the first.

End of the first quarter: Ely 20, St. Petersburg 10

SECOND QUARTER

First quarter stats: 

Kaleb Corbitt from Ely leads all scorers with six points and three rebounds.

Nijaun Harris and Juoian Macon both have four points for St. Pete.

Ely is shooting 9-of-16 from he field while St. Pete is just 2-of-10.

St. Pete shooting guard Trenton Hines canned a 3-pointer from the corner to pull Ely within 7 four minutes left in the second quarter.

HALFTIME

Ely 30, St. Pete 21

St. Pete outscored Ely 11-10 in the second quarter.

Halftime stats: Ely is led by Corbitt and Hanna with six points each. Also, Hanna and Snell each scored five.

St. Pete is led by Nijaun Harris with seven points while Gainer and Hines each have five.

St. Pete is winning the rebounding battle 24-17 and 13 of those are on the defensive end for the Green Devils.

THIRD QUARTER

Ely guard Justin Snell completes a three-point play after a spinning layup in the lane where he was fouled. He converts the free throw and Ely leads by 10, 34-24 with 5:45 left in the third quarter.

Hanna tosses the alley-oop to Jonas for the slam dunk and Ely leads 41-28 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter.

End of the Third Quarter: Ely leads St. Pete 50-33

Ely is one quarter away from playing for the Class 5A state championship against Ponte Vedra, slated for Friday night at the RP Funding Center.

St. Pete is 9-of-42 shooting through three quarters of play.

Jayelen Jonnas leads Ely with 10 points after three quarters.

Emir Gainer leads St. Pete with 10 while teammates Juoian Macon and Njiuan Harris each have eight.

FOURTH QUARTER

Final: Ely 67, St. Pete 45

Published |Modified
Bill Kemp
BILL KEMP

Bill Kemp is an award-winning sports journalist at the state and national levels. Over the course of 25 years, he’s covered more than 4,000 sporting events including the NFL regular season, playoffs and Super Bowls, Major League Baseball regular season and spring training, NASCAR racing at Daytona and Talladega International Speedways and major college football regular seasons and bowl games. He was named by the Associated Press Sports Editors as a Top 10 sports columnist and Top 3 by the Alabama Press Association for best sports column and sports page design. He has served as preps editor at the Lakeland Ledger as well as sports editor at five different newspapers in Florida and Alabama. He has been published in dozens of newspapers including USA Today, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, the Jacksonville Times Union and the Tampa Bay Times. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida. He has been writing for SBLive Sports since 2022.