Edgewater nipped in wild finish to 18-game run

Edgewater’s dramatic run through the postseason took them all the way to within an overtime period of their first appearance in the state championship game in 11 years.

But that overtime, forced on a last second shot that evened the game up at 69-69 just before the clock ran out on the second half of regulation, would turn a stalemate into a blowout.

The Eagles had come within a snagged bad Gainesville shot of sealing it all up before overtime even happened. But that missed shot would be tipped in to tie the game as time expired, setting up the fateful extra period.

Anfernee Simons’ 24 points couldn’t help the Eagles when they ran out of gas in overtime just as Gainesville was catching fire. It also didn’t help that one of Edgewater’s most crucial players left the game less than a minute into overtime, fouling out.

After that, the Hurricanes would score 12 unanswered points to seal the Eagles’ coffin.

For Edgewater, which had bounced out of the second round of the regional tournament last year, the 18-game win streak that took the team to the state final four is a marked improvement.

The Eagles hadn’t returned to the final four since their dominating run in the 2003-04 postseason, when they would destroy South Miami 72-51 in the state championship game. Coming within a shot of edging Gainesville is the closest they’ve come to repeating that since.