Despite a valiant effort, the Raiders weren’t able to overcome Olympia.
Plant City hit the road and traveled up I-4 to Orlando last week to match up with the 20-7 Olympia Titans in the regional quarterfinals.
After losing a wire-to-wire district championship game against Newsome in one of the best matchups of the year for Plant City area basketball, the Raiders once again fell victim to another close contest as Olympia scraped by with the 70-65 victory.
The first quarter was back and forth as Olympia took a lead early and held on to an 18-14 lead heading into the second quarter.
In the second, Olympia began to pull away as they jumped right out to 26-18 lead within minutes, and then a 34-24 lead as they continued to hit their shots from the field with consistency. Plant City would claw away at the Titan’s lead and keep the game within swinging distance, but would enter halftime facing a 34-26 deficit.
The Raiders looked like they were fired out of a cannon to begin the second half, with a 3-pointer from guard Damian Jones and a driving layup through contact from D.J. Haynes. What would kick off a stellar half from both Jones and Haynes, Plant City had closed the gap to just 34-31 in the blink of an eye. But the Titans never faltered and answered back with a 3-pointer of their own.
As Olympia continued to score, Plant City would punch back. Trailing 39-32, Jones came through with another 3-pointer. Then it was Mike Bell with a three, then another strong layup from Haynes and the Raiders had battled back with an eight-point run to take a 40-39 lead in the third.
Olympia responded with a 3-pointer again to take the lead back at 42-40, and Jones got three more of his own and a 43-42 lead back after hitting a layup through the foul and converting the lone free throw.
After four straight points from the Titans, two more buckets from Haynes and Jones left it tied at 47-47. Olympia hit one of two free throws on their next possession and Jones fired back with his third 3-pointer of the quarter, right before the buzzer, to give Plant City a 50-48 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Late in the game Olympia ultimately proved too much to overcome for the Raiders. Hopping back out in front 57-52, Plant City would continue to keep it close with more huge shots from Haynes, Jones and Bell, but never found themselves back in the lead.
Haynes led the way for the Raiders with a team-high 22 points – while adding six rebounds and six assists – followed by Jones with 18 and Bell with 12.
As the final buzzer sounded, it marked an end to the Raiders’ strong season. Plant City finished the year with a district finals appearance and a 20-8 record, the program’s highest mark since their 23-5 finish in 2017-2018.
