Winter Haven (Florida) boys leave nothing to chance in winning region basketball title

Kjei Parker and Jamie Phillips Jr. led Winter Haven with 17 points apiece

WINTER HAVEN, Florida – Winter Haven left nothing to chance.

The top-seeded Blue Devils routed Newsome, 76-42, to win the Florida Class 7A, Region 3 basketball championship on Friday at Jack Deedrick Gymnasium.

“We wanted to get back to the state tournament,” Winter Haven senior post player and Georgia-signee Dylan James said. “We set goals for ourselves and we are close to achieving them.”

Winter Haven starters (L to R) Dylan James, Isaac Celiscar, Jamie Phillips Jr. and Kjei Parker received game balls with their career accomplishments inscribed on them after the Blue Devils 7A Region 3 championship on Friday at Winter Haven / Photo by Bill Kemp

Winter Haven will now face No. 3 Oak Ridge in the 7A state semifinals at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on March 3. Oak Ridge defeated Windermere 77-66 to setup the matchup with the Blue Devils. In the other state semifinal will be between Columbus and Colonial. 

“I told them any team that gets this far, knows how to win, they deserve to be here and don’t take them for granted,” Winter Haven Tyrone Woodside said. “When a team is one win away, they can smell, they can taste and see that brass ring. Don’t allow them to get in the game where they start believing.”

After storming out to a 21-0 lead, Winter Haven invoked a running clock rule with a 35-point lead in the second half for the third time in the regional playoffs.

“Down here, this is football country, and they say, ‘Punch them in the mouth.’ So, I said, ‘Guys, I really need you to punch them in the mouth. They will probably punch back, but I still need to see what is going to be your reaction. And they came out intent on handling their business and I was really proud of them.

“The running joke was, we need to finish the game by 8 o’clock. After the game was over, they said, ‘Coach, it is 8:05.’”

Kjei Parker and Jamie Phillips Jr. led Winter Haven scorers with 17 points apiece while Isaac Celiscar scored 15 and James had 14.

“I signed early for a reason,” James said. “We wanted to focus on winning. Some people say I need to shoot more and score more, but I try to play the game the right way and focus on winning."

Winter Haven reached the state tournament a year ago but lost a 6A semifinal game to Ponte Vedra, 57-54.

However, the Blue Devils added Parker from Bartow and the improvement showed from the beginning of the season when they surprised many by winning the prestigious Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament in Illinois.

Two weeks later, one of the nation’s top five teams, Centennial from Corona, California, barely edged Winter Haven 61-58 at the City of Palms Tournament. The Blue Devils stormed back in late December and won the annual Kingdom of the Sun Tournament at Ocala Vanguard.

“There is a difference about this team, and I noticed the first week of the season in Illinois, how they had this business mentality,” Woodside said. “They said they were going to win (Kevin Brown) and they did. Then they went to Kingdom in the Sun and said the same thing, and got it. Then I thought about it, the Centennial game, a couple of mistakes and we could have beaten the No. 5 team in the country.”

Newsome was led by Moore with 16 points and J. Moore with 14.