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| Leesburg High School's Troy Willis Jr. passes down court againt Cardinal Gibbons in the state basketball championship game at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland on Saturday, March 5, 2011 |
The Yellow Jackets won their 2nd state title, and first since 1977, by beating Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons.
LAKELAND -- They brought it back.
The small-town passion. Emotions of yesteryear. The connection with high school teammates and hometown that tugged Dave Hook as he drove all night from Kentucky to get to Lakeland for game time.
The sing-song chants of Leees-burg, Leees-burg heard about this time 34 years ago at the Lakeland Center.
And, most important, the championship.
Leesburg's boys basketball team stirred up sweet memories more than three decades old and gifted their small town with a new set on Saturday by winning the Class 4A boys basketball final, 66-58 against Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons (19-8).
The Yellow Jackets (28-4) used the offensive balance and defensive persistence the school's 1977 state championship team is remembered for and combined it with the poise, patience and zone-busting shooting it had to have to break down the Chiefs' zone.
Wiry junior point guard Joe Toolie made five of seven shots from 3-point range and totaled 18 points, four assists and four rebounds in leading Leesburg to its second state title. Senior guard Teron Wallace added two more 3-pointers and totaled 14 points and four assists as the Yellow Jackets shot themselves into a 16-point lead to force Gibbons out of the pace it wanted.
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| Leesburg High School versus Cardinal Gibbons in the FHSAA Class 4-A championship basketball game at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland on Saturday, March 5, 2011. |
"I saw intensity in their eyes from the get-go," Leesburg coach Marcel Thomas said. "We were battle-tested for this."
After the victory, jubilant Leesburg fans -- many outfitted in orange and black -- leaned over the railing to high-five and hug every member of the squad.
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| Leesburg High School versus Cardinal Gibbons in the FHSAA Class 4-A championship basketball game at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland on Saturday, March 5, 2011. |
Four players from the '77 team were invited down to floor level to pose for pictures with the new championship team. Johnny Williams, who stopped by practice to encourage the team last week, joined Hook, Curtis Legons and Randolf Farrior — all beaming as if they were still wearing jerseys and clutching their own championship medals.
D'Mauri Jones, a junior who had 17 points, said Williams introduced himself at a Leesburg barbershop early in the season and said, "You guys are good. You got a shot."
"Those guys were with us all the way. It gave us something in common. That was real cool," Jones said.
Leesburg is the eighth team to win a state title as a district runner-up since 1999. That list includes Winter Park last season.
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