It was just November 1^st and tryouts were happening^.

The excitement of the season was on everyone's mind and why not,  we were defending 4A State Champions and had been to the state final four six consecutive years and winning three state championships.

 

We anticipated a strong year; however it was not in the cards right from the beginning.

67 Senior Romas Marcinkevicius was declared ineligible by the FHSAA and the appeal process was all that was left.

He did finally return with four games left in the regular season.

 

Then two weeks before the opening tip off 6'1 sophomore Dimitri Harper torn his shoulder and would not return until

the last four games of the season.

 

Despite these key personnel losses the Panther Varsity won 12 of their first 15 games of the season.

This include making the finals of the Kreul Tournament and dropping a last minute decision to a strong High Point team

from North Carolina just before the Christmas Break.

 

The second half of the regular season was much different than we all expected or counted on.

Injuries, personal commitments, rule infractions resulted in the longest losing streak (5 games) in the last ten years (the longest in my tenure as the varsity coach )

 

We believe that this negative streak would strengthen our resolve and we would learn from those losses and had a 5 game winning streak to end the regular season 17 and 8.

We thought we were ready for the playoff and won the quarter finals and then only to lose a heart breaker in the semifinals to end the season 18-9.

 

Some Panther highlights and accomplishments this season:

 

Finished second in the regular season in the district.

 

We beat arch rival St Andrews (the present 4A State Finalist) at their gym .

 

Upset Coral Springs Christian (the present 3A Finalist) who had beaten us by 25 points early in the season.

 

Finalist in the Kreul Tournament.

 

Senior Kalvin Cline and Junior Lance Crawford were named to the All-Tournament Team.

 

 

Kalvin Cline earned his place in Pine Crest History scoring 1279 points in only just three years at Pine Crest.

He joins Brandon Knight at 3250 points, Edwin Waite at 1547 points and Traveon Henry at 1348 points as the high

Scorers in a Panther uniform.

 

Kalvin Cline, Lance Crawford should have a strong base for post season honors.

Won't be surprised if  Veerain Gupta, Romas Marcinkevicius, Peter Buckley and Antonio Vrankovic also get consideration.

 

Veerain Gupta gets early decision to Duke University.

Three others await the April 15th decision from the Ivy league schools on admission.

 

Looking back did we accomplish some of our objectives in the classroom and on the court?

 

Did we learn about the game?

Did we get better as a team from the beginning of the season?

Will our six seniors be prepared to go on to the next level of their education?

 

The answer to the above is YES !

 

Gone will be Seniors Co-Capt. Veerain Gupta ,Co-Capt. Kelvin Cline, Ethan Goldman, Romas Marcinkevicius,Kyle Fitzsimmons and Matt Deutsch.

 

Looking at next year we will be counting on 67 Peter Buckley,63 Andy Wang,62 Austin Litofsky,511 Lance Crawford and 5'10 Ben Schecter for senior leadership.

Juniors expected to play a key role are 6'11 Antonio Vrankovic, 6'0 AJ.Sacks, 6'1 Dimitri Harper and Freshmen 6'9 Brett and 6'9 AJ Haeffner.

 

The school banquet is March 12 at the school where will honor the seniors and the team at 6:30

The Captain Cup and the Coaches Panther awards will be announced.

 

The Annual Coach B Cook Out will be held on March 24th.

 

It was a year of anticipation .

A year of ups and downs.

It was a year of blending experience and youth.

We laughed ,we cried.

It was a year to remember and learn from.

It was a good year.

 

We have all heard before.  There is always next year and before you know it, the opening tip-off will be here.

 

 

This was the rematch of the overtime win Pine Crest had early in the season.
 
We have heard it so many times it takes two halves to win or the "L" stands for learning.
Well in the game against NBP, both were in effect.
 
The first period both teams traded baskets as Lance Crawford led the way with 9 points and the Panthers took a 24 -23 lead as the period ended.
 
In the second period Pine Crest turned up their defensive effort and held the Eagles to just 6 points while scoring 14 and the half ended with the score 38-29 Panthers.
 
Just when it appeared that Pine Crest was in control the Eagles began to chip away at the lead and 6'11 Sophomore Antonio Vrankovic and 6'7 Senior Romas Marcinkevicius began to get into foul trouble.
The third period ended with Pine Crest still in the lead 46-41.
 
The fourth and final period will be remembered by not only the coaches and the players but by the crowd of fans as well.
Each team had matched basket for basket for the entire period and it would come down to the final seconds of the game who would now move on to play in the district finals. With a minute and a half, the Panthers decided to pull the ball out and draw down the clock and take the last shot if not fouled.
 
With 40 seconds to the game  and a 3 point lead ,Pine Crest still had the ball and was playing the clock in hopes it would get fouled and thus go to the charity stripe a seal a victory.
 
But as fate would have it, instead of protecting the three point lead an attempt to drive to the basket was made and the shot fell short.
 
North Broward grabbed the rebound and raced down the court to hit a three with 15 seconds to go on the clock.
Then a turn over by the Panthers on the inbounds happened plus a foul. The Eagles calmly made two shots from the charity stripe and a two point lead 60-58.
 
Pine Crest still had a chance to tie with 7 seconds left ,but a hurried shot and NBP grabbed the rebound only to get fouled again.
The Eagles made one of two foul shots and the game was out of reach as the Panthers tried a half-court shot in vain with 2 seconds on the clock.
 
Too often many underestimate the value of the mental part of the game. They only see the dunk, or a three pointer or the physical aspect as elements of success.
Understanding spacing on the court, knowing if your opponent is right handed or left is important.
Understanding the value of the clock and knowing the mental part of the game is essential and without it the chances of winning is much less.
 
We played two different halves of basketball and fouls, conditioning and defense certainly were factors and can be understood as part of the physical aspect of the game.
But we must understand the mental aspect can and usually is a factor in most games that is the key to winning and losing.
 
This is the L factor and a lesson that must be remembered and learned that winning will always be much harder and in the distance if you dont Learn and take advantage of that knowledge to make you a better coach, player and student of the game.
 
I felt personally sorry for the seniors ( Veerain ,Kalvin, Romas ,Kyle, Ethan and Matt) on the team to have to exit their high school career with a game like this.
A game of two halves and a learning experience that should have been natural instead of forcing the process.
 
We gave this one away and it hurt.
 
Box Score:
Crawford-3-4-2/2-20 pts,Marcinkevicius-6-0-2/4-14 pts,Vrankovic-4-0-1/2-9 pts,Gupta-4-0-0-8 pts.Cline-2-0-0-4 pts,Harper-1-0-1/2-3 pts,Goldman-0-0-0
Schecter-0-0-0,Buckley-0-0-0
 
20-4-6/12-58pts
 
Leading Scorer-Crawford-20 pts
Leading Rebounder-Marcinkevicius-12
Leading assists-Cline-5
 
The Season now ends with a 18-9 record after Seven Consecutive Years of 23 wins or more.
 
 
 

Pine Crest raced out early and took advantage of their height with 6’10 Sophomore Antonio Vrankovic scoring 9 points in the first period. The Panthers took a 27-11 lead.

 

In the second period it was 6’7 Senior Romas Marcinkevicius scoring 10 points and Lance Crawford adding 9 points as the half time score was 51-28 and the Panthers were not looking back as they ran the fast break to perfection.

 

The second half both teams traded baskets in the third quarter and the period ended with the score 68-43.

 

In the fourth and final period, the Lions began to play more aggessive and closed the gap to 71-60 with three minutes left to play.

But this was the night of the Panthers and they didn’t lose their composure as the final horn sounded with the score 81-65 and their eighteen victory of the season. 

 

Box Score:

Crawford-3-3-3/3-18 pts,Marcinkevicius-7-0-4/6-18 pts,Vrankovic-7-0-3/5-17 pts,Gupta-3-0-0-6 pts,Buckley-2-0-0-4 pts.

Wang-2-0-0-4 pts,Harper-2-0-0-4 pts,Cline-0-0-3/3-3 pts,Fitzsimmons-0-1-0-3 pts,Sacks-1-0-0-2 pts.Litofsky-1-0-0-2 pts,Goldman-0-0-0

A.Haeffner-0-0-0,B.Haeffner-0-0-0

 

24-4-13/17-81 pts.

Leading Scorers- Crawford-18 and Marcinkevicius-18

Leading Rebounder-Marcinkevicius-13

Leading Assists-Crawford-7

Leading Steals-Crawford-5

 

Record 18-8

 

Next up is Semi-Finals of the District is against North Broward Prep

We beat them at home in OT.

It should be a tough game..

It was senior night and only fitting that Romas Marcinkevicius played outstanding in his last regular season game.

It was only his fourth game of the season and he wasted little time making his presence known.

 

The 6'7 230 lb. power forward scored 11 points and had 5 rebounds in the first period as the Panthers took a 15-6 lead

as the buzzer sounded for the period to end.

 

In the second period 6'10 sophomore Antonio Vrankovic chipped in 5 points and Romas Marcinkevicius added 4 points as the Panthers control the backboards and took a half time lead of 28-14.

 

The third period both teams traded baskets and at the three quarter mark the score was 44-29 Panthers.

 

The Mavericks then made a run and cut the score to 46 -39 with five minutes to go in the game.

But Pine Crest was not to be denied and answered the bell with three steals by Crawford and Cline that

were converted to baskets making the score 50 to 39 with three and a half left in the game.

 

In the final period Kalvin Cline scored 13 of his 14 points to help seal the victory for the seniors

and their teammates.

 

In the end Romas Marcinkevicius had a game high 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead all scorers.

Pine Crest has now won five consecutive games as they prepare for the state playoffs.

 

There are 6 Seniors that will not be back next season who will be missed.

 

6'7 Romas Marcinkevicius, 6'7 Co-Captain Veerain Gupta, 6'5 Co-Captain Kalvin Cline, 6'5 Ethan Goldman,

6'2 Kyle Fitzsimmons and 5'8 Matt Deutsch .

 

Box Score:

Marcinkevicius-8-0-7/14-23 pts,Cline-2-2-4/7-14 pts,Vrankovic-4-0-3/3-11 pts,Gupta-3-0-2/2-8 pts,Crawford-2-0-3/4-7 pts.,

Fitzsimmons-1-0-0-2 pts.Goldman-1-0-0-2 pts., Schecter-0-0-1/2-1 pts,Wang-0-0-0-,Sacks-0-0-0,Buckley-0-0-0,Harper-0-0-0

Litofsky-0-0-0

 

21-2-20/32-68 pts.

 

Leading Scorer-Marcinkevicius-23 pts.

Leading Rebounder-Marcinkevicius-16

Leading Assists-Cline-6

Leading Steals-Crawford-3

 

Record-17-8 (5-1 in District)

 

Next Up: The Regular season is now over and the state playoffs begin.

We will play the seventh seed Chaminade-Madonna in the District on Tuesday Night at 7:00 at University School.

 

Let the New Season Begin ...

 

 

 

Pine Crest using a strong defensive effort in the second half and earns its sixteenth victory of the season.

The first half 610 Sophomore Antonio Vrankovic scored 14 of his game high 18 points to lead the Panthers to a 34-24

Half time lead.

The Second half Pine Crest increased their energy level and raced out in the third period outscoring their opponent 25 to8

And took a commanding lead 59-32.

In the fourth and final period the Panthers continued to play hard as 12 of the 14 players contributed to the offense..

Box Score:

Vrankovic-9-0-0-18 pts,Cline-5-0-1/1- 11 pts., Crawford-2-1-0-7 pts., Harper-3-0-1/2-7 pts,Buckley-2-0-2/2-6 pts,Schecter-0-2-0-6 pts.,

A.Haeffner-2-0-1/1-5 pts,Gupta-2-0-0-4 pts,Goldman-1-0-2/2-4 pts,Fitzsimmons-1-0-0-2 pts.Sacks-1-0-0-2 pts,Litofsky-0-0-2/2-2 pts.,

B.Haeffner-0-0-0,Wang-0-0-0/2-0 ,

 

28-3-9/12-74 pts.

 

Record-16-8

Leading Scorer-Vrankovic-18 points.

Leading Assists-Cline-10

Leading Rebounder-Vrankovic-11

Leading Steals-Crawford-4

 

Next up is Senior Night for Six Student Athletes on Friday at 5:30 at home.

It will be the last regular season game prior to the District League and State playoffs.

 

The Panthers win 72-27 and recorded their fifteen victory of the year.

Pine Crest jumped out quickly from the opening tap off and never let up.

 

At the end of the first quarter the score was 27-8. The Panthers continued to keep the pressure on and

went to the locker room with the score 40-16 at half time.

 

All 12 players contributed to the scoring column with sophomore Antonio Vrankovic with 14 points and junior Peter Buckley chipped in with 11 points.

 

Box Score:

Vrankovic-6-0-2/3-14 pts,Buckley-5-0-1/1-11 pts. Marcinkevicius-4-0-1/2-9 pts,Crawford-3-0-2/3-8 pts,Harper-2-1-0/2-7 pts,Schecter-0-2-0-6 pts.,

Goldman-2-0-0-4 pts,Cline-0-1-0-3 pts,Fitzsimmons-1-0-1/3-3 pts,Litofsky-1-0-1/1-3 pts,Wang-1-0-0/2-2 pts,Gupta-1-0-0-2 pts.,

 

26-4-8/17-72 pts.

Leading Scorer-Vrankovic-14 pts.

Leading Assists-Crawford-7

Leading Rebounder-Wang-10,Vrankovic-10

Leading Steals-Harper-4

 

Next up is Sheridan Hills H.S.on Wednesday at 5:30 at home.

Pine Crest scored a season high 49 points in the second half and beats South Plantation H.S. 72-51.

The Game was the height of the Panthers against speed and quickness of the Paladins.

 

The first half was close as South Plantation held a 26-25 lead as they were able to get Pine Crest in foul trouble with their quickness and drives to the basket.

 

The Panthers came out of the locker room at halftime on fire scoring 27 points against 11 points for the Paladins. Lance Crawford had 13 points, Kalvin Cline had 7 points and Veerain Gupta had 5 points in the third quarter, to lead Pine Crest to a 52-37 advantage that was never relinquished.

 

In the fourth and final period, South Plantation made a run early and cut the lead to 8 points 54 to 46.

However, the Pine Crest entire team didn’t miss a foul shot in the fourth period going 10 for 10.

The Panthers outscored their opponent 22-12 in the last period for their fourteen victory of the season.

 

Box Score:

Crawford-8-1-5/7-24 pts,Vrankovic-6-0-3/4-15 pts,Marcinkevicius-3-0-8/8-14 pts,Cline-3-1-3/5-12 pts, Gupta-3-0-1/1-7 pts,

Schecter-0-0-2/2-2 pts,Buckley-0-0-0/2-0 pts,Sacks-0-0-0, Litofsky-0-0-0,Fitzsimmens-0-0-0,A Haeffner-0-0-0,B.Haeffner-0-0-0,

Harper-0-0-0,

 

23-2-22/29-74 pts

 

Record 14-8 (5-1 in District)

 

Leading Scorer-Crawford -24 pts

Leading Rebounder-Vrankovic-12 (Blocks-4)

Leading Assists-Crawford -5

Leading stealing –Gupta-4

 

After two games and a good practice on Saturday morning our front court with the addition of Romas is beginning to take shape. Hopefully it will continue with positive results……

 

Next up At Home is Pope John Paul today Monday at 5:30