In the first meeting between the Winter Park and Edgewater basketball teams, the Eagles trailed by 11 points before losing in the regular season. Edgewater then overcame a 19-point hole with the district title on the line when the teams met up again as they managed to turn away the Wildcats on their home court.

But in the third game between the two rivals, the comeback attempt for Edgewater was not enough as Winter Park’s Brett Comer dropped 23 points to help the Wildcats move along to the region finals – on Saturday at Jacksonville First Coast – with a 70-59 win.

Also still alive in the hunt for the Class 6A state title is Dr. Phillips, who will host St. Petersburg this weekend after winning 57-45 over Vero Beach. Oak Ridge will host Brooksville Nature Coast in Class 4A after narrowly escaping Gainesville Eastside, 55-54.

– Winter Park over Edgewater –

– 1st Quarter

The Eagles got early production in the first quarter on both ends of the floor from Patrick Diop (four points, rebound, forced turnover), Kent Gainous (blocked shot, rebound) and Alex Brayman (43rd 3-pointer of season, rebound) while Winter Park got going behind the likes of Adam Jones (four points, three rebounds) and Robert Lovaglio (two points, rebound) on Tuesday night.

Most impressive was that Edgewater held Winter Park standout guard Austin Rivers to zero attempts from the field over the opening eight minutes. What hurt them most though was that they failed to capitalize on scoring chances when they were there for the taking. And that seemed to be the theme the entire night.

The Eagles lead 9-8 with under a minute to play before the game changed in favor of the Wildcats for good once John David Swanson knocked down a 3-pointer near the baseline to put the Wildcats up 11-9.

The standout play of the quarter came nearly two minutes into the game, when Comer swatted the ball from Gainous near the foul line, saved it from going out of bounds, then sent a no-look pass down court to Isaac Turner. Edgewater’s Kendrick Perry got in on the action shortly thereafter by flinging a pass over the head of Rivers to find Gainous under the hoop for an easy lay-in.

– 2nd Quarter

Rivers wouldn’t take his first shot of the night until less than four minutes remained in the second quarter. That’s when he hit a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc to put the Wildcats up big, 27-9.

Winter Park opened the period with the kind of run in the first four minutes that would knock the wind out of most anyone. Edgewater turned the ball over three times and missed five-straight shots during that stretch until Perry put an end to the bleeding by converting a 3-point play that kick-started a 7-0 run. He would end the quarter with a buzzer-beater for the Eagles, though that barely cut into Winter Park’s 33-18 lead.

The Wildcats again got solid play from Comer (nine points, two rebounds, assist), Jones (four points, two blocks, assist) and Lovaglio (four points, two rebounds, assist, blocked shot) in the quarter.

Comer’s second highlight-worthy play of the night came early in the quarter when he took a long pass down court from Lovaglio, faked to his right with Perry guarding him, then came back to his left and leaned forward as he hoisted an underhanded shot that bounced high off the glass and fell through for a score. A foul on Perry sent him to the line where he completed the 3-point play.

– 3rd Quarter

The Comer Show continued in the third as Winter Park kept holding off Edgewater even as the Eagles cut the deficit to 10 points for a brief moment with 2:35 to go in the frame. That’s when Comer promptly drove inside for a layup and Swanson connected on a 3-pointer to help keep the cushion intact.

The third jaw-dropping play on the night from Comer took place with nearly a minute to spare as he spun off of a defender, fell to his knees while keeping his dribble, and emerging from the hardwood with the ball in tow – just as Brayman made a play on it – and drained a shot from just inside the paint.

Winter Park led 51-37 after three as Comer scored seven with an assist and Jones scored four with a blocked shot.

Edgewater kept fighting though behind the charge of Brayman (four points, two rebounds, steal), Perry (six points, rebound, steal) and Devinn Heard (four points, rebound).

– 4th Quarter

The final quarter proved to be nothing more than a formality as the Eagles could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, even as Winter Park gave them every opportunity to do so plenty of times late in the game.

It was missed baskets and turnovers that kept the home team at bay.

The final push for the Eagles was orchestrated by the efforts of Diop (10 points, block), Perry (five points, rebound, steal) and Gainous (two points, two rebounds, steal).

Lovaglio was the standout for the Wildcats in the fourth with eight points, three rebounds and a steal. Rivers, who despite having trouble at the foul line (4-for-9 on the night), finished with six points in the quarter to help secure the win.