Excuse high school basketball fans that might already have Winter Park penciled in for a trip to the state final four next month. After least week’s tournament-opening win on the road against the No. 2 team in the state, the Wildcats look poised to be in the running for a Class 6A state title.

That is if they can escape Edgewater High School with a win on Tuesday night after recently dropping the District 4 title game there 73-71 in overtime to the Eagles.

No. 5 Edgewater (26-3) opened regional play with a 64-45 win in the quarterfinals over Lake Brantley last Thursday while Winter Park (24-5) – ranked No. 1 in the state – dominated No. 2 Winter Springs (25-4), 83-60.

Among the top Class 6A teams in the state (according to the final Associated Press poll) still alive this week in postseason play are No. 3 Dr. Phillips (hosting Vero Beach), No. 6 Coral Gables (at No. 8 Miami Dr. Krop), No. 7 Wharton (at St. Petersburg), No. 9 First Coast (hosting Mainland) and No. 10 Boyd Anderson (at Santaluces).

No. 4 Kissimmee Osceola had its season come to an end in the opening round of Class 5A play while No. 6 Oak Ridge is on the road this week in Class 4A against No. 4 Gainesville Eastside.

– Winter Park over Winter Springs –

The matchup between the Wildcats and Winter Springs proved to be more hype than was anticipated as Winter Park broke open a close game after the first period and coasted to the win.

They did it with relative ease in front of a packed house that witnessed Winter Park junior guard Austin Rivers drop 41 points on the night, including seven 3-pointers. He entered the game averaging 23.7 points per outing.

Nobody could guard him. Not Mike McCloskey. Not Brian Holmes. Not Daniel Kuhl. Not Kerwin Hogue. Each of them had up-close views of the ball as it left the hands of Rivers from beyond the arc at some point while one-on-one with him in the game.

Rivers played with a look of determination after coming off of that district championship loss. It didn’t hurt either to have Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski in attendance.

The Bears got off to a solid start early in the first period behind rebounds from Spencer Mitchell and multiple buckets from Kuhl and Jacabo. But following a timeout, while trailing 7-2, the Wildcats returned to the floor as the aggressors as Rivers went to draining three’s at will en route to scoring 11 of his team’s 17 points in the period to take a one-point lead.

It wouldn’t get this close the rest of the way.

By the end of the first half Rivers had already posted 20 points and drained six 3-pointers in helping Winter Park take a 40-21 lead into the break.

When Rivers wasn’t launching the long-ball, John David Swanson was connecting on them in the second quarter.

And though it is necessary to point out that very little the Bears threw up managed to find the cylinder – no matter how many times Winter Springs tried from the outside – the all-around play of the Wildcats is what won this game.

Robert Lovaglio, Adam Jones and Brett Comer were blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and making steals in the opening periods to help maintain momentum for the Wildcats.

The highlight of the first half came during a two-on-one fast break with 20 seconds remaining as Comer dished a behind-the-back pass in the paint to James Ferrell for the easy lay-in.

That capped a 23-5 second quarter for the Wildcats and perhaps said all there was to say.

Rivers went on to score seven points, record a steal, assist on a bucket by Jones and grab three rebounds in the third period. Despite eight points from Austin Keel for Winter Springs, including his 69th 3-pointer of the season (along with five points from Jacabo) the Bears trailed 54-39 after three.

And although Winter Springs kept knocking on the door as they attempted to make a close game out of it, Winter Park continued to turn them away in the fourth with Rivers, Jones and Ferrell answering scores from Holmes and Jacabo down the stretch.

Jacabo fouled out midway through the fourth with a team-high 18 points. He will play college basketball at Stetson next season. Holmes has committed to North Florida.

Jones scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Winter Park.

The loss was the first at home for Winter Springs this season and was the fifth win in the series over the past six meetings for the Wildcats.

Winter Park previously defeated Winter Springs on their home floor earlier in the season en route to winning the Winter Park Rotary Tip-Off title, 59-32, on Dec. 5, 2009.